VART 270 – Street/Travel Photography
Discipline(s): Fine Arts
Credits: 3
Available: spring semester 2025
Instructor: Alessandro Galatoli, M.F.A.
Taught in: English
Course Fee: TBA
Course description
Students learn how to use visual intelligence, skills, and strategies to create meaningful images that reflect different multicultural realities. The works of the masters in this genre from its origin to Henri Cartier-Bresson, Helen Levitt, and Robert Frank will be analyzed and provided as a source of inspiration. The course has a strong on-site component and students will be guided to identify meaningful ‘local’ subjects and acquire confidence in photographing people on the streets and in a variety of different situations.
Required: Students must have a picture-capturing device of any kind ( smartphones, compact cameras, DSLR cameras, mirrorless cameras, bridge cameras, etc…) and a device to use for the editing (laptop or tablet), no specific software is required.
Objectives
This course aims to teach students to capture everyday life in public places and create realistic images focusing on the way people act and interact with each other and with the environment. It also aims to give students more confidence in photographing and approaching people with a camera. The overall goal is to acquire and then apply technical theories of the photographic languages in order to achieve quality photographs of a variety of cultural settings that also reflect the study abroad experience.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, successful students should be able to:
- Demonstrate effective use of DSLR cameras or Mirrorless cameras when photographing characters or an active scene. Assessed through Mid-Term Critique, Homework assignments, and Final Portfolio.
- Apply the technical theory of photographic language to their work. Assessed through Check Test, Mid Term Critique, and Final Portfolio.
- Ability to critique and take part in discussions on content-driven visuals. Assessed through class critiques.
- Ability to define characters through visual clues. Assessed through Mid-Term Critique, Homework assignments, and Final Portfolio.
- Ability to produce a portfolio of images reflecting a personal critical representation of people and their environment. Assessed through Portfolio and Homework assignments.