How would you approach this situation?

This Spring I have agreed to and am presently instructing an adult

education class in basic photography. To complement the course I have

also agreed to take the students on three �one day hikes� into the

mountains and help them with both their understanding of equipment

and exposure as well as answer questions on how to improve their

skills. Just last night I was approached about offering a fall course

that would focus equally on darkroom and outdoor shooting. I have

been graciously offered a community darkroom and classroom area for

this course. I have been asked to make my decision by next week and I

am presently pondering my instructor skills and value to these

students

 

Well just a few moments ago I was reading another thread "

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0050Lu "

and noticed a reply by Jorge Gasteazoro. His reply was so simple,

logical and to the specific point that I thought to myself how he

certainly would make a wonderful instructor.

 

So my questions to all of you is .....

 

How would you teach others photography while keeping it both truthful

(read accurate) yet simple enough to comprehend for a basic course?

 

What approach have you found to be most useful to yourself when

someone else has helped you to understand a photographic related

problem?

 

Do you have any other suggestions to help me as an instructor?

 

Thanks for you contributions, ideas and help.

 

Kind Regards,

I think what has helped me the most over the years is discovering, or being guided to, the "connections" between a few basic principals of camera theory, how those principals affect the visual rendition on film, and how the same principals also apply in the darkroom. Essentially, it amounts to cutting to the bottom line, or grasping the core simplicity of the theory, and how to apply it visually without necessarily understanding the details of the physics or the math behind it.

 

Assuming the classes are not format specific (i.e. not limited to large format), my assumption would be that you'll be getting a fairly broad spectrum of students - some who are already reasonably adept at photography, but want to learn more, and some with no real foundation of experience. As such, it may be helpful to size up where the balance of experience is in the class, and then make sure that you provide tid-bits that are useful to the entire spectrum in each class session.

Sounds as if you have a teaching job in your future. Probably more of one then you had initially expected. I think that I would teach this in levels.

The first level being classroom instruction on a camera, shutter speed and aperture and how they relate to exposure, film characteristics, lens characteristics of speed and focal length. Loading film in the camera and unloading it as well. (I would probably cover these in several installments to prevent to much information at one time).

The next level would be the matter of day trips. This would be the place to teach use of tripods, cable releases, filters, and most importantly visualizing an image. Perhaps by the third day trip I would give each participant an assignment of a self deter-mined "study".

I would carry this forward into the darkroom instruction covering darkroom practice. A procedure to arrive at a proper exposure and contrast on a print. Producing a print complete with instruction on burning and dodging.

I would give a great deal of thought to the material that I wanted to cover in each of these stages, arranging a curriculum that is published and followed (whether it be yours or anothers). It may even be that you might benefit from following one of the Kodak publications that teach basic photography.

How big is the dark room? You'd be at this forever if it's a big class as you'd be taking them in there in shifts. First thing I'd do is determine the size of the class.

 

As wisely suggested above I'd stay away from the compicated science. Get them going and then if they have it in their blood they'll want the deep theory later.

Something like this came up last year and there were some great answers, as I expect

again. Adult education can be great-unless the instructor sloughs it, which I know you

won't. I think any teacher owes his or her students 3 things: (1) That there is some

actual content and standards to the course, that we leave having felt that we learned

something; (2) That you are fair to and take an equal interest in all students-not an

easy chore; and (3) That you have the gift and maturity to see what each person

"wants" to express and can help them realize it. The worst teachers can only and only

ask students to produce what they know how to do. Good luck and have fun...

First find out what they want to get out of the course. Teaching them to much detail when all they want is to learn how to take "pretty" pictures with their P&S's is a waste of their and your time.

As good friend of mine who is long time teacher in photo has noted over the years you just have to take your time and hope they get it. Don't

over do it with anything but the K I S S rule. And after that its still uphill from there. Good luck. Oh yea if you have a school around your area that also offers any kind of graphic class you might take time to take a class or talk to a teacher to get more ideas. Just a thought.

What a great opportunity for you. Wish it was me.

 

About eighteen years ago my son's Boy Scout troup asked me to teach them basic photography. What a joy it was. The concept of f stops and shutter speeds was the hardest for them to grasp. I tried the gallon of water through larger and larger diameter pipes demonstration. Then they got it. They had the most fun pulling their first roll of b & w 35mm out of the last wash and seeing the portrait images they had taken only minutes before. (This was way before digital).

 

I have been a member of my local Community Adult School for more than twenty years. Our teacher is experienced, knowledgeable, friendly, and (on occasion) kindly. I know that I'd never have progressed without his guidance. And the occasional boot to the butt.

