Photography is often associated with control: controlling exposure, focus, lighting, composition, timing, and editing. Polaroid Soup challenges that idea.
In this assignment, students will create a cohesive experimental photographic series by photographing within one selected location and then physically manipulating instant-film images through controlled experimental processes.
Students will explore how liquids, temperature, pressure, timing, and other teacher-approved materials and processes can alter the photographic image and create unexpected changes in color, texture, contrast, shape, surface, distortion, and abstraction.
Students will take a minimum of 40 images throughout the production and experimentation process. The purpose of producing 40 images is not to create 40 versions of the same photograph. Students should use this quantity to explore multiple compositions, perspectives, lighting situations, subjects, details, experimental processes, and visual possibilities.
The final submission will be a curated body of work consisting of 6–8 photographs that function together as a cohesive photographic series.
The goal is not simply to create unusual-looking Polaroids. Students must make intentional photographic decisions before, during, and after experimentation. They will document their process, analyze successes and failures, revise their approach, and determine which photographs belong together as a unified body of work.
Because experimental photography contains an element of unpredictability, students will be expected to embrace risk, discovery, failure, revision, persistence, and serendipity as parts of the artistic process.
By the end of this assignment, students will be able to:
Develop a personal concept for an experimental photographic series.
Investigate how altering photographic materials can change the meaning and emotional impact of an image.
Connect experimental and abstract visual outcomes to an intentional artistic idea.
Develop a recognizable artistic voice through experimentation.
Develop visual and conceptual relationships across multiple photographs.
Use an instant camera effectively to create intentionally composed photographs.
Safely experiment with teacher-approved methods for altering instant photographs.
Compare how different manipulation methods affect photographic materials.
Apply knowledge of composition, exposure, color, texture, and visual hierarchy before and after manipulation.
Document experimental procedures so successful techniques can be evaluated, revised, or repeated.
Produce a minimum of 40 images to generate multiple solutions to a photographic problem.
Explore variations rather than repeatedly creating the same photograph.
Take creative risks and respond productively to unexpected results.
Revise photographic and experimental approaches based on observation and critique.
Distinguish between purposeful experimentation and random effects.
Use iteration to move an initial idea toward a more sophisticated photographic solution.
Analyze photographs using appropriate photographic and visual-art vocabulary.
Explain how technical and artistic choices affect meaning.
Participate in peer critique and provide specific evidence-based feedback.
Evaluate a large collection of personal photographs and identify patterns, strengths, weaknesses, and possibilities.
Determine why an individual photograph does or does not belong within a larger body of work.
Curate 40 images into a final body of work consisting of 6–8 photographs.
Sequence photographs intentionally.
Create visual and conceptual cohesion among individual photographs.
Write an artist statement explaining concept, process, experimentation, revision, and artistic decisions.
Present and defend artistic and curatorial choices during critique.
Artists discover new possibilities by testing materials, techniques, ideas, and processes.
Artists often need to create many images before discovering the strongest direction. The first solution is rarely the only solution.
Photographers normally attempt to control the image, but experimental photography demonstrates that unpredictability can become part of the creative process.
A photograph is both an image and a physical object. Manipulating the material itself can transform photographic meaning.
Unexpected results, accidents, and unsuccessful experiments can lead to new creative discoveries.
Research, shooting, testing, documentation, critique, revision, and reflection are as important as the final photographs.
Experimental techniques become meaningful when artists use them intentionally to communicate their own ideas rather than simply reproduce an effect.
Photographers create meaning not only by taking photographs but also by deciding which photographs to include, which photographs to remove, and how photographs are sequenced.
Individual photographs can gain additional meaning when they are selected, sequenced, and presented as a cohesive body of work.
How can experimentation become an intentional photographic strategy?
What happens when a photographer intentionally gives up some control over the final image?
When does an accident become an artistic decision?
How can photographers respond creatively to unexpected results?
How can physical manipulation change the meaning of a photograph?
How do color, texture, distortion, abstraction, and composition communicate ideas?
How can limitations encourage creative problem-solving?
Why might a photographer need to create 40 images to discover 6–8 strong photographs?
How does creating a large quantity of work encourage experimentation?
How do photographers determine which images belong together?
What makes a collection of photographs a body of work rather than simply a group of good photographs?
How can removing a strong individual photograph make an overall series stronger?
How does sequencing affect the way viewers experience photographs?
How can documentation and reflection improve experimentation?
What separates purposeful experimentation from simply creating random effects?
How can an experimental process contribute to the development of an artist's personal voice?
