ZipZapSnap

E. "Money" Banks

2008-08-10T11:39:00.000-07:00

Edward Banks is from Los Angeles and is 16 years old. He is going into the 11th grade at Los Angeles School of Global Studies. He fell in love with photography at 10 years old when Edward met Andrew, a NBA and WNAB photographer. Since he was ten, Edward has love to take basketball and football photos. His goal in the world is to become a NBA or NFL photographer. Tisch School of the Arts gave Edward a chance to learn more and become a better photographer.

It's only the beginning

2008-08-08T20:44:00.001-07:00

This morning as we worked for the last few hours we had to prepare for our final exhibition, it had not even occurred to me yet that this was the last day we would all be together. When you live with an especially great group of people for 4 weeks, you become so comfortable with each other. We created our own little home away from home and became a photo family. During the scurry, agitation, and frustration of this morning's work to make sure each person's project looked as amazing as the next, we were all glad to have something to remember each other by with the portfolio exchange. Now we all have one picture from everybody involved in the program and we have that one special picture to remember them by.

During the final exhibition, it was great that the students were able to show our friends and family how we have grown and learned new things in the past 4 weeks. As we all walked through the department trying to read the artist through their photographs, a few students talked about their work and what it meant to them. I had also just realized that each student's project talked about them in a personal way if they meant to or not because the art work that we have worked so hard for to create and look beautiful became a part of them which was great for all the friends and family to see how much we have grown as artists and individuals. A treat today was that we received the book from the professional photographer Jamel Shabazz who was unable to make it to our show until the end of the reception when we were all so pleased to see him. He was very interested in our work and is incredibly gracious. He was so passionately involved with all the students.

Today we left this program with so many new things. We have new ideas, new experiences, new memories, new creations, and new friends. It's really hard to describe what 21 people share together but it was mainly life, not only by living together but by working, seeing, hearing, talking, sharing, laughing, and listening with each other. It was incredibly sad that it all has to come to an end but I think of what Nichole said today "the program may be ending, but this is just the beginning of this community."

Simply,

Harry

Harry Yatkowitz

2008-08-08T20:09:00.000-07:00

Harry Yatkowitz was born and raised in New York. He was always interested in photography and finally found his passion for it when he took his first photography class this year. As his passion grew for photography he was eager to learn more than what was being put in front of him. His photographs are inspired by street life and portraiture and how you can capture the natural things people do during the day that might be so simple and average, and make it interesting. His work is inspired by photographers like Helen Levitt, Sylvia Plachy, and Jamel Shabazz who courageously photographed the streets of New York City and created outstanding images of what might be average to other people. In his final project he was mostly intersted in human emotion and how people hide their feeling from the rest of the world and expressed that through his narrative in "Portraits without a face". This summer program was the first photography class he had taken outside of his high school and it created a more creative environment for his photography skills to grow and he is excited to learn more, shoot more, and create more.

Sophi Glazycheva

2008-08-08T11:24:00.000-07:00

Sophi Glazycheva was born in Moscow, Russia and currently resides in the middle of nowhere (formally called Churchville, Pennsylvania). This summer program was Sophi's first encounter with photography, and though things have been stressful, she feels that the work has paid off, and that she has learned an immense amount of very valuable information. Sophi will be a senior at Germantown Academy this fall, and she's pretty excited to finally have an excuse for senioritis. After she takes her SATs for the last time, that is. Sophi will be the House Representative in SGA, president of Film Club, and one of the editors for Academy Monthly, the school literary magazine.
Sunday morning Sophi will be flying off to Moscow to visit her family and friends until September. She's really looking forward to going, but is a little sad to leave New York behind. Even if it's overcrowded and often smells like garbage. there's just something to it.

<3

2008-08-08T11:16:00.000-07:00

Brittany Glassman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since then she has moved to the suburbs of her hometown. Recently, Brittany celebrated her 17th birthday. Brittany has been photographing for four years and plans to continue to take pictures and make art for both enjoyment and showcasing. The artist began photographing when she decided to take a summer course during the summer before she entered high school.