 

All of the suggestions above are right on target. The one area that gets most tyros is understanding the meter. Teach them repeatedly what the meter, in camera or handheld, is telling the student. And how to compensate when the meter is fooled.

 

Oh, yes, and have a lesson plan. Keeps you and the student organized.

 

Where are you? I'll attend.

For me, the single most important concept in photography is reciprocity. Time X Intensity = Exposure, the way that aperture size and shutter speed combine to determine exposure, the way that densities in a negative produce densities in a print etc. After that, the relationship between exposure and development and how it effects contrast. And finally, the relationship between minimum density in a negative and maximum black in a print (see reciprocity) as demonstrated by the max black paper test and contact printing. I believe that with this basic understanding, a student would have the tools to express themselves photographically, or at least determine wether photography is the right medium for them. I think that an ideal basic photography course would center on developing sheet film by inspection, and contact printing. I can't imagine a more intuitive way of learning the essentials of the photographic process. As for the one day hikes, unless your course is specifically a basic LANDSCAPE photography course, I would include a trip into the city, or arrange for a visit to a studio, or perhaps a natural light portrait lesson. You may have a student like myself, for whom landscape photography holds no appeal. Good luck.

Thanks for the kind comment Wolf. In my experience I think you need to know when to stop explaining. The more experienced we are the more we tend to get deeper in the details which leads to frustration for both you and your students.

 

As mentioned before keep it simple and short. For example many beginners get hung up on the concept of f/stops and time, the easiest way I thought of explaining this was to tell them to think of their eyes, when there is very little light, their pupils open more, when there is a lot of light, their pupils close more. In essence the pupil is the "iris" or diaphragm in the lens.

If you start talking about the ratio of the diameter of the opening to the focal length you will loose them faster than you can say $hit.......

Grrey Wolf- You've gotten some good advice so far. I agree with

Jorge and I do use Steve's water volume technique. I also teach

adults at my local Community College. One of my tenents has

always been to let students know exactly how things work (to the

best of my knowledge). That is, why smaller apertures have

larger numbers and all that, etc., and give them a very real

understanding of the process. As far as how to start the class

you've got, start by asking them, ' If you were going to try to

impress someone with your knowledge of phoitography, what

would you tell them is the most advanced 'secret handshake'

you've learned'. Very quickly, you'll learn their level of

understanding. If you're in the outdoors, there's a good

oppotunity to learn about B&W filtration if you ask them to shoot

that. Also, the best learning tool I've found for that is LF Polaroid.

Shoot the group with various filters and watch their shirts and

jackets change brightness under various filters, and get their

attention with the exotic equipment. Gotta go. This AM I'm

tutoring a policewoman who has never done any thing but point

and shoot, and now has the job of police photographer.

The second class you teach a group is way more easy than the first, because you finally have them all on the same page. Set a clear goal as to what you want them to learn by the end of the class, keep it simple, straightforward, with as much hands on as time will allow. Don't waste time with the information that is easily looked up, or irrelevant to a beginner. Teaching beginners photography basics when most will use an auto everything camera is harder than you think, because really what you're going to be doing is teaching them what an auto camera does. Your biggest hurdle may be "why should I care?". Part of the course may well be about what's technically wrong with their pictures. Not composition, but depth of field, exposure errors, limitations of inexpensive cameras. More than one student may truly believe his "expensive" point and shoot is a "good" camera, and may be resistent to learning that he "can't get there from here." Be sensitive to the reality that some of your students cannot afford to own the hardware that they need to achieve the technical expertise you may be teaching. Later in the course, maybe take along some good shots where you know what camera manipulation was needed to obtain the result and walk them through in real time the steps to the outcome.

I would begin by asking the question, why do we make photographs? To help answer this I would expose the class to the work of a few prominent photographers. Certainly people like Gene Smith, Karsh, Dorothea Lange, Edward Curtis, Ansel Adams, Weston come to mind. Once we sense the passion to create images, we can learn the mechanical aspects.

Important comment, Ken. David Vestal's book has an excellent chapter on Why Take

Pictures? It doesn't have to be grandiose or for ART"S SAKE. I want to capture the fall

colors. I want to take pictures of my family and friends. I just restored my boat. I

like the light today. We're going on vacation. Let the images flow first and the

geometry and ideas will follow.......

Refer them to this site. This is a great place to learn the basics and to get answers to ANY question that you have. This very thread is a great example of the kind of help that you can (should) expect to receive here. I rarely need to ask questions here if I run a search first and do a little reading.

