When a photo can be taken, edited, and shared with the world in less than a minute, what value do we place on works of fine art in digital photography? As visual imagery floods our screens, we artists must consider if our photographs will capture and hold attention as well as the meaning that we intend to share through the composition, subject matter, and presentation of our photographs.
The artists of New Buffalo High School's ART III class were confronted with these questions as we analyzed what qualifies a photograph as a work of fine art as compared to photos that are shared in a split second without consideration of the artistic purpose. Through group discussions and in-class photo shoots, the students discovered how to capture works of art from their everyday surroundings. We took advantage of beautiful weather and walked the school grounds during class to practice thinking like an artist by using the camera as a tool for framing each composition with the Elements of Photography. With close observation, small moments of serendipity seem to pop out from the background just waiting to be saved as an image.
We also looked at the work of reputable artists like Adde Adesokan, Nicole Washington, David Hockney, and Tatiana Parcero who used the medium of Photography as a tool to create artwork in a new way through layering, triptychs, and mixed media manipulation of physical prints.
Through daily guided class instruction in Adobe Photoshop tutorials, the students learned how to recreate their images into photo collages, photo series, and double exposure composites. Some students gravitated towards Photoshop with a delighted familiarity by expanding on their work through new techniques while others expressed frustration with the digital tools. Since the Art III class only has six students, I was able to pair up with students one at a time and tutor them through the post-processing techniques that they most struggled with so that everyone could achieve success. It was exciting to see the work blossom as they developed skills like masking and layering while also building confidence in their progress.
Each student also selected their favorite image for printing and were given three copies of the photo to experiment with as a photo collage with mixed media materials. Some students enjoyed tearing, cutting, and folding the photos to rearrange on the canvas while others were drawn to the working with paint, sharpie, and oil pastels.
Photography encompasses such a diverse range of genres that I wanted the students to have exposure to the creative possibilities of photo manipulation by putting their own individual stamp of self-expression on their photos as works of fine art. It was interesting to see how each person took their work in a different direction even though they had photographed the same surroundings during the class photo shoots. Their artwork is evidence itself of just how unique every person is and how we all see things differently.
"A camera is a tool for learning to see without a camera." -Dorothea Lange (Photographer, 1895-1965)
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