Arts, Media, and Design at AIC: Journey from Boston to Forest Park: Digital Photo 3 Students Learn from a Master and The Masters

Students in Digital Photography 3 traveled to Boston to meet photographic legend Lou Jones in his studio. Over lunch he regaled them with vignettes of his worldwide photographic adventures. Many of stories stemmed from the precise and relevant questions students had prepared in advance to ask. Several questions related to Lou's panAfricaproject. The project aims to "redefine the modern image of Africa." So far, Lou has photographed in 15 of the project's goal of all 54 of the continent's countries.

Prior to the visit, the each student had taken a series of images to represent their aspirational photographic style. Lou took the time to critique each student's images. Based on what he noticed, Lou formulated unique assignments tailored to push students out of their comfort zones and improve their photography. At the end of the session, Lou spoke sharply about the lack of the human element in much of the student work. “Too much photographing things and objects. This is a fallback approach, a safety net. You are not engaging with the world. The biggest detriment to good pictures is fear.”

Here is the assignment work, along with student emails thanking Lou.

Lou's Assignment for Isaiah: "I like your perspective. If you change a person’s vantage point, you change their perspective. Shoot low, high, see from a completely different perspective. Go and find those elevated and low down spots/angles. Every picture you take has to have one person in the picture and they need to be identifiable. You have some nice vistas, but need to see that a person is identifiable in the scene. Get up high."

Dear Lou Jones,

I appreciate taking your advice in photography since we met in your studio. During the field trip, you assigned me in having one person as a main focus than objects such as cars or traffic lights. AS far as photography goes, then picture must have person being identified to know what they are accomplishing (such as constriction, Practicing, etc.)

For my plan, I attempted to take pictures on one person displaying their moments in different perspectives. Fortunately, I went in the Hive to take a photo of female chef as a focus, preparing the meals for the customers.

Thank you for teaching me more about photography and overcoming my flaws as a photographer. I am willing to look forward on exploring new materials with capturing images to tell the story.

Sincerely,
Isaiah C. Darden

Lou's Assignment for Kyana: "While some serious photographers use nature to create awareness about the stark realities, of say environmental issues, you need the human element. You pay attention to the simple things in life, what many people ignore. So take pictures of these things you notice, but add the element of humankind. What you see and notice is about nature is important and sometimes abstracted - now add a human element to every picture."

Thank you, Lou, for inviting us to your studio. I learned a lot from you, and your advice helped greatly with my recent photography. So, thank you for everything and have a great rest of your day.

Lou's Assignment for Taisha: "You have the beginnings of a feeling of what and how different light affects photographs. Take a picture of a tennis player in action. Include the person wearing tennis gear, the racket and the ball. An action shot. You set up the shot. You are in control. Inside or outside. Think of Sinner [tennis player Jannik Sinner] while you are taking the picture. Inside or outside."

Hi, good evening Lou,

Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with us and share your insights about your photography process. It was really helpful to hear how your work has evolved with changes in technology and how you’ve adapted over time. I also really appreciated the feedback you gave me after looking at the photos I took.

One of your suggestions was to try capturing an action tennis shot where both the ball and racket are included in a single frame. Keeping that in mind, along with the style I’m working on developing and the fact that the weather was too cold for outdoor tennis, I decided to do an indoor shoot in the studio, similar to how they usually do it for media day.

My friend helped me set up the backdrop and the lighting. I used some side lighting to add emphasis on the subject and create direction with the light. For the action shots, my friend posed with the racket and did a few swing motions without actually hitting the ball.

For one of the poses, especially the serve, she was too tall to toss the ball in the air and still stay within the frame of the backdrop. So, I had her kneel and mimic the motion of serving. It turned out to be a fun and creative solution, and overall, the shoot was a great learning experience.

Thank you again for spending time with us and offering your advice. I really enjoyed the session.

Best regards
Taisha Jones

Lou's Assignment for Amelia: "Research Stephen DiRado and his Across the Table series. Duplicate what he is doing. Get the perspective he uses. See what he is doing and do something like it."

Good morning Lou,

Thank you for taking the time to meet with us on February 28th. One idea or approach in taking the pictures that I learned is that I took the time to create and use care to create in certain spaces and areas.

Thank you for taking the time to meet with me to change the approach of photography.

Amelia.

Lou's Assignment for Grace: "Shoot a still life. Have three elements. The three elements can relate to each other, but should be very different. Have someone holding the three objects. Not just hands, but hands holding or using or displaying or involved with the objects. Study what a still life is.”

Good morning Lou,

I hope all is well!

I wanted to reach out and express my thanks to you for inviting my classmates and I into your studio for our field trip. It was great to see first hand what a professional setup looks like and all the projects you’ve done over the years. I also very much appreciated the feedback you provided on my studio images, and really took those comments into consideration when completing my assignment from you. Specifically, your suggestion about have more people or human elements in my images really stuck with me. My assigned prompt from you was to take an image of hands holding three different objects. As simple as that may sound, this was surprisingly difficult for me to get inspiration, and really be set on what I wanted to do. But despite the challenges, I enjoyed stepping out of my comfort zone and being forced to do something I wouldn’t choose myself. Thank you again for having us, it was a pleasure meeting you and your team!

Kind regards,

Grace Boisvert

Lou's Assignment for Daniel: “Take a picture of similar subjects, a father and child. Not a bull’s eye composition. You can use whatever style, however, include a parent and child. The subjects should not make eye contact with the camera.”

Dear Mr. Jones,

Thank you for your advice and your stories. Hearing about your career was a tremendous joy, and I appreciate the challenge you gave me. I photographed a father and son sitting in front of the fireplace. I took the image slightly off to the left, with the father and son staring into each other's eyes, smiling from following your advice. I think the picture came out very well. I have learned from you the importance of subject positioning; the father and son looking into each other's eyes gave depth and emotion to the picture. Thanks for the time you spent with us in Boston. I appreciate it.

Sincerely,

Daniel

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The students built on Lou's advice by visiting The Smith College Museum of Art in Northampton, MA to engage with Temporarily Ours: Contemporary Photography and Film. Prior to the visit, each student prepared an oral presentation about one of the photographers in the exhibition and then took turns in the gallery presenting information about the person they researched.

Furthermore, in advance of the trip to Northampton, students studied the genre of street photography and formulated a collective list of the various approaches street photographers use. After their photographic immersion at the museum, they hit the streets of Northampton to document life in the city.

Photo by Kyana Andrews

A couple examples of students taking on Lou's challenge to photograph strangers.

Photo by Isaiah Darden

On the last day of class, a week later, students visited Michelle and Donald D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts in Springfield. A docent explained key themes and approaches of 19th American landscape painters as the students examined the paintings closely. Students learned that the painters revered nature, that human figures were usually small in the scenes to emphasize the power of the natural world and the multiple meanings of the word sublime. Students were surprised to see how a painter composited different New England scenes unnaturally into a single painting. The approach echoed the reality-bending photomontages students create using Photoshop on the computer. Students also viewed Impressionist and Pointillist masterpieces at the museum.

In the van on the road from the museum to Springfield's Forest Park, students shared how they could use landscape painters' ideas and approaches as they readied to photographically capture the natural world.

(In advance of the field trip to Forest Park, Professor Nordell had scouted out the location so he could help students could maximize their visit. Unfamiliar with the park, Nordell asked a stranger for advice. The person turned out to be Mark Archer, who has lived his whole life close to the park and photographed the area over the years, most recently with a drone. Prior to the field trip, students engaged with this video.)