 

Keep the class size small if you have any control over it. With any photography class, people are on so many different levels. With a small class you can give more individual attention and help each student grow.

Keep in mind that learning how to teach is an art in and of itself so as you go on with it, you will find out if you really like teaching or not. If you like it, then you will discover a way, with time, of transmitting your knowledge coherently to the group as well as the individuals that comprise it. The worst trait in a teacher is inflexibility...unless he/she is a genious...then they are good only for the advanced student. For beginners...go slow, dont overwhelm them with technical stuff, remember how it was for you when you were beginning. Be patient and everyone will learn by traveling the road of attempt...leading to... success/failure... and producing growth.Good Luck!

The students should each purchase class books. I think A.A.'s book series " Camera, Negative, and Print" (paperback), would make perfect class books. The students read chapters as homework, and you discuss them in class, clarifing and answering questions as necessary. Some chapters can be skipped or lightly skimmed over if they are too techincal or don't apply to the particular level of the class. Save that for the Photo II class. (Advanced) Highlight your own books with yellow for Photo I level of knowledge. (basic stuff). Orange for Photo II level, ect. Your lesson plan can be outlined from these books, as everything is already in order.

 

 

Lessons dealing with Depth of Field, selective focus, over / under exposure, ect. should be followed with students making photographs using these skills. Followed by develope and contact printing.

 

 

Even the Entry level students should get to develope and contact print their negs. Then choose a shot or 2 to enlarge to 5x7 or so. It's when they see the image appear that first time, you'll know by the look on their face if they're hooked.

 

Students should know up front what supplies they'll need, (camera film books ect.)And a tuition cost to cover the chemicals and paper and any other sundry items that the class uses as a whole.

 

Prior to signing up, the student should bring their camera to the teacher to see if it qualifies. If a lot of point and shoot automatics come in then your lesson plan will need to be revised. Or you will need to specify a minimum requirment of say a camera with ajustable shutter, f/ stops, and focus. This puts the whole class on level ground.

 

 

dee

"The students should each purchase class books. I think A.A.'s book series " Camera, Negative, and Print" (paperback), would make perfect class books. The students read chapters as homework, and you discuss them in class, clarifing and answering questions as necessary. Some chapters can be skipped or lightly skimmed over if they are too techincal or don't apply to the particular level of the class."

 

Technically useful, but stultifyingly boring! Don't think I'd stay in that class too long... :-)

"How would you teach others photography while keeping it both truthful (read accurate) yet simple enough to comprehend for a basic course?"

 

I'd tell them to show for the first class with fingerpaint and very big sheets of paper.

I have taken a very few photo courses and only three out of the seven

of them were worth $hit.

 

The first one was taken when I was 13 years old (11 years ago) and it

taught me the most. All we did, was show up the first class and walk

around with our cameras and take photos. The teacher would watch us,

and get us to see things a little diff., like laying on the ground,

pointing up, etc. He also showed most of us how to use our in camera

meters. (a manually adjustable camera was the only requirement for

the course)

 

The second class, we processed the film and contacted printed it.

The third class we learned how to make a print.

 

After that, those who wanted to use the darkroom got to use it and

those who preferred to learn more technical stuff were able to get

individual instruction.

 

Learning this way allowed the teacher (and us) the realize how much we

wanted to pursue photography. I guess it worked out ok becuase at the

age of almost twenty four, I am a working professional photographer.

 

The other two classes, were a photograhic styling class- which

improved my photography 1000%. It was taught by one of the top 10 prop

stylists in NYC, and she really showed us how to tell a story with

whats IN the photograph, and how lighting and exposure are secondary

to whats in the picture. For most of us, it takes a long time to

figure this out, or we don't figure it out at all.

 

The last class, was a basic large format class- and...well lets say

that since 1999- 98% of my photography has been shot on 4x5/5x7/and

8x10. The teacher was so good, that almost everytime I set up a shot,

I hear his voice in my head!!!

 

Now, here is my insight on what ALWAYS pissed me off in a class, and

why I stopped taking photo classes.

 

1. Being all over the place- a lot of teachers cannot stay focused, an

d this is bad considering that most of us students can't stay

focused!!! I have had teachers who had no lesson plan whatsoever and

would teach us how to use strobe on lesson two and than realizing that

the school only allows photo majors (this was a continuing ed class)

to sign out strobe equipment. Not much planning went into that one,

and we wasted 8 hours learning something we (at the time) could not

apply.

