Color Portfolio

Due: Wednesday 2/4

12 strongest images possible, from exercises and reshoots, where color itself is the subject.

• 12 jpegs
• 8 prints (carefully color balanced)

Project 1

First critique: Wednesday 1/28
Second critique: Wednesday 2/11, jpegs only for now

Be prepared to discus your ideas and share images that show solid progress on your project. Plan for at least two shooting sessions prior to critique. Graded.

Tricolor Harmony

Images with tricolor harmony feature three prominent colors that work well together. This is a fairly subjective thing...but usually you can recognize what works when you see it.

Generally tricolor harmony falls into two categories:

• Close harmony, where the colors are fairly close together on the color wheel, perhaps neighboring colors. The result is sometimes more soothing, less contrasty.

• Broad color harmony generally features colors from the opposite side of the color wheel, sometimes the three primaries, all together. It has a certain symmetry due to this triangle balance. Generally, it creates a brash, more contrasty image.

Monday 1/26. Create images that explore these two kinds of tri-color harmony, close and broad. Take your time with this...it can be difficult. I encourage you to set things up deliberately to create the relationships.

Assignment 3: Warm and Cool together

Due: Wednesday 1/21

Explore and create pictures that strongly feature an interplay of warm and cool colors. Again, make pictures where color is the most important thing.

Warm colors are reds, yellows, pinks, oranges, etc.
Cool colors are blues, greens, violets, etc.

What happens when you have a picture with warm and cool colors together? Keep the photos simple, isolating the color palette down to as few colors as possible, perhaps just an orange and a blue, for example.

(Matthew Tischler)

(Jordan)

Proposal, project 1

Due: Wednesday 1/21

Written: Two page proposal, consisting of the following:

• A paragraph discussing the ideas and concepts you hope to engage in project 1. Some common themes in contemporary art include but are not limited to: identity, gender, body politics, race, class, place, spirituality, cultural heritage, personal fictions, narrative fictions, alternate realities, mysticism, etc. Choose ideas and concepts that are close to your interest and heart. If it means something to you, personally, it will be stronger.
• Several paragraphs discussing two historical artists/photographers and two contemporary photographers/photographers who have also addressed these concerns. That makes a total of four. They should be well established artists. 

1. To assist with your research with contemporary artists, start with Lenscratch: http://lenscratch.com/photographers/subjects/
2. For historical examples, go to the library and look at a book on the History of Photography.
3. Your discussion of these artist examples should tell us how they address the themes and concepts in their work. 
4. For example, how did Cindy Sherman's work address the subjects of identity and gender? How did the work of Ansel Adams to contribute to environmental awareness?

• A description of any special photographic techniques, approaches or equipment you will be using and why this is important. This paragraph should be the shortest part of the proposal. Concentrate on the ideas/concepts, not techniques. 

Presentation: Also be prepared on Wednesday to share this proposal with the class and provide visual examples (on screen, from websites or scanned/grabbed images) of the four artists your researched, to help us understand your points. Use bridge to project a number of good sized images, or put together a short powerpoint. Finally, if you have already made images that may give an indication of where this project could go, please share those as well. 

Assignment 2: Color Compliments

For Wednesday 1/14:

Do the same assignment again, this time emphasizing colors on the opposite side of the color wheel. Look back at your images. If you have a photo that features green, for instance, find a subject on the opposite side of the color wheel. The compliment of green is magenta. Do this for a group of your photos, creating many photos

R > C
G > M
B > Y
(W)>(K)

Assignment 1: Looking for Color

Due: Monday, 1/12

Create images where one or two (at most) colors are the prominent subject. Look around and see what colors catch your eye. Then isolate the color with your view frame. The trick to this way of shooting is to make it a treasure hunt–many amazing things are often hidden in unlikely places. The images that come out are often quite simple but have strong impact. See examples below:

(jordan)

(jordan)

(jordan)

(jordan)