The artist's work depicts everyday aspects of life that people take for granted. She thrives to provoke feeling through her images that prompts the viewer to realize the beautiful environment they exist in. For example, her most recent work featured images of clouds paired with other scenes in order to create one emotion.

Maddie Klett

2008-08-08T10:47:00.001-07:00

Maddie Klett was born in Washington D.C. and currently lives in Arlington Virginia. She is a junior at Yorktown High School. Maddie has been developing and printing her own black and white film since the age of eleven. She has been on the Yorktown yearbook staff since her freshman year and is the advertisement editor for her current Junior year. She has also been rowing crew since her freshman year of high school. Maddie's work focuses on meeting and interacting with people while shooting then in the places most natural to them.

Jamie Solomon

2008-08-08T09:23:00.001-07:00

Jamie Solomon was first introduced to photography in tenth grade at the age of fifteen. She immediately fell in love and began getting more and more involved. At the time she did both studio art and photography, but eventually she decided to devote all of her art classes to photography.

In the fall of eleventh grade she founded the Photography for Community Service Club (Photo Club), which quickly became the second largest club on campus to Student Council. As president of Photo Club she has organized many events to get the student photographers involved with the Los Angeles community and each event has been extremely successful. She has also been a volunteer photographer for community service events including a stem cell drive for Be An Angel, Save A Life and a fundraiser for Women Against Gun Violence. She hopes to continue working with the Los Angeles community sharing the knowledge of photography and working on her own artwork all the while.

Matt Godown

2008-08-08T07:11:00.002-07:00

Matt Godown is 18 years old and lives in North Palm Beach Florida. He is going into his senior year at the Benjamin School. Matt first got into photography through a program at his school his freshman year and has never stopped making photographs since. Before entering the Tisch program Matt's photographs were of mostly objects and nature. However throughout the program Matt has headed on a new path of taking Portraits.

Annika Jakes

2008-08-08T07:11:00.001-07:00

Annika Jakes lives in Tampa Florida and is going to be a junior at Berkeley Prep. She is inspired by the work of Francesca Woodman and Loretta Lux, and is interested in self portraiture and portraiture.

2008-08-08T06:42:00.000-07:00

Ryan Walker was born in Scarsdale New York and moved to Los Angeles in 1996. As long as Ryan can remember, he has been an artist. At the age of nine, he picked up his first guitar and still plays today. Last summer Ryan attended the Berklee School of Music summer program in Boston. Ryan thought he was going to be a musician for the rest of his life until he discovered photography. Although he has only been taking photography for a year, he became hooked and wanted to take it more seriously. This summer he attended the NYU summer program for photography at Tisch and has grown tremendously from the experience, not only in photography, but in getting to know the city and building relationships. His focus is shooting street photography and portraiture, but enjoys experimenting with other styles. Ryan cannot wait to take what he learned this summer and continue to explore photography.

Jane McDonough

2008-08-07T18:25:00.000-07:00

Jane McDonough lives in Miami Beach, Florida. She is seventeen years old and goes to Miami Country Day School where she enjoys art history, English, art, and long walks on the beach. Jane has been practicing photography for two years at school, but has been involved in other artistic media for the majority of her life.

Martin Carela

2008-08-07T18:21:00.000-07:00

Martin Carela was born and raised in New York City as an only child. He attended The Town School through the eighth grade and now is a student of Columbia Preparatory. His interest in photography spiked in his freshman year of high school when he picked up and used a film SLR for the first time. Looking back at some of his first images, Martin believes he has evolved and improved in making photographs, but also sees that he has an enormous amount to grow and learn. He aims to make images of decisive moments and ones that the eye can explore.

Imani Smith

2008-08-07T17:47:00.000-07:00

Imani Smith is a 15 year old New Yorker. She is the second youngest of 6 girls. Imani attends NYC Lab School For Collaborative Studies and is going into her junior year in september. This summer at Tisch Special High School Program has made Imani realize that photography will be a part of her for the rest of her life. One of her main interest is photographing transformation. During the summer of 2007 Imani had a summer job in the video and production field. After the term was up Imani took a photography class with the RecYouth Organization for the movie Spider Man 3 and the work that the students created was later showed at the premiere. Where ever there is opportunity Imani hops right to it. This summer is only the beginning.

