Visualizing Ecology
Week 7 Photography Assignment
Due: Thursday, Week 8

Technical Assignment:

One of the goals of this class is to learn how your camera handles light.  Experiment with the fill flash and exposure features of your digital camera.  Make 3 photographs of a still life in which you vary the amount of flash.  Make 3 photographs of a still life in which you vary the exposure (normal, over-exposed, under-exposed).  Print out these images (on cheap paper in black and white) and make notes about the results in your sketchbook.

Expressive Assignment:

In Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan writes about our inborn and learned sense of desire and disgust that help to guide our food choices (p. 4).  These responses to different types of food are conditioned by our past experiences, powers of recognition, and the cultural taboos and rituals we learn growing up.  In contemporary society, we are constantly exposed to food packaging and advertising that promises to deliver all sorts of good things like happiness, security, romance, and good health.  As eco-artists, we can use these strategies to produce images to entice people to eat ethically.  Central to this is an appeal to the consumer’s sense of desire and disgust.

Create two still life photographs that address the same food (or meal) that is damaging to the environment and/or involves the unethical treatment of animals.   In the first photograph, make the image create a sense of desire on the part of the viewer.  In the second photograph make an image that diminishes this desire.  Use only images (no text) in your photographs.  

Place your images in the Visualizing Ecology Make two versions of each photograph- a before Photoshop and an after Photoshop.  

You have two options for turning in these photographs. 1) Print them in the Digital Imaging Studio (8 x 10) would be nice.  2) Place copies of your 4 photographs in MASU – Programs – Visualizing Ecology.  In the workspace folder, you will find a folder labeled “ Group A Photography Critique 2”  Place your photos here using the following naming convention:  LastNameFirstInitial_2A  and LastNameFirstInitial_2B.  For example, HarrisonL_2A.