Photography

Welcome to the A Level Photography site.

This site has been developed to help give you an overview of the A Level Photography course. Here you will find a range of information concerning the topics you may study and the types of photography you may explore as you progress through the course. There are also some activities you can try to help you gain a head start on some of the knowledge and skills you will need to become a successful photographer.

If you have any questions concerning the course please feel free to contact me at:

joanne.peace@sunderlandcollege.ac.uk


What you will study?

Throughout the course you will develop you skills and knowledge of photography through the combination of a range of lessons, which will cover:

• Studio lighting

• Location photography

• Darkroom skills

• Digital imaging and editing

• Photographic history

· Technical camera skills




Photography Topics

You will cover a range of photography topics such as:

  • Portraiture

  • Painting with light

  • Photomontage

  • Landscape

  • Still life

  • Documentary

  • Conceptual fine art

  • Themes of a range of famous photographers' work

  • Colour and black and white photography

  • Multiplicity

  • Photo Joiners

Photography Videos

Activities

Activity 1

Activity 1:

Create 3 Pinterest boards on 3 of the following photographers:

Pierre Debusschere

Rankin

Lee Jeffries

Patrick Rochon

Doug Dubois

Damien Blottiere

Corinne Day

Diane Arbus


Look at the pictured example and pick 3 photographers from the list above. Review their work and collect and record a range of their images by creating individual Pinterest boards for each photographer you have chosen. Gather some initial background information on the photographers, the type of photography they create and the themes they explore with their photographs. Write a small introduction for each photographer on the board you create for their photographic work.

Activity 2

Activity 2:

For your second activity create a visual diary of how you have spent your time between now and when you start college.

This will be done in the style of a documentary photographer, so this type of photography will concern you recording your everyday life as you see it or, in other words, how you have spent your time from your point of view. For example your photographs may show you and/or your family in lockdown or having to self isolate. You may use any type of camera you have access to including smart phones. Once you have taken the photographs create an Instagram feed where you can upload your photographs to and you may also create titles or write short paragraphs concerning the content of the images.

Here are some examples of visual diaries/projects concerning self isolation stories:

https://www.robincowings.com/blog-1

https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/12400/self-isolation-photography-brianna-capozzi-alice-neale-dougie-irvine-lorena-lohr

https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2020/04/17/834245538/isolation-diary-photographers-document-their-experience-with-covid-19?t=1591524447777

https://www.bjp-online.com/2020/05/viktoria-sorochinskis-inside-outside/

https://marijnkuijper.nl

https://www.thecut.com/2020/03/elinor-carucci-photo-diary.html

https://www.russh.com/photographers-in-isolation/


Activity 3 - New Activity Topic



"Digital double exposure photography is a photographic technique that mainly involves the combining of two different photographs and blending them together to create a new combined image. This image will show some visual elements of both photographs and are usually made using Photoshop or a range of double exposure or blending images apps."


Activity 3:

You are going to develop a set of images using your camera phone and the Diana Photo app to create a range of double exposure images.

The theme for this is people and places. Take a portrait of a person against a clear background. Try to find a white wall or against a plain sky. Take a range of photographs of this person from different angles and distances. Include some face shots where they are looking at the camera, a profile or sideways view of the model, the model looking up towards the sky and also another image where they are looking down towards the floor.

Then ask your model to think of some locations or places that may have a special meaning to them such as the beach or countryside, where they might love to spend their time or the city streets of their hometown. Take a range of images of the place you decide to photograph. The more images you take the more scope you have to experiment when working in the app combining your different images.

Once you have your two sets of photographs, download the free version of the Diana app (available for both iPhones and android phones) and follow the instructions on how to combine the two images. You will be able to experiment with a range of combining effects and colour changes for these images. You can then save them to your phone and create an Instagram account to upload your images to so that you can demonstrate the range of different examples you have created.

There is a range of other free apps available, which will also allow you to experiment with combining images if you wish to continue developing your photographs in different ways. These are:

Fused

Pic Blender Photo Editor

Photoshop Express

This is a link to my Pinterest board so that you can see the range of different ways images can be combined to create double exposures:

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/jopeace40/double-exposures/