Learning to Photograph with Digital Cameras

Matt O'Brien
Tuesdays 7:00–9:00 PM
5 weeks starting June 10
$120 / $105 UCB students
Digital cameras are revolutionizing how we make and share photographs. In some ways, digital cameras are utterly different from their predecessors, though they require the same knowledge, skills and artistry of conventional photographic equipment. This course will introduce the basics of photography to beginners and to photographers using a digital camera for the first time. The course covers digital camera operation and will take the mystery out of technical issues and terminology. Students will learn to make, adjust, and transmit photographs via the computer. The course will also introduce the methods and practices that have, since the advent of the medium, helped photographers make more pleasing images. Students must provide their own digital cameras. Please bring the camera and manual to class. Understanding of the Macintosh operating system recommended. Students may work on their projects outside of class in the ASUC Art Studio computer lab.

Matt O’Brien’s Royal Colombia, a documentary project about Colombian beauty pageants, is currently on exhibit at the Centro Colombo Americano in Medellin, Colombia and at the Museum of Modern Art in Cartagena, Colombia. Images from the project were published last year in Jane magazine. Other documentary projects, as well as his Polaroid emulsion transfers, have also been exhibited and published extensively.
See: Matt O'Brien Photography

Syllabus