Elizabeth Stallmeyer

2008-08-07T17:23:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Stallmeyer was born and raised in New Jersey. She attended the NYU photography and imaging program for the summer of 2008. She started photographing when her grandpa gave her one of the first digital cameras. She is interested in the communication between the photographer and the subject. She plans to attend school for photography and become a photographer. Her favorite things to photograph are everyday objects and making them abstract however, recently she has found an interest in portraits.

Manning the Floor

2008-08-05T19:43:00.000-07:00

We channelled all of our energy into working in the lab today. As we realized the end was drawing near, we also realized how much work was left to be done: final ideas must made, photos must be taken, prints must be...printed. Hence, today was an opportunity for all of us to make final decisions and push ourselves towards fulfilling results.

Attention: due to today's strenuous activities - shooting, editing, printing,critiquing, receiving critiques, blogging - I feel it is important to highlight some of this program's lighter moments...

THROUGH VIDEOS!

Jane

(more to come . . . uploading videos takes awhile)

What it looks like when students are hard at work during night lab!!

2008-08-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

"We love digi!"

Wallace editing contact sheets

The joys of fiber printing

Digital

Jamie

Martin

Jane in the lighting studio

Harry - hard at work...

Jamel Shabazz

2008-08-05T07:49:00.001-07:00

Thanks Jamel for this wonderful photo of us!

Coney Island

2008-08-04T21:59:00.001-07:00

African Music Festival at Prospect Park

2008-08-04T21:39:00.000-07:00

Who Ate the Oreos?

2008-08-04T19:27:00.000-07:00

We barely saw sunshine today as we labored in the darkroom, our eyes glued to the computer screens from 9:45 a.m. to 9:45 p.m. (with breaks for food, of course). The final show is coming closer every minute and everyone's feeling the constant pressure. Today at Monday morning check-in we wrote about our goals and drafted our artist statements. It got everyone thinking about what they want to say through their work. We all wrote short biographies and once again my (Maddie) hometown was forgotten. Pennsylvania? New York? Nope. Arlington, Virginia.

After an hour of free-writing we moved into individual meetings with Jess and Nichole. Each person stumbled down the hallway to the library, prints flying in every direction. The hours rolled by as the hum of the printers hypnotized us into a trance. As lunch approached we dragged ourselves like zombies to the dinning hall for a 60 minute break, knowing we would soon return to the lab for another grueling 3 hours.

At 4:30 we were all happy to escape the digital lab/darkroom to watch a presentation of our T.A., Katie Klein's, work. After enjoying some great artwork and Weinstein's delicious food, we reluctantly headed back to the lab to finish off the long...long...longgggg day. Our tans are fading as fast as our patience! Time to catch some z's, hit the hay, and get our beauty rest. So long for now,

Jamie and Maddie

FINAL EXHIBITION THIS FRIDAY

2008-08-04T09:14:00.001-07:00

The Freak Show

2008-08-02T20:15:00.000-07:00

We began today with a cup of joe at the nearby Starbucks. Then it was off to the classroom to continue on with our final project. Stepping out of the elevator we were greeted by Nicole who briefly explained that today were going to learn how to create a portfolio of our images and use that to establish relationships with galleries and colleges. We learned about many websites which offered free photography competitions and other various websites that would further our photographic success. After a long session in the digilab learning about portfolios it was finally time for Coney Island.
Before we departed many of us ate the boxed lunches provided by Weinstein hall. For the most part the sandwiches were edible, unlike most days where if you liked swiss cheese, onion, and mayo sandwiches on a whole wheat wrap you were in heaven. After finishing our food out of pure starvation we were en route to Coney Island. It was a long subway ride out there but everyone was so excited to finally see the legendary amusement park.
The moment I stepped off the train I was overwhelmed by a feeling one can only describe as magical. Throughout the day we visited many of the popular attractions such as Nathan's, the Wonder Wheel, The Freak Show, and Cyclone. We strolled the park as well as the beach for nearly three hours taking great photograph after great photograph of the unusual people residing on the Island.
After everyone had gotten their fill of hot dogs and their shirts had changed colors do to intense perspiration, it was finally time to board the train back home. As we stepped off the platform and onto the train we wished Coney Island farewell and could only dream about what works of art our cameras held inside

.

