Grammar 2

What is style in photography? Photographs by Lee Friedlander, Richard Avedon or Nan Golden are instantly recognizable as such because we see not only the subject depicted in the photograph, we also perceive the photographer's way of seeing the subject. As photographers, we want to create images that bear the imprint of our thoughts, values and experiences. The decisions we make - where to stand, when to press the shutter, and how to arrange the subject within the frame - have to be right not only for the subject, but right for the photographer. This class is about fostering your personal vision: how you see what you see. In The Grammar of Photography, Part 2, regular shooting assignments, lectures, and critiques, will give students a clearer sense of subject and a greater consistency in how they see.

Class 1: Color and Composition

Color gives us narrative information: time of day, season, information about place, or the passage of time. Color can also be used to help identify the subject of a photograph. Color can be organized and simplified by pairing complements, offsetting saturated and de-saturated areas, or through the use of a restricted palette. Color can’t just be there, it has to do something.

• Defining Style

• Introduction to Color Theory

• Hue, Saturation, and Value Maps

• Color Must be Used

Class 2: Light and Tonality

• Tonality and the Histogram

• High Key, Low Key, Degrees of Contrast, and Quality of Light

• Looking for Light

Class 3: Photographer’s Palettes

Color and tone can be an essential part of a photographer's style, used consistently within a series or even from one body of work to another.

• Practical Examples: Nadav Kander, Elger Esser, Martina Hoogland Ivanow, Martin Parr, Rinko Kawauchi

• Color Grading Technique

• Experimenting with Palettes

Class 4: Alike But Different

A photographer's way of seeing is embedded in how he or she shoots. Ideas about what is significant in the subject, the moment or place, as well as what is valuable in photography itself -- all have an impact on the way the image appears. Comparisons of similar subjects shot by different photographers bring these embedded values to the forefront.

• Comparisons

• Inspiration Collections

Class 5: Ways of Seeing

Choices photographers make about light, the significance of gesture or moment, choice of lens and aperture, framing and vantage point, and color palette or tonality combine to give their work a particular look.

Class 9: The Elements of Style

Class 10: Review of Projects