Elevate the Ordinary Assignment, Due Tuesday, September 17th

elevate the ordinary

Important Dates:

January 21: FIVE well crafted Digital Photos due at the beginning of class for critique. In total you should have 100 image captures that will be turned into contact sheets. 

OBJECTIVE:
Choose a person, place, or thing and use your camera to transform it into something extraordinary. You don’t have to go to exotic places to be a photographer. For this assignment we think about how to transform what is around us into compelling images.

Notes: Think about LIGHT, Shutter speed, times of day and how ordinary objects can be elevated. Also look at abstraction.  Only ONE location for this entire assignment, please. 

HOW DO I TRANSFORM THE ORDINARY?

Andre Kertez His clarity of style, emotional connection with his subjects and the geometric patterning of his photographs were evident from the outset. 

For example, Todd Hido photographs banal suburban neighborhoods at night, using light from passing cars and street lamps.  In doing so, he transforms an ordinary environment into a place that seems threatening, eerie, isolated, and lonely.

Sally Mann decided early in her career to photograph the people, animals and objects that were closest to her.  In her project “Immediate Family” she transformed her children into objects of fantasy, elevating them to a mythical status.  They become players, or actors in an exaggerated narrative inspired by domestic bliss and tragedy.

Keith Carter has been described as the poet of the ordinary.  His work is bound, not by subject matter, but by his signature use of the camera and his aesthetic treatment of the print.  He transforms the everyday into an enigmatic, mysterious, fantastical and sometimes threating world.  

Roger Ballen creates small crude tableaus and casts people as his actors in a series of psychological portraits.  He uses elements of sculpture, drawing and painting to elevate the ordinary to create surreal imagery.

Rinko Kawuachi makes images from her everyday life with attention to color and form. She pairs these images in surprising ways in her books, transforming the moments further through sequence. 

William Eggleston : King of Elevating the ordinary with his great attention to light and color 

Things to consider

Contemplate the creative controls of the camera.  How can you use depth of field, and shutter speed to transform your subject.  How can you use motion blur and focus to change how your audience reads your photograph. Think about lighting. Are there times of day when the subject looks more interesting? Can you use other types of lights to transform the object, such as flash lights, window light, etc?

Select your subject matter wisely.  What do you care about?  How can you make your audience care?  Can you seduce us with beauty and craftsmanship?  Or can you take an anti-aesthetic approach to create engaging images.

REMEMBER: HAVE YOU truly ELEVATED the ordinary??