Although we were done with Coney Island, our day had not ended. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at the dorm and got prepared to see Dark Night. No one could have dreamed of a more perfect way to conclude such a wonderful day than sitting back and watching Batman save the day.
August 1st was a magical day full of fun and excitement and has respectively earned the position as THE BEST DAY EVER.

Love,

Matt

The Dark Knight

2008-08-02T10:41:00.000-07:00

Why so serious??

Last night we all went out to see The Dark Knight for Ryan and Matt's birthday. Everyone was very excited, especially Jane (who claims she had the costume ready to go weeks ago!):

Love it.

Best,
TA Liz

The Toe

2008-08-02T07:23:00.001-07:00

The broken toe

What you broke your toe?

2008-08-01T20:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry I'm one day late on the blog but I happened to brake my toe after watching a Coney Island movie last night. However, because we are in the photography and imaging program, I decided to document the day and post the photos I took. We had a book making workshop, gallery visits in Chelsea, and then a Coney Island film to get us ready for the trip that we took today. Hope you enjoy the photos

Liz

Book making workshop
Washington Square
Gallery's in Chelsea
Visiting Aperture
Coming home from gallery visits
Dinner
Working on final projects

In The Nick Of Time

2008-07-31T17:27:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. I'm new to this whole blog thing but I wanted to take some time and add onto the Photo Families too cool blog. My Name is Imani and this will not be the last time you hear from me. Right now we are in the digital lab working on our proposals for our narrative projects which you can learn more about if you read the previous blog post. It will be interesting to see what works of art come out of this concept of "creating a narrative." As eager as I am to reveal my idea to you readers, I must reframe. All that I will tell you is that it will be a coming of age story. All of the ideas I have heard from my peers are amazing and inspiring. Over the course of two weeks I have become close with people from all over the United States and one peruvian and I must say that I could not imagine spending my summer any other way. Well friends, I have to cut this blog short.

Imani S.(Oh snap....insider.)

"Hey! Sing me a nice Italian' song!"

2008-07-30T19:08:00.000-07:00

Waking up a little late this morning threw me off but everyone else seemed as tired as I was as we walked the same six blocks to the Tisch building. This morning was devoted to our critiques for the digital portrait assignment where we had to make 36 self portraits of us taken in one day, a post card of our favorite portrait, 3 self portraits as a triptych and 6 portraits of other people. Everyone had a different take on the assignment and showed what they could capture on their digital cameras as their point of view. Some portraits had people posing in the studio at Tisch while others had people sitting in subways and walking in and out of porta-potties as strange as that is. Overall, everyone has improved in some way from week one and everyone is excited for our next and final assignment, a narrative.

The narrative assignment is our biggest assignment yet and everyone is looking forward to expressing themselves as an artist for the final show on August 8th. A narrative tells a story that generally has a beginning, middle and end which can be fictitious, convey a specific idea or be completely constructed. We can choose those options and whether or not we want to shoot with digital or film and whether we want it staged on the street or in the studio or just taken by accident. These images should illustrate a cohesive and complete body of work focusing on one concept. We will have to write two papers for this assignment with our project proposal due this Friday giving us only two days to come up with something brilliant and completely unique to create with our photographs. Everyone is thinking of different ways about how they can approach this assignment and the ideas are very broad. For example, Edward is thinking of using a poem he wrote about love while Martin wants to take portraits of street venders. Kelly wants to create a story about a girl running away while Jane is inspired by her book Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov and Sandra is thinking about taking portraits of children. Myself, who knows my story yet but I want to create certain feelings through peoples body gestures. This is just an idea and everyone is uncertain on what to do but at least we have something in the first seven hours of this project.

