GEOS 12
Landscape Photography
Last Offered Winter 2009
Division III
Cross-listed ENVI 12
This course is not offered in the current catalog

This class will broaden students’ appreciation for the appearance and history of the landscape and teach the skills of making a successful photograph. Williamstown, situated in a valley between the Green and Taconic Mountains and bisected by the Green and Hoosic Rivers, is a place of great natural beauty. The local landscape is a subject that inspires both professional and amateur photographers alike. While Williamstown will be the subject of most of our work, we will use it to learn principles of universal application. Students will discover the importance of light in making a photograph. They will also learn camera skills and the mechanics of photography to make slides, which will be reviewed at biweekly class meetings. In addition to photographing and critiquing images, the class will visit collections at the Clark Art Institute and WCMA to see original work and examine and discuss books on reserve at Sawyer Library. An overview of the history of landscape photography will be provided with an emphasis on American workers such as Carlton Watkins, Eadweard Muybridge, Alfred Stieglitz, Eliot Porter and Ansel Adams. We will also demonstrate examples of different cameras such as medium format, view cameras, and panorama cameras. Students will produce a body of successful photographs/slides, which will be displayed at http://drm.williams.edu/projects/. Students will submit short written explanations with each of their photographic assignments.