ART 330 • Intermediate Photography

ART 530 • Advanced Photography

Spring Term III 2020
Online Class
http://www.digitalprocesses.blogspot.com

CONTACT:
Instructor: John Shimon, Associate Professor of Art
Email: shimonj@lawrence.edu

ART 330/530 COURSE DESCRIPTION:

A continuation of ART 230/330 with an emphasis on digital photography and online photo presentation. The history of photography and
contemporary art issues related to the medium are examined through projects, readings, blog presentations, class blogging and peer
comments.
PREREQUISITE: ART 230 or 330

LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Operate and understand the role of imaging in contemporary society.
2. Engage in dialog related to current debates on how lens culture and photography have altered perceptions of reality,
memory, and truth.
3. Critique the history of photography and its relationship to technology and visual culture.
4. Generate, research and propose project ideas.
5. Create a portfolio series supported by a written artist statement, indicating a serious inquiry and concept.
6. Engage with an online group learning platform and share ideas with your classmates in a professional manner on the
class blog.
7. You are encouraged to work on a single, ongoing project that loosely follows the weekly
guidelines!

CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION:

1. Projects: Complete nine (9) projects. Projects 1-8 are worth 10% each, project 9 Portfolio is worth 20%.
2. Virtual Attendance: Responding to blogs and handing in all work on time is VERY important for
success in the class. Email instructor in advance of missing an assignment due date indicating
reason and how you will handle missed class work. Late Projects receive a lowered grade for each week
they are late (e.g. an A gets lowered to a B if one (1) week late, to a C if two (2) weeks late, etc.). Due date times
are the given day at midnight.
3. Honor Code: Please observe the LU Honor Code.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:
1. Camera: Digital or film camera of your choice, including smart phone, 35mm, pinhole, instant, etc.
2. Book: The Critical Eye: 15 Pictures to Understand Photography (Intellect Books, 2019, $29.50/PB, ISBN
978-1-78320-984-2)
3. Personal Google Account: For viewing class readings, instructional handouts, and power point presentations.
4. Personal Blogger Account: For sharing your work with the class and submitting course assignments.

OPTIONAL APPROACHES (some modest reimbursements of costs for materials and fees may be
possible):
1. Film camera/film/personal scanner for potential to work with film in a hybrid film/digital context.
2. Community darkroom rental.
3. Utilization of color negative development/scanning services.
4. Cameraless imaging using light-sensitive materials.
5. Low-tech, DIY, bathroom darkroom approaches (i.e. paper negative processes digitized through use of a smartphone
camera, etc.). https://www.amazon.com/Create-Your-Own-Pinhole-Camera/dp/1435114302

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INFO/RESOURCES for Optional Hybrid Analog/Digital Process:
1. Supplies Locally: MURRAY PHOTO for used cameras/supplies (10 E College, 920-733-5885 murrayphoto.com),
BADGER GRAPHIC SALES for new equipment/supplies (1225 Delanglade (near Hwy 55/41), Kaukauna, 920-766-
9332 badgergraphic.com).
2. Supplies Online: BOSTICK&SULLIVAN for antiquarian printing supplies (505-474-0890 bostick-sullivan.com),
DENVER IMAGING for color film processing and scanning (www.theslideprinter.com), ADORAMA for
equipment & supplies (800-223-2500 adorama.com), B&H for equipment & supplies (800-894-9703 bhphotovideo.com),
EBAY for used equipment & expired film (ebay.com), FREESTYLE for equipment, supplies, portfolio boxes, Holgas,
etc. (800-292-6137 freestylecamera.com), DICK BLICK for frames, matt board, paper (800-828-4545 dickblick.com).
3. Photo Info Online: luminous-landscape.com, frugalphotographer.com, alternativephotography.com, luminous-
lint.com, flakphoto.com, photographmag.com
4. Art Info Library Periodicals: Art in America, Art Forum, Art News.
5. LU Digital Image Collections: ARTSTOR (access through library’s page on LU website).
6. Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities: Students who have a disability covered by the
Americans with Disabilities Act are entitled to academic accommodations. Students must initiate all requests. Please
contact the Office of Student Academic Services (ext. 6530) for information and advice.
7. Health & Wellness: Balance results from two skills: avoiding imbalance through careful planning, and managing and
containing imbalance when it occurs. See full statement on Lawrence.edu “healthy balance.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY/READING LIST (most are on reserve or available at public libraries)