Later this afternoon, a local New York artist named Jamel Shabazz came in and talked to us with enthusiasm and excitement bursting throughout the room. Jamel had a very powerful presentation of his work showing us his portraits of teenagers in the Harlem streets, beautiful scenery of Morocco and his deuces collection of couples and best friends. He encouraged us to travel the road less traveled when it comes to photography, go against the grain and it does not matter what type of camera you have, but it all has to deal with the eyes and the ideas in your own head. Jamel's life gift of photography is to make people think and make his work a universal language for other people to read around the world. Jamel inspired us to take photographs with meaning but most importantly, love. Jamel might be attending our August 8th show and we hope he can because his work has inspired us and we would love to see him again.

Dinner came rolling around and once again we ate at the lovely Weinstien hall where every type of dorm food can be found. After that, we headed to Strand book store where there were thousands of books that can be stretched out into 18 miles of pure reading enjoyment. All the bookworms came out of us and we ran all over the book store to find any type of book you want from cooking to photography to Where's Waldo? Many of us could spend hours upon hours in that store but we only got 45 minutes of searching for books. I purchased One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey which Ryan recommended to me on the first day. Once I get some free time, I will be sure to enjoy reading this book. My amazing roommate, Liz, got two photography books and one of them is by Sylvia Plachy who came in and talked to us in the first week of this program. It seems so odd that this is the third week and next week is the final week all of us will be together as artists, photographers and as a family. As this week goes on, it will only get more stressful with creating our narrative story, more sleepy as we go to bed early at 1:30 a.m and more fun as we continue hanging out in the dorms and going to all sorts of new places. For now, I need to get to bed and laugh it up with Liz until the high heavens can hear us.

Kinda scandalous,
Blair

Work In Progress (Better Late Than Never)

2008-07-30T18:04:00.000-07:00

Sophi & Ryan checking in!
This is actually Monday's update, but we forgot to write on this due to our obsessive immersion in photography (a.k.a. working our butts off), so here goes.
After having our individual weekly meetings with Nichole and Jessica, we toiled hour upon hour, eyes super-glued to computer monitors, striving to achieve portraiture excellence.
After what seemed like an eternity in the digilab, T.A.'s Sophie and Lauren presented their work. Sophie's work was centered around air travel and people in transition. Lauren's work ranged from portraits of herself, family and friends. From there, she discovered her passion for art therapy and her work became more of a gateway to self discovery and deeper meaning rather than standard observation.
Then NYU graduate, Rian Dundon, came in to present the class with his photographs of a bar in Queens and his unique and unfamiliar insider's view of rebellious teenage culture in rural China. He explained how photography is more about connecting with your subject(s), surroundings, and vibe rather than becoming overly attentive to the technicalities. Rian was really down to earth and his edgy style gave us a different outlook on Chinese culture diverging from all the stereotypes we are accustomed to.
As the day ended, we strolled around east village, and then rushed to the dorms. We were overjoyed when we realized we still had a lovely reading assignment. The end.
---Soph and Ry

"Scandalous"

2008-07-29T08:46:00.000-07:00

Currently we're working on our Portrait assignment that is due tomorrow, and I figured since I have nothing to blog about I'd post some pictures. The TA's think the blog is lacking.
I was really inspired for my self portraits by film noir femme fatales and focused on dramatic lighting in the studio (my favorite place on the 8th floor by far).
Each image is inspired by a different film, the first being The Big Combo

Each of us have to make a triptych of our self portraits and a 6+ portraits. So that's my triptych just to give you a taste of our studio work. Overall, I'd say the self portraits are very diverse, ranging from experimenting with low exposure and flash, "painting with light," costumes, and motion. The classroom walls are covered in our new prints which has proved to be a nice change from the purely black and white prints that we had grown accustomed to. To me, it's pretty weird to have my work up for anyone to look at. There have been a couple incidents where I've almost ripped my stuff down out of pure frustration. But hey, I think we've all been there.
EDIT: Literally seconds after writing this, I walk into the classroom to see that all of our prints are off the wall and bags placed in the hallway. Apparently a beam had broken in the classroom and is currently off limits due to safety and construction reasons. Things definitely are staying interesting.
The digilabs are really hopping these days; presently I'm sitting next to a printer and it's shaking so much I'm concerned it's going to shake its way off and crush me. No joke.
On another note, the plan for today is visiting two galleries along with plenty of lab time. We're heading to the Bonni Benrubi gallery (bonnibenrubi.com) in a few hours, but until then we're slaving away to get our work finished and looking sweet.

