In each facility we teach one course a semester and two semesters a year. A semester comprises thirteen classes, each of which lasts 1½ hours. Besides hands-on training from three instructors in class, the kids receive assignments to promote unsupervised, self-directed learning
For each course, in which there are six new students and two graduate students serving as teaching assistants, there are four professional photographers/volunteer teachers and two professional computer experts/volunteer teachers.
Each facility provides a classroom with a whiteboard and a projection screen. The Fresh Eyes Photography Project provides everything else including printers and laptop computers that the students share for Photoshop classes. At the end of the semester, the boys who have completed the requirements of participation in class discussions and quizzes, and the completion of assignments, are awarded a diploma.
Questions are welcomed, and we use the Socratic method of teaching. During
class reviews of the boys' images, we teach the boys how to look at , and evaluate
photographs, critiquing on the formal properties of the work, never the photographer.
Introduction of the course outline. Discussion of the basics of any camera. Discussion of the major types of camera: rangefinder (point and shoot), reflex cameras, and view cameras. The discussion is illustrated by examples of these cameras that the boys are encouraged to examine, and by pictures that have been taken with them by some of the world's greatest photographers.
Discussion of digital cameras versus film cameras, of film versus CCD, and
of processing with chemicals versus in-camera processing. Digital cameras are
distributed to the boys, who then tag them with their names. We show the boys
how to correctly hold the cameras and some other elementary procedures.
Discussion of the focal ranges of different cameras, and ways of and focusing
with both manual and automatic cameras. The boys practice focusing with a manual
35mm camera, a Polaroid manual focus camera, and a digital camera. They also
shoot some Polaroid film (the pictures come out with a green tinge because of
the facility's fluorescent light and, therefore, are useful in the fourth class,
when we discuss correcting the colour of light). Boys also learn the focal range
of, and practice with, their digital cameras. Handouts illustrate in-focus and
out-of-focus pictures, and the uses of both.
Discussion of light control: Different speeds of shutter release are used to
show how to freeze motion and show motion (using a tripod for a long exposure).
Different sizes of aperture demonstrate differing depths of field. Handouts
illustrate various depths of field, and how to achieve them.
There is a short shoot during which the boys can practice these techniques.
Discussion of various lenses (macro, telephoto, wide-angle, and both optical
and digital zoom.) The discussion is augmented with illustrations and handouts.
There is a shoot during which the boys practice various lens applications with
their digital cameras, and see the very different effects of using telephoto
and wide-angle lens settings.
Prints of all the frames shot in the previous class are distributed and discussed.
Discussion of light, including quantity and quality as these relate to distance,
as well as temperature and colour. Handouts illustrate the colours of tungsten/
incandescent, halogen, fluorescent, daylight (different times of day), and strobe
(flash.) We bring in a halogen studio light with a blue gel to show how to correct
tungsten light when using a film camera, and use a magenta gel to show how to
correct fluorescent light (that is, the ambient light of the classroom) when
using a film camera. We then show the boys how to correct light with a digital
camera.
Discussion of film and memory cards: sensitivity to light of various ISO numbers.
Discussion of controlling ambient light by adding additional light, blocking
light, or diffusing light (we bring in blocking and diffusing screens and use
the studio light to demonstrate how to warm up daylight with tungsten).
Portrait shoot to practice these techniques.
Prints of all the frames shot in the previous class are handed out and critiqued.
Discussion of digital photography-how digital cameras work: CCD (no film is
used); internal memory of the camera (buffer); compression of the image ( TIF
or JPEG);transfer of images to the memory card; and the display, review and
deletion of images on the LCD. We also give the boys some definitions (pixel,
megabyte, resolution, quality, size, etc.)
The boys are given a shooting assignment that involves techniques they have
learned, problems to be solved, decisions to be made.
Prints of all the frames shot in the previous class are distributed and critiqued.
Discussion of some of the elements of composition--the rule of three, different
angles from which a photograph can be taken, the decisive moment, the uses of
wide-angle and telephoto lenses for unusual effects.
Discussion of color (including the affective differences between color and black-and-white
photography).