Polaroid Soup — An experimental process in which instant-film photographs are exposed to teacher-approved liquids, temperature changes, pressure, or other physical interventions to intentionally alter the appearance of the photograph.
Instant Photography — A photographic process in which the image develops within or immediately after leaving the camera.
Emulsion — The light-sensitive material used to record a photographic image.
Manipulation — Intentionally changing photographic materials or imagery to produce a desired visual or conceptual effect.
Experimental Photography — Photography that investigates unconventional materials, processes, techniques, or methods of image making.
Alternative Process — A photographic technique that differs from standard contemporary photographic production or processing.
Serendipity — An unexpected discovery or result that becomes useful within the creative process.
Abstraction — Imagery that moves away from straightforward realistic representation and emphasizes visual qualities such as shape, color, texture, line, or form.
Distortion — An intentional or accidental alteration of the normal appearance, proportion, color, or structure of an image.
Texture — The actual or implied surface quality of an object or image.
Composition — The intentional arrangement of visual elements within the photographic frame.
Visual Hierarchy — The organization of visual elements that directs the viewer's attention through an image.
Cohesion — The visual and conceptual relationships that make separate photographs feel connected as a unified series.
Iteration — Repeating a process while making changes based on previous results.
Process Documentation — Written and/or photographic records showing materials, procedures, decisions, observations, and results during experimentation.
Intent — The idea, purpose, meaning, or experience an artist wants a work to communicate.
Artistic Voice — The distinctive combination of ideas, subject matter, techniques, aesthetic decisions, and perspectives that identifies an artist's work.
Critique — A structured process of describing, analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating artwork.
Curation — Selecting, eliminating, organizing, sequencing, and presenting artworks so that they communicate effectively as a group.
Body of Work — A collection of related artworks connected by a consistent concept, visual language, subject, process, technique, or artistic investigation.
Sequence — The intentional order in which photographs are presented to influence meaning, rhythm, relationships, or the viewer's experience.
Edit — The process of evaluating a larger group of photographs and determining which images should remain or be removed.
Students will:
Work within one primary location for the photographic series.
Take a minimum of 40 original images.
Use the 40-image requirement to explore rather than repeat.
Explore multiple compositions, points of view, distances, framing choices, lighting situations, subject relationships, and visual possibilities.
Create original instant-film photographs.
Experiment with multiple teacher-approved manipulation methods or "soup recipes."
Keep a written and/or photographic process journal documenting experiments.
Record materials, procedures, observations, successes, failures, and possible revisions.
Participate in individual and peer critiques.
Review all 40 images as a complete collection.
Narrow the work through a deliberate editing process:
Select photographs based on technical quality, experimentation, concept, artistic voice, and cohesion.
Curate a final body of work consisting of 6–8 photographs.
Sequence the final photographs intentionally.
Write an artist statement explaining the concept and experimental process.
Present the completed series for critique.
Generate possibilities.
Do not attempt to make the same photograph 40 times.
Explore:
Composition
Point of view
Camera angle
Distance
Scale
Cropping
Framing
Light and shadow
Color
Texture
Abstraction
Subject/background relationships
Repetition
Visual rhythm
Experimental processes
Unexpected results
Look at all 40 images together.
Ask:
Which images immediately attract my attention?
Which images best communicate my idea?
Where do I see visual connections?
Where do I see conceptual connections?
Which experiments produced unexpected but successful results?
Which photographs demonstrate intentional decision-making?
Which images are repetitive?
Which images feel disconnected?
Which photographs suggest a direction I did not originally anticipate?
Narrow the collection to approximately 20 photographs.
Compare the remaining images.
Do not simply ask:
"Is this a good photograph?"
Ask:
Identify photographs that strengthen one another.
Remove images that:
Repeat another image without adding anything new.
Distract from the concept.
Feel visually disconnected.
Weaken the sequence.
Depend only on an experimental effect without strong photographic decisions.
A strong individual photograph may still need to be removed if it does not strengthen the series.
Narrow the collection to approximately 12 photographs.
Select the strongest 6–8 photographs.
The final series should demonstrate:
Cohesion — The photographs feel visually and/or conceptually connected.
Intent — Artistic and technical decisions support the idea.
Experimentation — The work demonstrates investigation, risk-taking, and discovery.
Variation — The photographs are related without becoming repetitive.
Technical Skill — Camera, lighting, composition, and experimental processes have been used effectively.
Artistic Voice — The series demonstrates the photographer's individual way of seeing and responding to the subject.
Sequencing — The order of the photographs contributes to how viewers experience and understand the work.
