First Semester @ AAU - A retrospective

A foundation semester for everything that is coming to you throughout the rest of the program. If I were to go over what I learnt through the semester and summarize it, then this follows

GLA 625 - The History of Photography - Assignments, Midterms and Finals

Late 1800s. Paris. Atget.

Ah well, lets keep this post simple. A course with a laden plate of reading material and formidable amount of written content that needs to be generated. Here are some of the more useful articles and papers.

PH 603 - The Language of Photography - Finals

Submit 8-10 photographs which form a consistent body of work. The theme/style/genre of photography are left to you. Plus interview a photographer, someone significant in the field of photography you are interested in or aspire to be a part of, and submit a short paper it.

Some of projects chosen by the students in class
- Color in water - Landscapes and Moods
- Food photography
- Urban decay in industrial Oakland
- Half him, half her - A study on the similarities between people in long term relationships.
- Fashion photography
- A study on trees
- A documentary styled shoot to promote pet adoption from animal shelters.
- Photo montage

I had chosen architecture as the theme for my work. I wasn't particular about structures adhering to specific  architectural style, but instead I went looking for architectural elements with striking visual appeal. Strong composition, balance and rhythm, symmetry form the foundation of the work.

PH 612 - The Nature of Photography - Finals

Somewhere around eight weeks into the term, the time midterms are conducted, everyone in class is asked to choose a subject/theme for their finals and has to submit the proposal in writing. Once the proposal gets ok'ed you have about eight weeks to the day of the finals, where you have to present ten photographs which form a coherent body of work. While I had chosen to make images in the aesthetics adhering to Minimalism while exploring lines, form, shape and texture, others had chosen projects relevant to their style of photography and subject matter closer to them. Some of the projects by other students.

- A study on the personalities of individuals through the tattoos on their body
- Atrocities committed on people with different sexual preferences. An enactment to bring awareness with self as the subject.
- A documentary themed shoot on the days in the life of a survivor of a critical gun shot.
- A modern day take on fairy tales.
- Days in a laundry mart.
- Fences.
- Strong women.
- A documentary themed shoot to the days in life of her 99yr old grandmother.

Now onto the ten photographs which form my submission for the finals - Photographs with Minimalism aesthetics, abstractions both organic and geometric, exploring lines, shape, form and texture

PH 603 - The Language of Photography - Midterms

Mid terms ... ah mid-terms. Just when you think the pace is picking up and the assignments are getting demanding, you are suddenly thrown into the gladiator pit and asked to create 8 unique photographs. But not to fret, passing through the eternal fires is a necessary task, coming out of the pit unscathed or otherwise leaves you wise and confident for more to come.

Now on to the rules Igor
- Use whatever camera and accessories are at your disposal
- Use digital or analog darkroom techniques to manipulate your images. Not too much Photoshop though.
- Create photographs to the best of your ability and not just to satisfy the basic need.
- Submit prints in class for critique and evaluation.

Now on to our contenders

PH 603 - The Language of Photography - Assignments

Weekly assignments for The Language of Photography course in the first semester. Assignments given out are due for submission the next week. Photograph(s) are to be printed typically on an A4 size photo-paper. But you can choose to get a smaller or larger print if you desire.

Everyone puts their work on the wall, to get critiqued by the instructor and at times even by the students.

Assignment 1: Signature photograph
Get one photograph that represents you currently as an artist. It doesn't have to be new


This is one of the photographs made while I was travelling in Leh in mid 2011. A buddhist monastry forming a beautiful landscape, plus the dramatic sky adds to the appeal of the photograph. I would quite easily put it among the best I had.

PH 612 - The Nature of Photography - Assignments

Weekly assignments for The Nature of Photography course in the first semester. Assignments given out are due for submission the next week. Photographs are to be printed typically on an A4 size photo-paper. But you can choose to get a smaller or larger print if you desire.

Everyone puts their work on the wall, to get critiqued by the instructor and by the students. Receiving feedback from the instructor, Jim Sienkiewicz a fine art photographer, is a highly constructive process. Other students in the class participate in the critique session too, which gives you great insights into how your photograph can be perceived and interpreted in ways you hadn't anticipated.

Assignment 1: A photograph on any subject matter
The first assignment was a fairly laxed one. Just get a photograph you made.

One of the early photographs I had made since I move to San Francisco. A fascination for urban landscapes clubbed with a need to explore the city more made me go after this vantage.

This one was shot for being a postcard pic.

GLA 625 - The History of Photography

Boulevard du Temple, Paris. 1838. Daguerreotype

One of the courses with which I have a love/hate relationship is the History of Photography. I love it for all the meaningful information on the history of the medium that I have learnt about, and I hate it for the amount of reading, research and writing I had to do. Come to think of it I dont think I would have attained the earlier without the later. Like any art history course, this course too is theoritical (and I am no authority on this. I know didlysquat about art, history or art history for that matter), but what make it such an awesome course is the Instructor - Lisa Levine (website) - an outstanding educator and fine art photographer. Should you be lucky enough to take this class under her, you would truly appreciate the evolution of medium, and learn to question and critically analyse photographs in the context of what has come before it.

The description of the course on the Academy's website reads "This course explores the history of photography and the impact of photography on the visual arts. The major photographic movements and genres throughout the history of photography will be defined and studied in theoretical and applied terms."

PH 612 - The Nature of Photography

There is so much content covered in the introductory photography courses at the Academy of Art University, that it comes as no surprise that they ended up splitting all the content between two courses: The Language and Nature of Photography. This course helps build strong foundations on visual literacy and expression. Students are better equipped to both verbally and visually communicate through photographs, understand the work of past and contemporary artists from a meaningful perspective. 

The description of the course from the Academy's website - "This course is dedicated to the investigation and understanding of photography as a visual language. The elemental relationship of form and narrative is explored as a means for individual artistic expression. Emphasis is placed on application of these principles through practical assignments and verbal discussion."

PH 603 - The Language of Photography

This course is one of the three introductory courses to the MFA Photography program taken in the first semester. It is meant to bring you up to speed on the essentials of Photography, and provide the necessary foundation to be able understand what is out there and where your work fits in.

The description of the course from the Academy's website speaks for itself - "In this course, students will engage in an in-depth study of the fundamental language comprised of the aesthetical,  technical, and practical aspects of the medium. Artistic interpretation and technique will be examined through the study of image capture, processing and printing relavent to fine art, commercial and documentary application."

First Semester @ AAU

The first semester at AAU for photography majors in the MFA program has a common set of courses to be completed. Almost all the new students go through the same three courses.

PH   603 - The Language of Photography
PH   612 - The Nature of Photography
GLA 625 - The History of Photography

You have pretty much no choice is taking other photography courses in this semester, unless you have a special case for it, and it is approved by the program director. In case you are a student from a non english speaking county and have poor proficiency in the language you will be assigned an ESL(English as a secondary Language) course instead of the liberal arts one.