Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Photography Field Trip

Each year I take my high school art classes on a field trip to a part of the city where there is a lot going on and I suppose you can say that for most of Egypt. This time we went to "mansheya" and hit the food souq, the corniche, and walked about 2-3 km to Ramil station. I gave them a list of potential subject matter such as candids, close ups, shadows, buildings, etc. Each student had to take a minimum of 80 shots and maybe next year I will change that so that the focus will be more on composition; quality not quantity. One of the sad realities of digital photography is that most people don't think and frame their shots and as a result there is surplus of bad pictures. Each student had to turn in their 10 best shots and for most that was a struggle even after talking about the "rules of thirds" to death.












Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Chalk Pastel Birds Grade 7

We went big on this project, 20" x 24" charcoal paper. You can say it was like a mini dust storm in the art room. I was going through a drawer of supplemental materials I inherited several years ago and came across a stack of bird photographs. I prefer live drawing but you can't really get that from birds so the photos were put to use.

We looked a couple of neo-expressionist artist such as Carlos Almaraz to get a feel for how they use line and color to create energy in their work. Blending of 2-3 colors was expected. The background was their own choice as most went with a more natural surrounding.

If I haven't already mentioned this I love my grade 7 class, they will try anything and as a teacher that is really all we ask for.