At the beginning of the first Photography III class meeting each week, students will examine a teacher-selected photograph containing noticeable technical, compositional, conceptual, or presentation problems.
Identify three specific improvements they would make to the photograph.
For each improvement, students must explain:
WHAT they would change.
HOW they would change it.
WHY the change would improve the photograph.
Students should use appropriate photographic vocabulary and consider:
Composition
Cropping
Camera angle
Point of view
Exposure
Focus
Depth of field
Lighting
Contrast
Color
Texture
Visual hierarchy
Background
Subject placement
Concept
Mood
Technical execution
Instead of:
"The lighting is bad."
Write:
"The subject should be repositioned so the side light falls across the face rather than directly behind the subject. This would create better separation between the subject and background while revealing more facial detail."
This weekly exercise develops students' ability to analyze, evaluate, critique, and revise photographic decisions and then apply those observations to their own work.
This assignment emphasizes the Photography Georgia Standards of Excellence through the artistic processes of Creating, Presenting, Responding, and Connecting.
VAHSPH.CR.1 — Visualize and generate ideas for creating works of art.
Students engage in open-ended inquiry, investigate themes and processes, and consider elements and principles of design while developing an experimental photographic concept.
VAHSPH.CR.2 — Choose from a range of materials and methods of traditional and contemporary artistic practices to plan and create works of art.
Students research experimental photographic approaches, maintain process documentation, develop ideas, test techniques, and critique work in progress.
VAHSPH.CR.3 — Engage in an array of processes, media, techniques, and technology through experimentation, practice, and persistence.
Students create a substantial quantity of work, experiment with photographic materials and alternative processes, evaluate outcomes, solve technical and visual problems, and persist through unsuccessful or unpredictable results.
Students plan, prepare, curate 40 images into a final 6–8 image body of work, sequence the photographs, and communicate artistic purpose and intent through presentation and an artist statement.
VAHSPH.RE.1
Students reflect on their personal photography in relation to photographic practice, culture, artistic choices, technique, media, and style.
VAHSPH.RE.2
Students critique personal and peer photography, analyze artistic choices, interpret meaning, and use photographic vocabulary to communicate ideas.
VAHSPH.RE.3
Students engage in written and oral art criticism to develop meaning and visual literacy.
VAHSPH.CN.1
Students develop personal artistic voice by connecting their experimental work to historical and contemporary photographic practices.
VAHSPH.CR.1, VAHSPH.CR.2, VAHSPH.RE.2, VAHSPH.RE.3
Complete the weekly "How Would You Improve It?" bell ringer.
Students will examine a poor photograph and identify:
Three improvements.
How each improvement could be accomplished.
Why each change would strengthen the photograph.
Students will use photographic vocabulary to analyze and critique artistic and technical choices.
Display and facilitate discussion of the bell-ringer photograph.
Introduce Polaroid Soup and experimental photography.
Introduce the 40 → 20 → 12 → 6–8 process and explain why professional photographers frequently create significantly more images than ultimately appear in a finished body of work.
Show examples of traditional and experimental instant photography.
Guide students in identifying:
Composition
Color
Texture
Abstraction
Manipulation
Repetition
Distortion
Intentional versus accidental effects
Introduce the essential question:
Research examples of experimental photography and instant-film manipulation.
Identify techniques and visual characteristics that interest them.
Brainstorm:
Location
Subject matter
Mood
Theme
Color palette
Experimental possibilities
Possible approaches for creating 40 varied images
Students will begin a proposal/moodboard showing the intended direction for the project.
Students will visualize and generate ideas through open-ended inquiry and investigate materials and methods appropriate to their artistic intentions.
Students will pair-share:
"One experimental strategy I am interested in investigating is ______ because ______."
Students will identify:
One visual decision they want to control.
One element they are willing to leave to chance.
One strategy they will use to prevent their 40 images from becoming repetitive.
VAHSPH.CR.1, VAHSPH.CR.2, VAHSPH.CR.3
Review their proposal and identify the strongest concept developed during Class 1.
Complete:
Students will identify at least three ways they can create visual variation while remaining within their selected location and concept.
Demonstrate approved experimental approaches.
Review:
Materials
Equipment
Safe handling procedures
Documentation expectations
Variables
Testing procedures
Disposal/cleanup procedures
Model how changing one variable at a time can help students understand cause and effect.
Discuss the difference between:
Variation and repetition
and between:
Experimentation and randomness.