 

2. Being overly technical: This is a problem when half of your class

just learned how to use a K1000. I never had a problem with the

technical stuff, but most people do. I had a teacher waste hours

explaining how hot lights work (in physics terms) how strobes work (in

physics terms) how hmi's work (in physics terms), but didn't seem to

realize most people in the class didn't know how electricity worked,

nor did they care. We all took the class, to learn how to point lights

and what techniques to use to light portraits and still-lifes.

 

3. Requiring to purchase to much stuff. The teacher mentioned in the

first no-no made everyone in the class purchase:

 

20 rolls of portra 160nc, 20 rolls of provia 100f, a light meter, a

tripod, two textbooks, tried to get people to buy more lenses, etc.

 

We ended up, getting crap for using a tripod (its not improptu...)

only shooting black and white, breaking up into groups so only 5 light

meters were needed for the whole class (which the school provided) and

never using the textbooks. Most of us, did not have the money to

spend on this stuff, and the more money you outlay without any result

makes all but the most determined ready to quit.

 

Its just like anything else, a teacher is there to guide-not impose

his opinion. I think the best way to teach a class is to get people to

expose film as fast as possible and worry about the rest later. We all

learn from mistakes, so we must make them to correct them.

 

The more time you spend lecturing, the less time they have to spend

shooting. Remember how we all were at first, it would take us 3 weeks

to expose a roll of film. We always thought that "it wasn't good

enough". Teach them to realize that film is cheap compared to

everything else in photography.

 

We all want to learn when we have a hurdle to leap. Who cares about

exposure until they are unsatisfied with their exposures??? Who cares

about learning the "rule of thirds" until we are bored with are

photos??? We can only learn this stuff if we have bad photos to look

at. And the only way we can get that is buy having film to look at.

 

It is like anything, just think how we started in school when we were

little-by having fun. Later on we started learning why.......

 

th

Do no home work - play it by ear, getting plenty of feedback on what they understand.

 

Get them to bring cameras in - if most of them are auto, do not spend the first three lessons on exposure.

 

Do not spoon-feed them too much - what they find out for themselves they will remember.

 

Try to inspire rather than teach.

 

Give the more advanced students exercises to do while you give more help to those who need it most.

 

Remember that the basics are the same as for painting:

 

Subject selection

 

Lighting or time of day selection

 

Composition.

hi grey wolf -

 

you might consider using a basic photography text like henry hornstien's

book. i can't remember the name, but it is pretty basic and at the big

bookstores. you might also consider putting a "cap" on how many students

you want to teach. sometimes teaching more than 2 dozen can be very

difficult, especially when its your first wack at teaching, and you are going to

be helping with printing later on. write an outline for yourself ( lesson plan)

that entails a very basic outline of what you want to accomplish - relation

between shutter speed/aperature, perspective/depth of field, composition - it

is easy to wander, but don't wander too far, you'll lose them. have small

projects each week that relate to what you taught in the class, and maybe

when they get the hang of printing &c, they can decide on a project, and all

show their work at the end of the semester ..

- remember their main goal isn't to learn about the schmphlug principle but to

take better pictures.

 

good luck!

I would like to thank everybody who took the time to offer their thoughts on how I should proceed. Interesting enough and exactly what I was hoping for has occurred in the variety of replies to this post. The different viewpoints that came across have provided me with �much food for thought� in my continual development of the course content as well as my teaching approach. A few of you contributors were even gracious enough to contact me off-line and provide concrete examples and working methods that will prove quite helpful in the upcoming months.

 

The biggest challenge that I face is being able to recognize an individual�s desires, needs and aspirations completely independent of my own design. Many of you have pointed that out quite clearly which has helped immensely in getting me back on track with the students I teach. It is far too easy when you have a captive audience to wander off onto topics of interest to oneself and areas where I perceive as important aspects of the learning process.

 

With all of your help I have now began to correct this misconception.

 

The good news is that last night half of the class developed their first roll of black and white film. (HP5Plus) The reactions of the students to seeing that first roll come off the reel and having actual, usable and well developed negatives was truly gratifying to myself. For a moment there I started to feel a bit like Ansel in my satisfaction in the sharing of my knowledge and skills with those just beginning. Tonight we will be doing the same routine with the second half of the class. Somehow I feel that for once I am cheating the system by being financially compensated for something that is already truly gratify in the act itself.

 

Thanks again to all of you for taking the time to contribute and in doing so making the teaching process so much more enjoyable for myself.

 

Kind Regards,