Assignments

So we are now in week 5 of a ten week course and we have done a photographic assignment for each week so far, using the techniques we’ve studied during the week. According to the website, the aims of the Assignments are as follows:

1/. to get you practising the theory

2/. to get you sharing your work

3/.to help you learn with and from others.

 

This is done by allocating ten image ’slots’ on the OpenStudio image-sharing website to each student each week, asking them to upload a specific number of images produced as part of that week’s coursework (usually five or six) and inviting them to use the surplus ’slots’ for any images of their own choosing. Each student is part of a group of about twenty students for each week’s assignments and the brief includes looking at images submitted by other students, offering constructive critique and suggestions.

This caused a lot of heartache among students for several reasons. Some didn’t want to hurt other students’ feelings by making a less-than-complimentary comment about the image. Others felt they couldn’t put into words their feelings about another student’s image. The least confident students on the course simply said that they didn’t feel able to make any constructive comments. This was because they considered themselves ‘unqualified’ to do so given their minimal experience. Sometimes students said they looked at an image but, because they couldn’t think of anything to write about it … just passed over.

The first assignment was simple, quite straightforward and fun.

Choose one of the following activities:

Select six letters from the alphabet and take a picture for each letter. Do not just look for letters on signs; think creatively about the shapes in nature and of objects – for example a rope laid on the ground may become an s or a w.
OR
Take six images of familiar subjects from below waist height or above head height (not at the normal head height). Try to find a subject that you can photograph from above and below and from the side. Take at least one shot which is close up to the subject and one which is taken from a distance. Use this opportunity to give an unusual perspective on a familiar subject.
OR
Choose one landscape, one portrait and one still-life subject and make two versions of each image – one horizontal and one vertical.

Using our new knowledge about the fundamentals of image composition, placement of subject, light and shadow, colour and perspective, most of us found ourselves actually thinking seriously about the image we were intending to produce with our camera … before we pressed the shutter button. (I use the term ‘most of us’ because it was clear from the start that there were a fair number of already very experienced photographers on the course. This may possibly have been one of the reasons that some of those students who were very new to photography suffered from a severe lack of confidence)

I chose the ‘letters’ option and was amazed at the breadth and variety of ‘letters’ that were portrayed in students’ images. It had the desired effect of getting us to think ‘photographically’ and taking notice of our surroundings in new and different ways.