Stay classy kids.
Annika

2008-07-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

As the bright light shined through each of our windows early this morning, some of us rushed to grab our cameras and take a picture of ourselves. As artistic photographers, one may be quick to think that such a spontaneous, unplanned action would be out of the realm of mainstream art. However, throughout the day many students took a picture of themselves every half hour. These images will culminate in a final project that combines these images to create a progression of the person's day. So, as we dragged ourselves out of bed-some earlier than others-we were sure to take a timer in an effort to systematically complete the assignment.

When we reached 721 Broadway-our third home- we were met with a two stunning presentations by two of our amazingly talented TA's. Both Alicia and Michael showed the class their past and present work. Personally, I thought it was extremely interesting to see the images created by these artists during their high school years. Anywho, we should all know by now that the photography kids are never simply being lazy. So, following this regiment, shortly following the two presentations, we set out for the Bronx museum of art. Inside the museum, there was a magnificent display of Jamel Shabazz's work. This artist definitely served as an inspiration for myself and I am sure others in the group. I'm also sure that everyone is very excited to meet him when he comes to visit our class next week.

Oh and I must not forget the famous box lunches we consumed while sitting on the sidewalk outside of the museum. Interestingly enough, the sandwich improved for some and for others-not so much. Such a fluctuation may be caused by the new and "improved" form we now fill out while ordering the lunches.

Following the museum visit, we took the subway back to NYU. As always, the ride was full of flash fighting and hilarious conversations. When we arrived at Weinstein, we quickly had dinner in the dining hall and then we were yet again off on another adventure-the New York Mets game. Our seats in the back of the stadium were definitely situated with some real fans and those wearing red were probably a bit scared.

As we returned to the dorm, everyone looked exhausted, but the cameras were still flashing and the voices were still echoing. Although our eyes may be half closed, we are always ready for the image.

So, I'm sure a lot of people are just finishing up taking their last photo of the day and I myself am extremely tired.

Until next time,

Britt

2008-07-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

After lightning and thunderstorms through the night, we were awoken to more rain. Everyone was hustled out of bed and onto the wet sidewalks at 9:00 AM to begin our day-long journey in Brooklyn. Luckily for our group of 20+ people we were catching the subway when rush hour had ended and didn't have to pack in as we had become accustomed to doing. When coming out of the turnstile, I dropped my camera for what must have been the fifth time during our course. I picked it up to inspect the damage and I realized that I couldn't use the zoom on the lens--it was locked into place. I forced it from 24 mm to 55 mm, and with a crunch I knew it was completely broken.

Our subway ride to from lower Manhattan to Brooklyn was brief and the botanic garden was right outside the subway station. The rain ceased while we were underground, but everything at the garden was muddy and sodden. On the other hand, all the flowers and shrubbery smelled fantastic after the shower. The Brooklyn Museum--only a stone's throw from the botanic garden--was our next destination. Although I am a native New Yorker, I had never been or had the interest in going to this museum. I find myself more interested in paintings and photographs at museums than the ancient stone sculptures and jewelry that were on display at the Brooklyn Museum. I think that it is astonishing, however, that some of the pieces they had in their collection were from the ninth century and one dating back to the first century and still completely intact.

Our day was only halfway over. We walk to the apartment of Lori Nix where she has her art studio. Lori is an artist who creates miniature models and scenes of cityscapes, dreamy settings, and inspiring thoughts from her childhood. Each and every set she makes is created by hand and takes approximately 7-8 months. When she is finished, she uses a view camera with an 8x10 inch negative to capture her models in all their glory.

Next, we made our way to Lorie Novak's studio near the Manhattan Bridge. Lorie is a photographer whose work is completely her own. Some of the ideas that she has come up with are fantastic (projecting a giant image onto trees in the middle of the forest and then photographing the effect, using double exposures on her film negatives). She gave us things to drink as well as a slideshow showcasing her work.

Both of the artists that we met were very affable and inviting. We headed back to Weinstein Hall on University Place for dinner. Following dinner we were off again to the 8th floor of the Tisch building for a lighting demo from our teacher assistants.

