PHOTO 202Fundamentals of Professional Photography

3 credits · Photography · Penn State

This professionally oriented photography course gives students a foundation in the techniques and other competencies relevant to professional photography. PHOTO 202 Fundamentals of Professional Photography is a professionally oriented problem based learning class where students are introduced to the fundamental technical and creative aspects of client centered photography relevant to careers in photography and photography related or dependent fields. Students will be introduced to the photographic techniques; professional practices; creative sensibilities; and cultural knowledge significant to the work of a professional photographer and fields reliant on or related to professional photography. The course content focuses student attention on mastering the technical fundamentals of professional photography in the context of the photographer/client relationship. The learning problems place emphasis on the communication, collaboration, and cooperation necessary to solve visual photographic problems in a professionally oriented setting. Under these conditions, students must collaborate with their clients to foster creatively productive relationships and meet their photographic needs. This problem requires developing communication and interpersonal relation skills, which require clearly understanding the clients' needs and educating them about the creative possibilities and limitations. Under this teaching and learning model, students must learn to merge their own creative vision with the needs and desires of their professional clients. These skills are directly applicable to the real world problems students will encounter in professionally oriented circumstances after they graduate. In the learning problems student peers, with the instructor's guidance, will play dual roles of clients and photographers with the goal of concentrating the photographers' attentions on communicating with their clients to create effective and creative purpose-driven images. Consequently, the course places a greater emphasis on communication, collaboration, and cooperation than it does on personally and individually motivated expression. Since the advent of digital photography, the medium has undergone an unprecedented period of technological, creative, and cultural flux. Digital photography, computer technology, and social media have had dramatic impact on the medium, which we expect will continue into the future. Consequently, we have used a problem based learning approach to ensure we can continuously address the most relevant and current topics and information. We have also chosen major teaching and learning topics, which will continue to meet the fundamental needs of the students even as technology continues to shift. At the beginning of each semester, students and the instructors will work collaboratively to develop five student learning-problems. These problems or projects will address the major teaching and learning topics under a variety of conditions designed to reinforce the subject matter, encourage flexibly creative thinking, and allow students to pursue the subject with greater critical depth and awareness.