I Spy Robot Eyes!
During our Week 4 workshop students learned about view finders and many different ways to frame a subject to make a photograph. The students created I Spy! photographs using the theme, “I Spy Robot Eyes” and then we discussed how robots use camera eyes to see.
We also looked at a vintage Kodak Pocket Camera that belonged to my grandfather and talked about how he used it to document his Navy travels during WWII. We further discussed how cameras are used to document fun and important family events like birthdays and holidays.
One of the students noted that the Kodak Pocket Camera has a bellows just like the view camera they saw a couple weeks ago. Camera bellows are used to move the lens closer and further away from the film plane for focusing. This Kodak Pocket Camera is focused based on an estimation of distance so when I photographed the workshop group I first measured the distance from the front row to the camera and then used a light meter to determine the exposure settings needed.
During the last half hour of the workshop students got to experiment making photographs with 35mm film cameras and black and white film. They also used digital cameras and cardboard frames to explore different view finder formats from square to rectangle to panorama. We also took a close look at this animated gif featuring blinking eyes hidden in tree foliage…
In Week 5 students will get to see prints of their I Spy! compositions and processed negatives from the group shot and 35mm photography. They will also learn about photographic design with an emphasis on forced perspective.
