Week 2 was Downtown

...Or the "built" environment... that can include any structure, pavement, roadway or bridge... anything not from nature.  The goal is to teach you about structuring planes of light and shadow in the frame and using  design in a conscious, intentional way.

Here's the assignment from the Syllabus... remember to keep checking it each week, linked in the upper right hand side of the blog:

Assignment: Downtown

Photograph shapes, reflections, light and pattern in an urban or town environment paying particular attention to the shapes you select in the frame and the quality of light on the subject.

Avoid being far away or showing a whole building. Always shoot with natural light. Never use flash in this class... get in close, fill the frame.

Read about Paul Strand.... His work in New York City in the early 20th Century defined how photographers could use new ideas of modernism championed in painting to great effect.

Read The Art Motive in Photography, Paul Strand, The British Journal of Photography, Vol.70, pp. 612-15, 1923

Browse through my portfolio of images from my "Connecticut Towns" project, particularly Stonington andNoank

You may work in black and white. Picasa makes it easy to convert and tone your images. Adjust the tones using Picasa's advanced editing tools.Submit your best two images on the class blog and post 6-10 or more to your fotothing album. (Links in academic expectations below).