VART 270 – Street/Travel Photography

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: A digital single lens photographic camera (DSLR), or Mirrorless: 12,0 megapixels minimum, with an optical zoom lens or a set of interchangeable prime lenses (wide angle and standard/telephoto lens).

Laptop, with any photo editing software (Lightroom, Capture One, Photos, Photoshop or any similar).

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, Final Portfolio.
• Apply technical theory of photographic language to their work. Assessed through Check Test, Mid Term Critique, Final Portfolio.
• Ability to critique and take part in discussion 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.

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