Writing down all the things that we did in one day is astonishing.

Man, I'm tired,
Martin

Holy crow!

2008-07-24T18:19:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

This blog is coming to you a little late because Wednesday was a terribly hectic day and blogging slipped my mind! So, starting from the very beginning, Chasky and I woke up on time, we're still very proud because that trend did not carry over to today. But what can yah do? Anyway, once we were in our sacred home at Tisch of room 805 we had a little chat with PA's, TA's and other important folks. As it turns out, the photo fam has been a little crazy as a group lately so we all took the time to reflect and think about ways to improve ourselves, as well as how to make the most our of experience together. Then we moved on to our first critique!! Everyone had been working non-stop on the place assignment so we were all really excited to share our results.

I still need to finish this...

Catch you on the flip side!

Callie

Our P.A.'s

2008-07-23T22:36:00.000-07:00

Our Teachers

2008-07-23T22:26:00.000-07:00

Dilemma in the Darkroom

2008-07-22T20:10:00.001-07:00

Some people believe that the darkroom would be easy to use but for many the process has been problematic. A majority of students have experienced the darkroom before, however those new to the chemicals and technology have been frustrated for the past lab days. Along with the new comers to the darkroom, all students have been frustrated trying to make their work perfecto. Everyone tonight was trying to complete their 5 work prints, 5 final prints, a 16 x 20 and postcard, all requirements due early tomorrow morning. It was a hectic night and motivation seemed to be running through our veins to complete our projects on time. Our place assignment was created through field trips to Ellis Island, DIA Beacon, West Village, MOMA, Bryant Park, ICP, Times Square, B&H, Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, Central Park, and Chinatown. After lab last night, we all greatly appreciated our free time. Our gracious PA's Sam & Travis let us use their Wii to play Wii Sport and Guitar Hero. Many of us discovered that Liz and Harry are awesome at Guitar Hero and Dylan, the more quiet one, beat all of his fellow peers at Wii tennis.
Although we have been living together for over a week, which feels like an eternity, there is still plenty to learn about each other.

For Now,
Edward

(Pictures coming soon)

2008-07-21T19:44:00.000-07:00

On the morning of July 21st a few fellow photographers and I (Kelly) were eating "the most important meal of the day" at our beloved Weinstien dining hall and pondering whether vegans eat bread because it contains yeast (this will all relate, keep reading!) I even went as far as to exclaim, "Is yeast an animal?"
And like yeast, our minds have been expanding here at Tisch, absorbing the knowledge of photography with a special spice of exploring the city.
It's been a week and a day since our photo family became an established group here at the 2008 Summer Program and I must say, we are exponentially THE BEST.
Our once bleak, boring dorm rooms have began to morph into our own personal home away from homes. We've settled in, learning not ever to be late, that the laundry room is unimaginably busy on Sundays, no many how many showers you take you'll sweat again once you step outside, watch where you walk and to expect the unexpected.
Like Chinese cuisine two nights in a row.
But nevertheless, that is city living.
This past weekend was full of firsts for the photo fam..
Our first film prints of the program
Our first sit down dinner together in Chinatown
Our first dance at NYU
(Which consisted of us walking into the 9th floor of the Tisch building, Photography and Imaging is on the 8th, to an explosion of theater kids dressed in outfits as outgoing as their personalities. For the majority of us photographers, we stuck together as "wall flowers" (although we are the coolest cats around this town), content to observe and for some, even snap a few shots.
It is inevitable that everyday we will attempt to exceed the weight limit of the elevator and at some point be scorched by the hot sun. Now, we have all seemed to have mastered the subway system which takes us to various locations for our current assignment: Place (Edward, our next blogger will be elaborating more)
On Sunday, we trekked by train (via DIA Beacon) a VERY modern art museum, including the works of Andy Warhol, a completely dark cellar illuminated by extremely still movies, and systemically created wall drawings. The reviews from our photography students were mixed but the train ride home was full of presents, ipods, sweat, sleepy faces, and smiles.
Already the experience has been unreal. Our days are full to the brim of excursions and producing our works of art thus, free time is critical. Here are a few videos + photos to depict what we've been up to.

