#3 - Exercising Photographic Limitations

DUE: Photos posted to blog by 8:00pm Monday February 8.

DUE: Comments on two students post by the beginning of class on Tuesday February 9.

In the last assignment I wanted you to understand that you need to explore the physical space and environments that you elect to photograph in. And that you have to move in and out, up and down, and all around, in order to create the best image.
Please continue to use those skills for the next series of exercises, but these will focus more on photographic limitations. As I mentioned in class, limitations are part of life and certainly part of the photographic process. Some limitations are applied naturally and other are because the photographer has elected to photograph in a very specific manner.

With your cameras once again set in the Program or Auto Mode complete the following list of exercises. If I ask for a series of images, I would expect approx. 24 different images or so for each series. These numbers represent the number of frames for an analog 35mm film camera and so I find that is a good place to start.

Something Out of Nothing - Create 50 different images of a park bench. (You must photograph the same bench and not different benches.) You may elect to go back to that bench at different times of the day or night.
Alphabetography - Take the first letter of your first and last names. Create a series of images by locating object, lines, shapes, shadows, etc... in your environment that look like those letters (both upper and lower cases are acceptable.) Your letters can be found in both natural and man-made forms. DO NOT photograph actual letters on signage or elsewhere. Allow other objects to create the letters. The two letters do not need to appear in the same photograph.
Hula Hoop - Have a friend or family member take you by the hand or drive you to a location of their choice (not yours!) Have them place you in a specific spot (imagine a circle the size of a hula hoop) now create a series of photographs in that exact location without moving beyond the imaginary hula hood.
The Human Eye - Select a subject and use only your 50mm lens to create a series of images of that subject. Now repeat it one more time, but with a different subject.
Tick-Tock - Set the timer on your phone for 10 mins. Get in a car and drive or begin walking. When the timer goes off, stop and evaluate your surroundings. Now, create a series of photographs. Repeat this process 2 more times.

Select (2-4) images from exercises #1-5. Post these 10-20 images to the blog making sure to label the images with the exercise #. After posting your images, comment on at least two other students posts. Your comments should include whether or not you think the photographs are successful and how the student might improve their images if they were to take them a second time. You could also discuss how the student could be more creative or aggressive when making photographs.

Here are a few examples from a few of the worlds greatest photographers showing how they worked and navigated their working environment.