15 Pictures to Understand Photography by Lyle Rexer (2019)
Shadow Catchers: Camera-Less Photography by Martin Barnes (2012)
Photography Degree Zero: Reflections on Roland Barthes Camera Lucida by Geoffrey Batchen (2011)
Keepers of Light by William Crawford (1979)
Copy, Archive, Signature: A Conversation on Photography by Jacques Derrida (2010)
Book of Alternative Photographic Processes by Christopher James (2008)
Photography: A Cultural History (3rd Edition) by Mary Warner Marien (2010)
Photography’s Antiquarian Avant-Garde: The New Wave in Old Processes by Lyle Rexer (2002)
The Ansel Adams Guide: Basic Techniques of Photography by John P. Schaefer (1999)
The Nature of Photographs by Stephen Shore (1998, reissued by Phaidon 2007)

Countess Virginia Oldoini Verasis di Castiglione

By Pierre-Louis Pierson, circa 1863

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 ART 330/530 – PHOTOGRAPHY
Course Calendar + Projects

“The environment in which we encounter photography is at least as important as the subject

within the frame, and that environment, the atmosphere of looking, has changed.” -Lyle Rexer

WEEK 1

APR 6 (M) CLASS FORMAT

This is a ‘distanced learning’ class involving careful study of a text, image making by any means available, and the
presentation of these images online. It is imperative that you are a self-motivated learner, keep up with readings
and blog posting, and create compelling images, despite these strange days.
BLOGGER
Set-up your own blog by the end of this week! Work to reflect your artist identity while establishing a place for
exchanging reflections on projects and readings. Strive to write analytically while expressing your individual
voice. Your audience is informed and interested students and art world professionals. Illustrate each and
every post with captioned images and (if appropriate) embedded videos. Hyperlink to
relevant sites while titling each post with an appropriate and catchy headline. Check your spelling and
grammar carefully! Always post comments on 2 classmate blogs for each assigned project.
TO DO ASAP
Design a blog using Blogger (or other blogger-linkable blog publisher). Name it after yourself using your
real/stage name or variant if possible. NOTE: Some students continue blog after LU and/or use as part of their
online portfolio. Select/design a template, title, page header, profile, color palette, layout, gadgets. Set correct
time stamp/time zone. Avoid cutesy or cluttered backgrounds and difficult to read colors and fonts. Opt for a
simple, legible design. The background should be neutral (e.g. white, black or gray) so it doesn’t distract from
your content unless ‘campy’ or ‘cutesy’ serves your ideas. Your content can be linked to rather than
be embedded in Blogger. Feel free to put content wherever it seems appropriate, i.e.
flickr, instagram, your own .com, etc.
DUE: Email shimonj@lawrence.edu with your blog URL so it can be added to the digitalprocesses.blogspot.com
APR 10 (F) blog list. Both Art 330/530 and Art 340/540 will be administered from the same blog. Subscribe to the class and
classmate blogs using the blogs gadget.

PROJECT No. 1 – THE WORLD’S WALLPAPER

So many pictures going out in the world every second. Who cares about them? Why should people write about them?
How does the notion of ‘photograph’ exist in contemporary culture?
READ REXER: Introduction: How Is a Photograph, pages 8-15.
LEARNING OUTCOMES (students should be able to):
1. Explore the intangible/tangible in imaging.
2. Use a camera (consider making your own?) and understand how to be a ‘picture maker’, or maybe just a ‘taker’.
3. Write about your images in a manner that helps us understand them.
4. Get words and images online in an effective manner.
REQUIREMENTS:
1. Plan your approach and make at least 3-100 images in response to the reading. If you feel you failed, reshoot until you feel
you have something.
2. Edit your images manipulating color balance, saturation, contrast in curves in PhotoShop Express (free) or other software.
You may be able to secure Adobe CC free: https://helpx.adobe.com/enterprise/kb/covid-19-education-labs.html?red=a
3. Post your images. You may want to set up a FLICKR account (free 1 TB storage) with an artist profile and portrait (use
your real/stage name if possible). Upload your .jpgs with titles and organize into a “Set” using Flickr to sequence and create
rhythm. You can add a Flickr/slideshow gadget to your blog. Feel free to incorporate alternative photo-posting platforms such as
instagram, etc.
4. Post a minimum 150-word reflection on the reading, due Wed Apr 15.
5. Post a minimum 150-word reflection on your project with a link to your images. This should be a self-evaluation
including analysis of your treatment of the project, use of the internet as a fine art venue, and relate your work to the assigned
readings by quoting relevant passages (mandatory). Due Fri Apr 17.
6. Post 2 comments responding to classmate projects.
DUE: April 15 (W), April 17 (F)

