Digital Photography
CHALLENGE: "We learn from our gardens to deal with the most urgent question of the time: How much is enough?"
- Wendell Berry
"You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you need."
- Vernon Howard
"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."
- Robert Brault
What does it mean to live with less? Is it something we choose or something thrust on us? Is it about simplifying our lives, appreciating what we have, or reusing and recycling? Or is living with less necessary because there is less for us to use and more people who need it?
For this challenge you will need to create a series of 3-5 digital photographs that tell us one or more stories of living with less. These photographs can function as the narrative of one story about living with less, or they can be three to five individual photographs representing living with less. In these photographs you could show what you think are the most important issues or ideas surrounding this theme.
These images can be found in nature, architecture, even a crack in the sidewalk. For instance, a flower can grow and thrive with very little-in come cases it needs just the tiniest bit of dirt, found in a small crack in the sidewalk, to bloom. Is this an example of living with less? Choose images that make us think. Try to push your ideas into metaphor. A dinner table with almost no food and a large family shows a lack of food. Does a picture of a grocery bag empty except one item of food say the same thing?
For your images, you should always attempt to take each composition three times. The first is far away (5-15 feet), the second closer (1-3 feet) and finally very close to your subject (18 inches or less). Did your composition change? What stands out in each picture? Make this a part of your process. BE CREATIVE. Use light and shadow. Crop in tightly on your subject. Find unexpected spaces and subject matter. Try different lighting and different times of day.GOOD LUCK!
CRITERIA/MEDIA REQUIREMENTS
This group of images should explore form and how we perceive objects. In addition to capturing form, students should look closely at issues of light/shadow, composition, color and depth of field.
JUDGING CRITERIA
PROFESSIONALAdream Blair, UW-Milwaukee, blaira@uwm.edu
- Wendell Berry
"You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you need."
- Vernon Howard
"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."
- Robert Brault
What does it mean to live with less? Is it something we choose or something thrust on us? Is it about simplifying our lives, appreciating what we have, or reusing and recycling? Or is living with less necessary because there is less for us to use and more people who need it?
For this challenge you will need to create a series of 3-5 digital photographs that tell us one or more stories of living with less. These photographs can function as the narrative of one story about living with less, or they can be three to five individual photographs representing living with less. In these photographs you could show what you think are the most important issues or ideas surrounding this theme.
These images can be found in nature, architecture, even a crack in the sidewalk. For instance, a flower can grow and thrive with very little-in come cases it needs just the tiniest bit of dirt, found in a small crack in the sidewalk, to bloom. Is this an example of living with less? Choose images that make us think. Try to push your ideas into metaphor. A dinner table with almost no food and a large family shows a lack of food. Does a picture of a grocery bag empty except one item of food say the same thing?
For your images, you should always attempt to take each composition three times. The first is far away (5-15 feet), the second closer (1-3 feet) and finally very close to your subject (18 inches or less). Did your composition change? What stands out in each picture? Make this a part of your process. BE CREATIVE. Use light and shadow. Crop in tightly on your subject. Find unexpected spaces and subject matter. Try different lighting and different times of day.GOOD LUCK!
CRITERIA/MEDIA REQUIREMENTS
This group of images should explore form and how we perceive objects. In addition to capturing form, students should look closely at issues of light/shadow, composition, color and depth of field.
- Three to five images, each equivalent to 4”x 5” in size, should be mounted onto or more pieces of grey or black mat board.
- Photographs should be printed on a photo quality inkjet paper with a glossy, semi-gloss, or luster surface.
- Images should be printed at a resolution of at least 300 dpi
JUDGING CRITERIA
- Photographs should strive to address the challenge in an unexpected and thought –provoking manner.
- The use of color, framing, and arrangement of other elements within the picture plane should reinforce the mood and scenario presented within the images.
- The photographs should be color-corrected (white balanced), sharpened, and otherwise modified if necessary.
- The prints should be of technically good quality
PROFESSIONALAdream Blair, UW-Milwaukee, blaira@uwm.edu