Finalize their:
Concept
Location
Subject matter
Shot plan
Materials list
Experimental procedures
Students will create a simple experimental chart:
Photograph | Process | Variables | Prediction | Result | Revision
Students will plan multiple photographic and experimental approaches rather than relying on one technique.
Students will begin production toward their 40-image requirement.
Students will choose materials and methods appropriate to their artistic intentions and plan how experimentation will support their concept.
Students will explain their plan to a partner.
Partners will respond:
"Your experiment could become more intentional if..."
Students will make at least one revision based on peer feedback.
VAHSPH.CR.2, VAHSPH.CR.3
Review their photographic plan and experimental variables.
Students will identify:
One photographic decision they will control.
One experimental variable they will manipulate.
One result they will document.
One new approach they have not yet attempted.
Review camera operation, composition, exposure, experimental procedures, and safety expectations.
Conduct brief individual conferences while students work.
Ask:
What are you testing?
What changed?
What evidence do you have?
Are you repeating yourself or developing the idea?
What have you not tried yet?
What will you change next?
How does this support your concept?
Continue producing toward their minimum of 40 images.
Students will intentionally vary:
Composition
Perspective
Distance
Framing
Lighting
Subject relationships
Experimental processes
Students will document:
Original image
Materials
Process
Time
Relevant variables
Observed changes
Unexpected results
Next steps
Students will engage in processes, media, techniques, and technology through experimentation, practice, and persistence.
Students should intentionally respond to both successes and failures.
Students will select:
One successful experiment
and
One unsuccessful experiment.
For each, students will explain:
"The result occurred because..."
and
"During my next experiment, I will..."
VAHSPH.CR.3, VAHSPH.RE.1, VAHSPH.RE.2
Complete the weekly "How Would You Improve It?" bell ringer if this class begins a new instructional week.
Students will analyze a poor photograph and identify three specific improvements and explain why each would strengthen the image.
Facilitate a midpoint gallery walk.
Model constructive critique using:
Guide students away from statements such as:
"I like it."
"That's cool."
"This one is better."
and toward evidence-based photographic language.
Review their 40 images together.
Peers will respond to questions such as:
Where is experimentation most successful?
Which effects appear intentional?
Where does the process overpower the photograph?
Which images communicate the strongest idea?
Which photographs feel repetitive?
Which photographs feel disconnected?
What should the photographer repeat?
What should the photographer change?
Students will begin the first major edit:
Students must be able to explain why images were retained or removed.
Students will critique in-process work and use reflection, evidence, and persistence to refine photographic solutions.
Students will complete:
KEEP: One strategy I should continue...
CHANGE: One strategy I should modify...
REMOVE: One type of image that is weakening my series...
TRY: One new possibility I should investigate...
Students will explain how critique changed their next artistic decision.
VAHSPH.PR.1, VAHSPH.RE.1, VAHSPH.RE.2, VAHSPH.RE.3
Place their approximately 20 remaining images where they can be viewed together.
Without explaining the work, students will ask a peer:
Students will compare the peer's interpretation with their original intent.
Demonstrate how photographers curate a body of work.
Discuss:
Cohesion
Sequencing
Repetition
Variation
Visual rhythm
Color relationships
Conceptual relationships
Strong opening image
Strong closing image
Model the difference between choosing individual favorite photographs and selecting images that strengthen the entire series.
Complete the editing progression:
Students will eliminate images that do not support the series even when the individual photograph is successful.
For every final image, students should be able to answer:
Students will sequence their final 6–8 photographs.
Students will begin their artist statement addressing:
What is the concept?
Why was this location selected?
What experimental processes were investigated?
What unexpected discoveries occurred?
How did experimentation change the original idea?
How did creating 40 images affect the development of the project?
How were the final 6–8 photographs selected?
Why do these photographs belong together?
How does the sequence affect the viewer's experience?
What should viewers notice or consider?
Students will plan and prepare a photographic series for presentation and communicate artistic purpose and intent.
Students will complete:
"I removed ______ from my final series because ______."
"I included ______ because it strengthens the series by ______."
"The relationship between my final 6–8 photographs is ______."
VAHSPH.PR.1, VAHSPH.RE.1, VAHSPH.RE.2, VAHSPH.RE.3, VAHSPH.CN.1
Prepare and sequence their final 6–8 image body of work for presentation.
Students will silently examine classmates' series and select one body of work that demonstrates especially strong:
Experimentation
Cohesion
Risk-taking
Composition
Sequencing
Artistic voice
Students must be prepared to explain their selection using evidence.
Facilitate the final critique while shifting primary responsibility for discussion to students.