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 WEEK 2

APR 15 (W) REFLECTION BLOG POST No.1a DUE: Your ideas about the reading, illustrated and hyperlinked.

APR 17 (F) IMAGES AND SELF-REFLECTION BLOG POST No.1b DUE: 3-100 images posted with
evaluation.

PROJECT No. 2 – YOUR PICTURES

Every picture has already been taken. How can the pictures you make be your version of the same old thing? How can you
emphasize “the sudden piercing awareness of another person’s presence”?
READ REXER: Everybody’s Pictures, pages 140-148.
LEARNING OUTCOMES (students should be able to):
1. Explore the redundancy of imaging.
2. Use imaging technology to create a uniquely personal voice, regardless of the apparent futility.
3. Write about your images in a manner that helps us understand how they relate to you. How is personal meaning
conveyed?
4. Further develop your communication skills via the blogging medium.
REQUIREMENTS:
Plan your approach and make at least 3-100 images.
Edit your images manipulating color balance, saturation, contrast in curves in PhotoShop Express (free) or other
software.
Post your images.
Post a minimum 150-word reflection on the reading, Due Wed Apr 22.
Post a minimum 150-word reflection on your project with a link to your images. This should be a self-
evaluation including analysis of your treatment of the project, use of the internet as a fine art venue, and relate your work to
the assigned readings by quoting relevant passages (mandatory). Due Fri Apr 24.
Post 2 comments responding to classmate projects.
DUE: April 22 (W), April 24 (F)

WEEK 3

JAN APR 22 (W) REFLECTION BLOG POST No.2a DUE: Your ideas about the reading, illustrated and hyperlinked.

APR 24 (F) IMAGES AND SELF-REFLECTION BLOG No.2b POST DUE: 3-100 images posted with
evaluation.

PROJECT No. 3 – BIOGRAPHY!

How can pictures be “revealing and personal” without engaging in narcissistic excess? How can you subtly incorporate ‘who you
are’ in a way that is universal and profound? How can you access your life experiences rather than your physical body?
READ REXER: Life and Work: Does Biography Matter? pages 16-23.
LEARNING OUTCOMES (students should be able to):
1. Explore how personal biography relates to knowledge. What do we really know about feeling as a human condition?
2. Use imaging to go into the self.
3. Write about how your life relates to your work.
4. Check out https://www.pinterest.com/milokokkino/andre-kertesz-polaroids/ and feel the Kertesz spirit.
REQUIREMENTS:
Plan your approach and make at least 3-100 images.
Edit your images manipulating color balance, saturation, contrast in curves in PhotoShop Express (free) or other
software.
Post your images.
Post a minimum 150-word reflection on the reading, due Wed Apr 29.
Post a minimum 150-word reflection on your project with a link to your images. This should be a self-
evaluation including analysis of your treatment of the project, use of the internet as a fine art venue, and relate your work to
the assigned readings by quoting relevant passages (mandatory). Due Fri May 1.
Post 2 comments responding to classmate projects.
DUE: April 29 (W), May 1 (F)

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 WEEK 4

APR 29 (W) REFLECTION BLOG POST No.3a DUE: Your ideas about the reading, illustrated and hyperlinked.

MAY 1 (F) IMAGES AND SELF-REFLECTION BLOG No.3b POST DUE: 3-100 images posted with evaluation.