Make Art not War :]

-Kelly & Iris
Chinatown

ONE (WO)MAN'S GARBAGE IS ANOTHER (WO)MAN'S

KICKIN' IT in the dorms

Ohhh Ryan..

Dorm Room Living

"I'm Melting"

2008-07-19T11:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we enjoyed a trip to Liberty Island, Ellis Island, and the World Trade Center Site. It was a very hot, humid day but the students did a great job of pushing through the less than pleasant conditions to continue photographing! Can't wait to see all the great photos that come out. Here are a few images from the trip. - Lauren (TA)

Tourists and Pigeons

2008-07-19T06:50:00.000-07:00

photos by Katie Kline

Friday July 18 2008

2008-07-18T21:17:00.000-07:00

It is 12:17 in the morning on Saturday July 19. We just returned from watching a broadway play, titled Passing Strange. The entire production was so well put together and even the students that were watching it for the second time were amazed with the show. This play was able to reach out and touch the lives of all of us as well as the the assistants and professors. I believe everyone would agree that this is a must see show that is fit for viewers of all backgrounds, ages, etc. Earlier in the day we had a research tour of Bobst Library, and then took the subway to Battery Park. From there we went to Liberty Island. For many of us it was the first time at the Statue of Liberty. Walking around the island I was amazed at all of the architectural detail built into and around the statue. Once everyone was completed taking pictures we took the ferry to Ellis Island. This was truly an experience for many of us because we have family that has passed through those very gates into the country that we call home today. We were able to spend about an hour and a half on Ellis Island taking pictures as well as researching family history. Following this trip we stopped in battery park to get ice cream and sit in the shade for slight relief from the brutal summer sun and then we were off to ground zero. Everyone in the group has different stories to tell relating to the events of that day, whether it is witnessing the towers from the school window or sitting at home watching it on the t.v. The group was able to see the future memorial plans for the sight and the actual construction that was taking place. This concluded a long afternoon which led back to the dorm for dinner and then off to see Passing Strange.
For now-Dylan

TISCH 08' Photo

2008-07-17T19:43:00.000-07:00

TISCH 08'

"Get it right. Get it light. Get it tight."

2008-07-17T19:30:00.000-07:00

Hello family, friends and strangers,

We are on the 4th working day of the Photo & Imaging HS summer program and already the days are busy as ever, in a good way. Today, of course, was no different. We spent most of our day inside the Tisch building experimenting with different photography aspects.

First, we looked at the work of several artists including Abelardo Morell and Vera Lutter who took incredible images using the technique of pin hole photography and just a little imagination. Then, we proceeded to make our own pin hole cameras. This was a particularly interesting project since it shows how a person can esentially make a camera out of almost any material. In our case, the objects people used ranged from small cans to large computer boxes. These objects all created very unique images on the photo paper depending on their shape and size. We also got to develop this paper in the dark room for the first time during this program.

The final lab aspect of the day consisted of learning how to cut and store our film properly. The TAs showed us how to make a contact sheet and print from our black and white negatives. We will implement this ourselves during lab time on Saturday.

Tonight, we watched a video about the history of Ellis Island, which we will get a chance to explore tomorrow. I think we are all really looking forward to this first full day field trip. Wish us luck and oportune photo moments! : D

Until later,
Chaska

Central Park!

2008-07-16T15:56:00.001-07:00

"That Monkey was in...New Jersey" - S. Plachy

2008-07-16T12:28:00.000-07:00

We are currently on day #3 of our fabulous summer program, and had the absolute pleasure of hearing Sylvia Plachy today. Plachy came to New York as a teenager with her family from Hungary. She began photographing after art school, and "caught the bug [of looking for pictures]". She has had a great career photographing for the Village Voice and the New Yorker, among others. Besides photographing, she has also written for these publications. Her writing is wonderful and she has made a point of finding the mystery of things in both writing and photographing. In response to Plachy and her sense of place, the students have gone out "looking for pictures" in Central Park and the surrounding area. How very exciting!

over and out & forever yours,

Sophie L. (teaching assistant to get this blog rolling)