Prompt students to:
Describe
Analyze
Interpret
Question
Connect
Evaluate
Teacher will redirect students toward evidence when critique becomes based only on personal preference.
Present their final 6–8 image Polaroid Soup body of work.
Students will discuss:
Concept
Location
Process
Experiments
Failures
Discoveries
Revisions
The original 40 images
Editing decisions
Final selections
Sequencing
Artistic intent
Peers will ask questions and provide evidence-based feedback.
Students will present works of art, critique personal and peer work, formulate responses to photography, and connect their work to broader photographic practices.
Students will complete a final reflection:
1. My strongest artistic decision was...
2. The most important unexpected result was...
3. One experiment that failed taught me...
4. Critique caused me to change...
5. Creating 40 images helped my idea develop because...
6. The most difficult image to remove was... because...
7. My final 6–8 photographs became more cohesive when...
8. The sequence of my final photographs communicates...
9. This project changed the way I think about control in photography because...
10. If I continued this body of work, my next investigation would be...
Students will finish by answering the unit's central question:
Students will submit:
Completed proposal/concept statement
Moodboard/research
Experimental plan
Process documentation
Experiment notes/journal
Evidence of revisions and iterations
Minimum of 40 original images
Experimental/altered photographs
Evidence of visual and technical experimentation
Evidence of the 40 → 20 → 12 → 6–8 editing process
Final curated body of work consisting of 6–8 photographs
Intentional final image sequence
Artist statement
Final critique/presentation
Final written reflection
Successful Photography III students will demonstrate that they can:
Generate and investigate an original photographic idea.
Produce at least 40 images as evidence of sustained investigation.
Explore rather than repeat photographic solutions.
Experiment purposefully with photographic processes and materials.
Persist and revise when results are unsuccessful or unexpected.
Document and reflect on artistic decisions.
Analyze and critique photography using appropriate vocabulary.
Use critique to refine their photographic direction.
Edit 40 images down to 20, then 12, and ultimately 6–8.
Curate a cohesive body of 6–8 photographs rather than simply selecting favorite individual images.
Sequence photographs intentionally to influence the viewer's experience.
Communicate artistic intent through photographs, an artist statement, critique, and reflection.
Develop personal artistic voice rather than simply reproducing an experimental technique.
Defend artistic, technical, experimental, and curatorial decisions using evidence from their work.
White vinegar + water
Color shifts, mottling, emulsion deterioration
1:1
Baking soda + water
Cloudiness, softer color shifts, texture
1–2 tbsp per cup
Lemon juice + water
Yellow/orange shifts, bleaching, uneven texture
1:1
Salt water
Crystalline patterns, spotting, texture
2–4 tbsp per cup
Black coffee
Brown/sepia staining and aged appearance
Strong brewed coffee
Black tea
Warm staining, antique-paper effect
3–5 bags per cup
Cola
Brown staining, sticky texture, irregular deterioration
Straight or 1:1 water
Hydrogen peroxide (3%)
Bleaching, fading, unusual color shifts
Drugstore 3%; dilute 1:1 for more control
Dish soap + water
Swirls, bubbles, separation-like patterns
1–2 tsp per cup
Isopropyl alcohol
More aggressive surface/emulsion disruption
Dilute substantially with water
Lemon or lime juice — bleaching, yellowing, color shifts, and emulsion deterioration.
Orange/grapefruit juice — acidic effects plus warmer staining.
Beet juice — strong magenta/red staining.
Blueberry or blackberry juice — purple/blue staining and mottling.
Pomegranate juice — red/pink staining with acidic effects.
Turmeric + warm water — intense yellow/orange staining.
Paprika + water — reddish-orange sediment and texture.
Coffee grounds — brown staining plus physical texture; leave some grounds in the bath.
Black or green tea — tannins create warm, aged-looking staining.
Red wine vinegar — combines acidity with coloration.
Salt water — spotting, crystallization, and surface texture as it dries.
Ocean water — especially interesting because of salt plus naturally occurring minerals/organic material.
Soil/mud + water — earthy staining and unpredictable marks.
Flower petals — crush roses, hibiscus, etc. into warm water to release pigment.
Red cabbage water — particularly fun because its anthocyanin pigments change color depending on pH.
Spinach or grass juice — green organic staining.
Onion-skin water — boil/steep the skins first for yellow/brown/orange staining.
Avocado-skin/pit water — simmering them produces surprisingly pinkish/tan natural dye.
Walnut-shell/husk water — very strong brown natural dye.
Cinnamon/clove water — brown staining with particulate patterns.