PROJECT No. 4 – SELFIE/ANTI-SELFIE

Why put your own likeness in the picture? Why keep your likeness out of the picture? How is identity constructed and performed
in a photograph? How can ‘human presence’ transform a landscape or still life?
READ REXER: From Self-Portrait to Selfie: Memes Come True, pages 68-75.
LEARNING OUTCOMES (students should be able to):
1. Explore how depicting the self, or not, can be an element of your work.
2. Use imaging to depict your own likeness, or not.
3. Write about how your own likeness, even a very obscure one, can become part of your work, or not. If not, why not?
4. Is a ‘selfie’ something other than a ‘self-portrait’? What different ‘baggage’ does each term imply to a viewer?
REQUIREMENTS:
Plan your approach and make at least 3-100 images.
Edit your images manipulating color balance, saturation, contrast in curves in PhotoShop Express (free) or other
software.
Post your images.
Post a minimum 150-word reflection on the reading, due Wed May 6.
Post a minimum 150-word reflection on your project with a link to your images. This should be a self-
evaluation including analysis of your treatment of the project, and the use of the internet as a fine art venue. Relate your
work to the assigned readings by quoting relevant passages (mandatory). Due Fri May 8.
Post 2 comments responding to classmate projects.
DUE: May 6 (W), May 8 (F)

WEEK 5

MAY 6 (W) REFLECTION BLOG POST No.4a DUE: Your ideas about the reading, illustrated and hyperlinked.

MAY 8 (F) IMAGES AND SELF-REFLECTION BLOG No.4b POST DUE: 3-100 images posted with
evaluation.

PROJECT No. 5 – PICTURE-LESS

In what ways do images always abstract time, space, and light from the reality they interpret? Why is photography a way of picture-
making so linked to the subject matter? Why, when we show someone a photo of our mother, do we say “This is my mother” and
not “This is a photograph of my mother”?
READ REXER: Abstraction in Photography: Picture Nothing, pages 112-121.
LEARNING OUTCOMES (students should be able to):
1. Explore the concept of abstraction in imaging.
2. Use imaging technology in a way that considers how the nature of the medium impacts our perceptions.
3. Write about your images seriously considering what is depicted and what is not.
4. What exactly is ‘abstract’? How does this word function as noun or verb? How might this idea play into your work,
consciously or unconsciously?
REQUIREMENTS:
Plan your approach and make at least 3-100 images.
Edit your images manipulating color balance, saturation, contrast in curves in PhotoShop Express (free) or other
software.
Post your images.
Post a minimum 150-word reflection on the reading, due Wed May 13.
Post a minimum 150-word reflection on your project with a link to your images. This should be a self-
evaluation including analysis of your treatment of the project, and the use of the internet as a fine art venue. Relate your
work to the assigned readings by quoting relevant passages (mandatory). Due Fri May 15.
Post 2 comments responding to classmate projects.
DUE: May 13 (W), May 15 (F)

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 WEEK 6

PROJECT No. 6 – ARTIST RESEARCH BLOG POST:

Pick an artist from the Rexer book to do additional research on. Myoung Ho Lee, Fischli & Weiss, Andre Kertesz, Nancy Rexroth,
Brassai, Dan Estabrook, Jerry Spagnoli, Roland Fischer, Andrea Modica, Zoe Leonard, Francesca Woodman, Vivian Maier, Thomas
Struth, Emmet Gowin, Susan Derges, Ellen Carey, Sally Mann, Thomas Demand, Corey Olsen, etc. In what context does Rexer
refer to your artist? What additional layer of meaning may this add to your artist’s work?
LEARNING OUTCOMES (students should be able to):
1. Conduct research on an artist using online resources.
2. Present an illustrated blog post about the artist with a clear, focused thesis, and appropriate images.
3. Think critically about how art practice, art history, and contemporary theory intersect.
REQUIREMENTS:
1. DEVELOP A THESIS & CONDUCT RESEARCH: Conduct research online to gather enough material to
develop a thesis or argument about the nature of your artist/cultural figure’s practice, ideas, work, and their relationship
to Rexer’s text. Search the Internet and periodicals for recent articles and critical essays to build your argument.
2. SELECT IMAGES: Select digital images using ARTstor or credible online image sources such as art museums, artist’s
website, or galleries. Use about 5 images to illustrate specific points you are making. Carefully “Read” each image you use
making sure you have something to write about it.
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Your bibliography must contain at least 5 sources: ideally an artist.com, a gallery or museum’s
website, and 3 online journals. Place it at the end of your post. Do not pad out with unused sources! Do not base your
report on Wikipedia as it often contains errors and information not pertinent to this project.
4. BLOG POST: Your Post should be at least 500 words and discuss at least 5 images, and should link to pertinent
websites, videos about the artist, etc.
DUE: JUNE 5 (F)

MAY 13 (W) REFLECTION BLOG POST No.5a DUE: Your ideas about the reading, illustrated and hyperlinked.
 
