COURSES

PHASE I: THE FOUNDATIONS - LIGHT AND THE ORGANIZATION OF SPACE IN TWO DIMENSIONS (8 sessions: 16 – 20 hours)

This course is intended for beginners or those who have limited experience in photography but seek to use it as a means of personal expression. It focuses on the fundamentals and aims to place the role of technique in its proper context, that is, as set of contemporary tools in the service of original ideas. Among the topics covered, we find: the control of the quality of light, visual as opposed to psychological or emotional points of view and the organization of tangible elements in space. Classes consist of lectures, discussions, demonstrations and critique sessions of student work. The objective is to make students aware of the enormous potential of the photographic process and to teach them to look at, and question, the world around them in an active, rather than passive way and to arm them with the know-how that allows their enhanced awareness of the wide variety of potential routes that can be followed to open up new visual horizons. 

PHASE II: THE CREATIVE PROCESS - MULTIPLE PATHS (10 - 12 sessions: 20 – 30 hours)

This is an intermediate level class for those students who comfortably possess all the basic technical skills of photography, have a comfortable appreciation of the limits of traditional approaches to the medium and seriously wish to start developing a personal creative process. While in PHASE I we dealt with photography as a road to discovery, PHASE II aims to develop the skills necessary to personalize the journey. The emphasis is on a multiplicity of assignments aimed at challenging and changing the way students conceive photography and its ability to describe / analyze / communicate with the outside world. Regular critique sessions and discussions about the evolution of student work play a very important role in this course. The goal is to challenge traditional ways of looking at photography, initiating the development of a highly personal creative process capable of meeting the ambitions of each student.

PHASE III: BUILDING A SERIES - DEVELOPING A VIEWPOINT (10 - 12 sessions: 20 – 30 hours)

This is an intermediate / advanced level course for students who have completed PHASE II and want to work on a project or topic for a period of four to six months depending on the program. The emphasis here is on the three phases of the creative process: conception, realization/development and presentation of a series of coherent photos on a specific topic of the students' choice. The goal is to guide, assist and accompany students on this important multi-stage trip, helping them to maintain a clear vision of their goals while allowing unexpected outside interference of various types to work its very particular form of magic. Discussions and debates will be provoked on the most effective ways to achieve this goal. The course is structured as a creative exercise designed to finalize a short series of work and to encourage students to undertake projects of greater importance and scope in the future.

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT (12 - 20 sessions: 24 – 50 hours)

This is an advanced level course for students who want to work on a single major project of their choice for a period of six to ten months depending on the project. Focus is on the development of a coherent body of work for exhibition in galleries - in the traditional print format, as well as in virtual on-line formats – as well as for exhibition of the work in book form. Special attention will be paid to the file quality required for the use of large format printing and CMYK book formats, as well as on the process of selecting images for exhibition (image juxtaposition, linear versus non-linear storytelling, juxtaposition and exploration of different media: video, sound, interactivity, etc.).