Introductory Photography: Blue

Catalog description

This introductory photography course invites students to explore, reflect on, and be inspired by the color blue. Through the historical process of cyanotype, a low-cost photographic printing method from over a century ago now echoed in contemporary aesthetics such as Instagram filters, students will create their own blue-toned images and artworks. Co-taught with the department's Holt Visiting Artist, the course uses these "blueprints" as a foundation to examine blue as a physical, natural, artistic, and spiritual phenomenon. Students will engage with themes of site specificity, ecological memory, migration, and transformation, while also learning research-based practices that consider the histories of California and of students themselves, and explore how these histories intersect with broader global narratives. Field trips will offer opportunities for on-site research, and the course will culminate in the creation of a large-scale installation in the Coulter Art Gallery. Students will use their own cell phone cameras, and all necessary software and materials will be provided.