Assignment Requirements:

You will create 5-7 digital photographs that emulate the Pictorialist aesthetic.

• Images should reflect:

  • Soft focus or deliberate visual manipulation

  • Symbolic or emotional subject matter

  • Creative use of light, toning, and composition
    
    

• Use Lightroom and/or Photoshop to help you achieve the Pictorialist aesthetic:

• Toning (sepia, cyanotype, or hand-coloring effects)

• Grain or texture overlays

• Vignettes and blur effects to mimic lens softness
  
  

•  Presentation & Critique 

• Present your final series in class (gallery-style slideshow or PDF).

• Participate in a group critique where you give and receive feedback.

• In your presentation, I'd like you to reflect on how you interpreted several pictorialists' style in your own photographs. Each photo should include a title and a 1–2 sentence caption explaining the intent or concept behind it.

  1. 1. Which Pictorialist photographer(s) influenced your work, and in what way?

     2. What mood or atmosphere were you aiming to evoke with each photograph?

     3. What techniques or approaches did you use to capture that mood?

Struggling to get started? Here are some creative prompts:

• Capture a solitary figure in a natural landscape (inspired by Steichen).

• Photograph a dreamlike domestic scene using soft window light.

• Use symbolism (e.g., mirrors, veils, nature) to convey inner emotion.

• Create a romanticized view of an urban or rural environment.
  
  

 Tips:

• Try shooting in low light or misty conditions to create atmosphere.  

  • The Outer Sunset, Daly City, Half Moon Bay  

• Play with focus or use lens filters (if you have any!) for softness.

• Look at paintings from the Romantic or Impressionist period for compositional ideas.