This post is from the Spring 2012 Class.
"Six weeks have flown by, but we finally finished our first photo shoot! Here's a recap what we accomplished in the first weeks of class."
Session 1: We started by looking at several examples of still life photo shoots from my swipe file. By looking at simple arrangements of items, we identified several key factors such as theme, composition, color, lighting, cropping. We talked about creating an inspiration binder, using a simple 3-ring binder with 4 sections, one for each unit we cover in class—still life, food (or fashion accessories), portraits and fashion—and throughout the semester we will collect magazine pages and images that inspire us in some way. Whether it's the color palette, the style, the lighting, the propping or we don't even know why we like it but we do, tear it out and put it here. I had everyone reach into a jar and pull out a tiny piece of paper with some words on it. For the following week, I said to bring in items that relate to those words.
Session 2: Everyone pinned a swipe on the wall and said a few words about why they liked it. What attracted them to this image? It's just an exercise to get us to articulate aspects of imagery so we can dissect the components that go into creating a great photo. I pinned up examples of images with various themes. How would you describe a particular theme? What gives it away? Look at the propping, the color palette and the mood of the lighting for starters. Everyone took out their items. Those little bits of paper had phrases that evoked themes. Everyone took out their cameras and a photo experiment was born. We picked teams for a group project, a themed still life photo shoot.
Session 3: Free association on your theme. Look for words that describe it using all the senses, even sound and smell. For example, the theme "Vintage" might cause you to think of old, musty, dark, smelly, dusty, dark wood, worn, tarnished. We then come up with a story line for a vintage themed image. My vintage group this year came up with "Letters to Live By" about a young man and women exchanging love letters a long time ago. Their idea was to show an old typewriter on a man's desk and writing papers on a women's desk. Assignment was to develop this story line within the theme and do a "creative brief", a visual page much like a mood board with images and words describing the surfaces, the color palette, props and any other ideas to express your plans for this photo shoot.
Session 4: Presentation of the "creative brief" to the class and discussion of viability of the idea. We visited Props for Today on 34th St. to see where props of all kinds can be rented. Props for Today is a go to resource for photographers, stylists, event planners, and movie and tv set designers. We discussed the components of the styling kit and other shoot logistics like the minimum size of a surface and backdrop.
Session 5: First Big Photo Shoot. Individual sets were assembled and groups work together on set up, lighting and arranging their still life. Variations are tried to see how different backdrops affect the shot. Each student turns in 10 shots showing a true exploration of the theme through use of props, a subject, lighting and we determine which shot was most successful at achieving the goal.
Session 6: We review the shots from last week's shoot, and discuss what worked, what didn't and overall how the experience felt working in teams to work on a creative project.
