Anyone ever taken a photo class?

[Cameron]

I'm taking a photography class that revolves around black and white photography (film), which means processing film, making prints, and so on. I've been processing my own black and white for a couple years now, but have never made my own prints before, so needless to say I'm pretty excited about that!

In the class syllabus, my professor outlines the projects that are to be done throughout the semester, and I already know the final project is going to be the toughest! 10 photos that create a story or series... I've got many ideas but also none... ha!

I was wondering if any of you have ever taken a photography class before. Did you like it? Learn anything new that you didn't know before?

Share!

 

[Steve Bellayr]

Yes. I spent several years studying still photography with Walter Rosenblum.

 

[Jamie Pillers]

I try to take at least one class every year. But these are usually classes that last somewhere between a weekend to 5 or 6 weeks. Our local photo studio facilities offer the type of classes that cover a very narrow subject. For example the last one I took was about creating Kallitype images using negatives made from digital files. And another was about making handmade photo books.

 

[x-ray]

I taught on the university level in the 70's. I taught darkroom and an advanced special problems class. Very fun for me and the students alike.

Whether you get anything out of it depends on you and the teacher. Good teacher and good student, you'll love it.

When you get to the point of your final project, outline what you want to accomplish. Start making a list of images that will convey the story and shoot as per the list. I still do this in my work. It's kind of like a story board that we use in video / motion picture work.

Have fun!

 

[barnwulf]

I studied photography for several years and then taught photography in a university art department for several years in the 1970's. It was less about the technical and more on the discovery of your own vision. - jim

 

[jsrockit]

Yes, many B&W and Color (c-prints / cibachromes) classes in the 90s. Also, alternative processes and large format classes as well. I have a BFA in Photography. Around 2008 I took a few classes at ICP, but ultimately didn't feel they were worth it for me at this point.

 

[airfrogusmc]

I have a B/A in photography and have taught basic classes as well as advanced classes. The early classes were more technical and the more advanced classes were more about learning who one is photographically speaking. I enjoyed being a student and teaching.

 

[FrankS]

After university, I no longer had access to the darkroom in which I developed my first film and made my first prints. So I took some college level photo courses: portrait, wedding, advanced general photography, ciba chrome printing, colour neg printing. Then after I settled down and owned a house, I built my own darkroom, and taught a college photo course myself, and gave private darkroom lessons.

 

[rfaspen]

My last photo class was about 35 years ago. Very basic; film developing, darkroom printing, composition, very basic lighting. A "beginner" class.

Now, my wife has taken quite a few classes -- studio lighting workshops, street portraiture workshop, photo-journalism workshop, business workshop, and others I can't remember. She has greatly improved all aspects of her photography as a result. Its funny because she is not at all interested in pursuing photography as an income-generating activity, yet she has been "commissioned" for many portraits, art projects, local advertising, and events. She must be pretty good 🙂

I used to teach aerial photography (photogrammetry and photointerpretation) at university, and I've worked as a photographer for many years, usually for supplemental income. That was music promotion, portraiture, local advertising, and my biggest money-maker: photo-copying. Seriously, before the advent of the flatbed scanner I made serious money making copy negatives and reprints of old photos -- usually great grandma and grandpa with only one photo of them in existence. I would make 4x5 copy negatives and several reprints for my clients and it was extremely profitable. My clients were extremely happy too. In fact I only advertised my services once. From then on I had more work than I could handle, just from word-of-mouth advertising. But, those days are over and I'm digressing.😱

Moral of my story: Yes, take classes. They obviously work and lend enjoyment to the ongoing learning and improvement of your interest (photography). We should all strive to be lifelong learners.

 

[oftheherd]

When it was offered, I took a photography class in Korea about 1976. I enjoyed it and learned from it. By 1982, I was myself teaching at a university in Tennessee. I taught at the on post campus, but as word got around, students from the main campus started signing up for my class.

My class was actually on evidence photography, but I quickly learned most of my students had no knowledge of photography, so I had to spend about half the class teaching photography first, then the evidence side of photography. It was a lot of fun for me and I tried to make it so for the students.

 

[Doug]

I took university art classes for several years in the 1980's, mostly photography. It was interesting and useful, but from just that one photo prof's guidance. The style emphasis was "academic" in nature, understandably.

Somehow more memorable was a weekly class, I think about 12 weeks, offered at one of the galleries in Seattle's Pioneer Square area. Good thoughtful analysis. I'd ride the 120 miles on my Yamaha 1100 motorcycle, catch some dinner, and get to class at 7 pm. Class was over at 10, and some would stay around and chat about prints for a while. So it was usually 10:30 pm when I'd start for home about a 2 hours' drive away.

 

[ChrisPlatt]

My most memorable educational experience of any kind was a course in Ethnographic Photography
taught by Dr. Robert Glasse (RIP), Department of Anthropology at CUNY Queens College in the early 1980's.

Chris

 

[hlockwood]

A long time ago, perhaps 10 years or so, I took a course in Advanced Photography at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts school. I was all film and B&W, and we had access to a terrific darkroom.

Each of the students had to have an exhibit at the end of the course, usually a dozen or so prints to be critiqued by the class. I was the old timer in the class.

It was fun being around the younger generation, but I didn't learn very much about photography.

HFL

 

[BillBingham2]

Took classes in HS, not in college, learned more from my father (a photographer for Kodak for over 30 years), the AV guy in High School (ruthless editing) and practice.

Have take extension course at ICP (the flash photography class in the 1980's ROCKED) and a few other less notable places.

I found that if I put work into the class I got a lot out. When I looked around I found that was true for others as well. There were several bumps on-a-logs here and there that expected to have Dektol-dust sprinkled on them and be able to print like Ansel Adams.

Even the one that started out underwhelming worked out OK as it make me think what else I could learn and I came out better than when I walked in. Though not in the way I expected.

Never spent a lot of money on the "destination type" of class, all mine were local.

B2 (;->

 

[VisualDarkness]

Nope, self-taught and learned by reading on the internet, books and mostly just tried on my own.

Photography workshops are so incredibly expensive at most times and a day/weekend one costs like a journey abroad.

 

[FrankS]

Self taught too. I took those courses but it was mainly to use their darkrooms. Reading and doing. Before the Internet.

 

[Bill Clark]

Many, many.

Going to continue taking classes.

Always learning.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I've taken many. I took photography in high school all four years, then earned a Bachelors in Fine Arts with photo major at Indiana University. I've taken a lot of photo classes! I enjoyed them all, high school and college. Got to spend time with others who were into photography as much as I was, got to use the darkroom and studio equipment, and got a lot of practice. Practice is the most important thing in growing artistically, and school makes you do it; you can't let life get in the way of your photo work when your grades depend on it!

 

[thirtyfivefifty]

Self-taught. Lots of reading, experimenting, picking apart photographs, researching.

 

[RichC]

Master's degree in photography - purely for my enjoyment and interest, rather than for practical reasons such as to pursue a career. (My day job has nothing to do with photography.)

One of the best decisions I ever made - it really stretched me intellectually and photographically (my background is science, not art!): one of my tutors was a Magnum photographer, and MA students are judged for concept and technique against the best photographers - people like him - rather than against other students!

Additionally, it makes a huge difference being around like-minded people who are as passionate as you about photography.

I really miss the course now I've graduated...