MAY 15 (F) IMAGES AND SELF-REFLECTION BLOG No.5b POST DUE: 3-100 images posted with
evaluation.

PROJECT No. 7 – “…most people never get out of the car” – (Title of a Yosemite photo by Bill Owens)
What values do images of ‘grand landscapes’ suggest? How do they continue to play into ‘national identity’? What exactly is
aggrandized or memorialized? In what ways does sentimentality play into images of nature, and how can that sentimentality be
turned against itself? Why is the depiction of these views sometimes suspect?
READ REXER: Other Natures (Landscape in Five Views of Yosemite), pages 76-83.
LEARNING OUTCOMES (students should be able to):
1. Think about the power of sentimentality.
2. Use imaging technology as propaganda. Can it ever not be propaganda?
3. Write about possible agendas in your work, intentional or possibly misperceived.
4. How can you look closer and deeper with your work, rather than finding the ‘Kodak moment’ grand post card view?
REQUIREMENTS:
Plan your approach and make at least 3-100 images.
Edit your images manipulating color balance, saturation, contrast in curves in PhotoShop Express (free) or other
software.
Post your images.
Post a minimum 150-word reflection on the reading, due Wed May 20.
Post a minimum 150-word reflection on your project with a link to your images. This should be a self-
evaluation including analysis of your treatment of the project, and the use of the internet as a fine art venue. Relate your
work to the assigned readings by quoting relevant passages (mandatory). Due Fri May 22.
Post 2 comments responding to classmate projects.
DUE: May 20 (W), May 22 (F)

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 WEEK 7

MAY 20 (W) REFLECTION BLOG POST No.7a DUE: Your ideas about the reading, illustrated and hyperlinked.

MAY 22 (F) IMAGES AND SELF-REFLECTION BLOG No. 7b POST DUE: 3-100 images posted with
evaluation.

PROJECT No. 8 – F.U. Google!!!

How did the notion of ‘street photography’ turn into ominous eye of constant surveillance? How could the action of public image
capture change in tone over a relatively short historical time, from the mid 20th century until now?
READ REXER: Street Photography: Where the sidewalk Ends, pages 58-67.
LEARNING OUTCOMES (students should be able to):
1. Think about random, mundane public moments becoming immortal.
2. Do your images enter private space? Is there still private space? How could public/private notions experience such change?
3. Write about how there are still things to say, and how stories can be told with sensitivity toward all, if that’s even
possible?
4. How can we become closer by looking at each other?
REQUIREMENTS:
Plan your approach and make at least 3-100 images.
Edit your images manipulating color balance, saturation, contrast in curves in PhotoShop Express (free) or other
software.
Post your images.
Post a minimum 150-word reflection on the reading, due Wed May 27.
Post a minimum 150-word reflection on your project with a link to your images. This should be a self-
evaluation including analysis of your treatment of the project, and the use of the internet as a fine art venue. Relate your
work to the assigned readings by quoting relevant passages (mandatory). Due Fri May 29.
Post 2 comments responding to classmate projects.
DUE: May 27 (W), May 29 (F)

WEEK 8

MAY 27 (W) REFLECTION BLOG POST No.8a DUE: Your ideas about the reading, illustrated and hyperlinked.

MAY 29 (F) IMAGES AND SELF-REFLECTION BLOG No.8b POST DUE: 3-100 images posted with evaluation.

WEEK 9

JUN 5 (F) PROJECT No. 6 – ARTIST RESEARCH BLOG POST DUE: Post 2 comments responding to
classmate projects.

EXAM WEEK

JUNE 9 (T) PROJECT No. 9 –FINAL WRAP-UP BLOG POST DUE: Present a portfolio of your 10 best images
produced this term. Write a short artists’ statement to accompany them. Reflect on this 9 week imaging/issue
exploration in a minimum of 300 words, contemplating what progress you may have made on your personal
journey.
© JS 3.24.2020

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