In Sight: Developing a Photographic PortfolioWeekly Practice

Introduction

© David Hurn, Fans eying Ringo Starr, The Beatles, during filming of 'A Hard Days Night', London, England, 1964

Photographers should not put pictures in a box under their beds and be the only ones to see them. If they put film in their cameras it presupposes that they want to record what they see and show somebody else. Photography is about communication.

Connection

To accomplish this module's learning objectives, we will complete the following activities:

Complete Weekly Photographic Work in preparation to submit for In Sight: Developing a Photographic Portfolio (Graded Image-Making Assignments)

The Photographic Portfolio

© Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Stills, 1977

Self-Portraiture / Gender and Identity

The Photographic Portfolio is a collection of photographs/photographic works developed as a series about a conceptual concern / idea(s) and/or theme(s) that is visually engaging, intellectually stimulating and emotional responsive.

Visually Engaging = the Approach and Sensibilities used by the photographer with the Aesthetic Considerations and Considerations and Use of Photographic Materials.

Intellectually Stimulating / Emotional Responsiveness = Content and Subject Matter, including what is the collection / series of photographs about, including the possibilities of literal, emotional and thematic meanings.

All photographs are considered and intentional choices. These choices are suggested by a need or desire to secure a moment, an experience, a revelation, a curiosity, or a discovery on a camera sensor or photographic film and contain it as an object as a digital file or a photographic print. Combining these images within the structure of the collection and a sequence provides for further critical inquiry and revelation about the ideas the photographer is communicating.

The Photographic Portfolio is structured and sequenced in a particular order in a Print Portfolio, Website, and/or Photographic Book to suggest a narrative possibility as well as communicate the various ideas and themes the work is attempting to address.

Portfolios typically will include a range of Photographs (10 - 25 images) + a Written Statement that is included to help guide the viewer with how the photographer was inspired and/or why they created the photographs as well as what they would like the viewer to understand.

Considerations and Approaches

© Eliot Porter, Intimate Landscapes, 1979

Natural Landscape

Visual Approaches and Sensibilities

Considerations of Genre(s), including Portraiture, Landscape, Photograph as Document, Still Life, Narrative, Commercial, Editorial

Grayscale and/or Color

Scale = Small or Large

Individual Images

Diptych

Typology

Appropriation

Collage and Image Assemblage*

Cyanotype

Image Transfer and Different Image Supports - Paper, Aluminum and/or Film

Interdisciplinary Approaches - Use of Drawing and/or Painting Materials and/or Use of Three-Dimensional/Sculptural Materials and Approaches*

Instant Photograph

Studio and/or On-Location Lighting

Use of Text

Combination of Any of the Above Materials and Techniques

© Judith Joy Ross, Public Schools, 1992

Portraiture and Identity

Aesthetic Considerations

Frame

Compositional Organization, including Top-to-Bottom, Side-to-Side, Foreground-to-Background Relationship, Linear Perspective and/or Symmetrical/Asymmetrical Balance, including as Horizontal and Vertical Orientations.

Vantage Point

Perspective of photographer and camera to subject = Eye Level, Looking Up or Looking Down, Changing Perspective and Physicality of Camera, Moving Closer or Stepping Back.

Moments of Exposure

The decisive moment = how the Subject, Details, Framing and Vantage Point come together simultaneously to reveal the Thing Itself, what the photograph is showing the viewer and interpretive possibilities.

Range of Lighting Directions

Front, Top, Side, Diffused and/or Backlit Circumstances.

Range of Lighting Circumstances

Daylight (Sunrise, Mid-Day, Afternoon, Sun, Cloudy, Overcast, Rain), Indoors, Mixed Lighting and/or Night.

Grayscale

Grayscale, and black-and-white, can provide both visual and psychological/emotional possibilities in looking at a contemporary subject in a different manner.

Color of Light

As Suggested by Range of Lighting Circumstances to imply Mood and Emotional Tone.

Descriptive Color

Purposeful Placement of Colors present in Scene, Subject Matter and Details - not Color for Color Sake.

© Walker Evans, Selected Images , 1973-1974

Polaroids / Photographs as Documents

Technical Considerations

Type of Image-Making Device(s) (smartphone, digital, analog, medium-format, large-format, Instant)

Analog Materials (film, film processing strategies and darkroom)

Digital Materials (digital capture, image scanning, inkjet printing)

Combination of Analog and Digital Tools and Materials

Historical and/or Alternative Processes, including Cyanotype and Image-Transfer, Printmaking Techniques