Experimental Photography: An Introduction

What is a photograph? This class is a 3-week intensive, offering an in-person introduction to a range of cameraless photographic techniques that are particularly suited to long, bright summer days (and, if conditions require us to pivot, adaptable to a remote learning context). As we explore historical, non-traditional photographic printmaking approaches, we'll test the boundaries of common understandings of "photography" and pursue informed experimentation with our processes and materials. We'll focus on the many approaches to making photograms, a cameraless image closely related to the monoprint, both in the black-and-white darkroom and with handmade emulsions exposed in the sun. We will create photographic images using common materials and largely non-toxic chemicals to create emulsions sensitive to UV light, coating paper with these emulsions, creating compositions on paper with stencils, hand-made negatives, found objects and materials, plants, fruits, vegetables, and more, exposing our compositions in the sun, processing them in water and hanging them to dry. Techniques include: silver-gelatin photograms and chemigrams, cyanotypes (also known as "blueprints" or "sunprints"), Van Dyke Brown, anthotypes (plant-based emulsions), and lumenprints (exposing black + white photo paper in UV light). 

Class sessions will combine demonstrations, supervised studio work, group critique and discussion, and short presentations on historical and contemporary practices and artists. Students will submit a complete portfolio of all work made and participate in a final critique.

This class welcomes everyone from beginners to advanced practitioners; it is equally suited to students new to photography who want to learn basic photographic principles through experimental, low-tech methods; more advanced photography students who are ready to incorporate non-silver, non-digital techniques in their practice and experiment with new materials; and students with a background in 2D visual art who are interested in exploring the rich intersections of drawing, painting, printmaking and photographic processes. 

This class is a prerequisite for "Experimental Photography: Projects" offered in the 2nd summer session for students interested in advancing skills learned in this class through individually designed projects.

This class is a companion to the "Cameraless Experimental Animated Film Intensive - 16mm and 35mm" class taught by Devon Damonte in the 2nd session. Experimental Photography offers instruction in some photographic techniques that will be explored in moving images in that course.

This class is offered as a 3-week intensive, June 26 - July 16, 2023, at 4 or 8 credits. Students enrolled for 4 credits will attend class 1.5 days/week and students enrolled for 8 credits will attend 3 days/week. Assignment quantity and scale will be scaled accordingly.