Both discussions are illustrated by handouts, and with illustrations put up
on the wall.
A digital shoot with props includes the use of techniques, problems to be solved,
decisions to be made. We print everything the kids shoot-mistakes as well as
successes-so they can learn from both.
Prints of all the frames shot in the previous class are handed out and critiqued.
A shoot using added light to demonstrate how subjects are affected by their
position in relation to the light source (backlighting to show up soap bubbles
and mist as well as to photograph silhouettes; front-lighting and side-lighting
to show shadows, and fill-flash). The kids also learn by doing, how subjects
are affected by the quantity and quality of light--hard light; soft light; reflecting,
bouncing, diffusing light; and monster lighting.
Prints of all the frames shot in the previous class are handed out and critiqued.
Discussion of flash: red-eye reduction, forced flash, suppressed flash.
Portrait shoot in which the boys can experiment with red-eye reduction when
using flash, as well as with some other techniques, such as the angle from which
one takes a photograph. They also get special effects by taking flash pops with
an off-camera flash, for fun.
Prints of all the frames shot in the previous class are distributed and critiqued.
Printing class: Entering images on the computer and manipulating these images
(adjusting color and contrast, enlarging and reducing).
Prints of all the frames shot in the previous are handed out and critiqued.
Discussion of shutter speeds. Relationship between apertures, ISO numbers and
shutter speeds. Handout demonstrate the effects of different shutter speeds.
There is an out-door shoot in which the kids use different shutter speeds to
freeze motion and show the blur of motion.
Prints of all the frames shot in the previous class are distributed and critiqued.
Discussion of aperture sizes. Handouts demonstrate the effects of different shutter speeds. In the shoot that follows, the kids select different F-stops to experiment with different depths of field, both deep and shallow. They also experiment with a macro setting.
Computer class: Further editing of an image, including cleaning up the image
(removing specks, etc) and removing any unwanted elements (such as a protruding
elbow or a piece of crumpled paper on the ground that the photographer may not
have noticed when composing the shot).
Prints of all the frames shot in the previous class are handed out and critiqued.
There is a discussion about the subject for the videos the kids will shoot at
their next and final class, which is also graduation day.
Graduation Day. Prints of all the frames shot in the previous class are handed
out and critiqued. Each boy then makes a two minute video (usually, the boys
interview each other discussing their work.) The staff is invited to a small
ceremony at which the videos are viewed and each boy is handed his diploma and
a portfolio of six, professionally printed, 8"X10" prints of his best
work. We also provide refreshments for a small celebration of their accomplishments.
At the end of the course, we mount some of the boys' best work on boards that
are hung in the visitors' area as well as in the educational building, where
the boys can see them.
Note: Following the spring semester there may be a month-long public showing of the boys' work, introduced with an opening reception for community leaders. Each of the boys is asked to donate a photograph to be sold for charity. In the spring of 2004, the charity, selected by the boys, was First Step, for whom the five graduates raised $685. During the fall semester the shooting and making of Christmas cards may be substituted for part of the above curriculum. These cards are sold to benefit charity, the recipient in previous years being the Hacienda del Sol, a shelter for homeless women with children.
The Photography Program is launched by a slide show for any of the residents and staff members who wish to attend. The show features many of the greatest images of the last 150 years, and is followed by a discussion. We talk about the boys' reactions to what they have seen and to what they attribute these reactions; how to look at a photograph; what makes a photograph effective? why people take photographs and the many uses of photography; how photographs have brought about changes in public perception; how five photographers can take the same subject and all the photographs will be different because each photographer will have approached the subject from a different point of view; how photography can widen one's horizons and make one see the world with fresh eyes.
We try to schedule another slide show sometime around the sixth week to see if, or how, the boys have refined their views.
Note: Slides for the initial show were provided by the Photography Department of the University of Arizona, at Tucson; the Museum of Modern Art, in New York; the International Center of Photography, in New York; the Harold Edgerton Foundation in Palm Beach, Florida; and the Rocky Mountain School of Photography, in Missoula, Montana.