Prints

Dear students, I left yesterday all the prints in the dark room at Fiorentini. You can pick them up.

Thanks

Dear students,

I want to thank you for this intense and passionate semester. I spent with you good days

S.A

Monica/Nicole/Taylor's Final

Serafino,

As I previously stated in a comment, I have my biggest final today and am going to be unable to come to your posted final. I had thought that our final was on Friday (as that's what the school list says), but now that it has been moved to Thursday I am going to be unable to attend. I will post my Final here on the blog. Thank you.

This Digital course was very influential to me. Although I have spent the last three years taking photos and teaching myself the science of photography, I really enjoyed being able to participate in a class in which I was taught rather than teaching myself. In this course I learnt how to focus on the photo taking process rather than the post-production process. I learnt how to capture the image just how I wanted it in the camera without having to rely on post-production methods. 

While never having made a video of my photography before, this class allowed me to showcase my work in both print and digital form. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this class. Both the students and professor were fun, passionate, and all-around good people. There was so much energy and excitement in class, I truly loved it all. I really appreciate all that I learned and I can't wait to take my knew knowledge out into the real world and see what I can do!

Thank you so much for everything!

Taylor Hotter

(Nicole)

Rola's Final

Dear Professor Amato,

I'm unable to attend the Final. I thought it was Friday and today I have another final exam. Thank you anyway for this wonderful semester and I will see you around in fall!

What I learned most from this class is stop thinking about the editing process, but rather try to take a picture the way I desire it to be immediately, appreciating the outcome as raw and as natural as it is. This has really affected the way I take pictures. I think twice before snapping a picture now because I try to use the options on my camera consciously for obtaining the results that I am looking for without the need of editing.

Another thing I learned during the class is that something simple can be beautiful and that sometimes it is those things we ignore that can be beautiful pictures. That's what comes to my mind with the picture below.

One thing I still love to do in the editing process is convert some images into black and white because with B/W photographs there is close attention to composition, lighting, and perspective, making it just right for the picture on the left.

With these three pictures I learned that sometimes it's a good idea to place pictures together and let them tell a story. I think Nicole also illustrated that beautifully with her pictures during the exhibition.

Final

When I look at previous photos from the beginning of the semester they all look somewhat forced.  It looked as if I was trying too hard to create the perfect shot.  I was trying to hard to take pictures that were too complex and overwhelming.  My photos were all close ups and I never took the time to create an open space with the finished product.  In this class I learned to not make my photos so difficult for a viewer to enjoy.  I started to learn about creating open spaces and I focused on not using the zoom lens as much.  I wanted to take pictures without so much complexity and blurry objects.  In these photos my main focus is to create the feeling of being smaller than that of the subjects.  I attempted to make the subjects look larger than they were.  In the picture of the graffiti that was taken in the beginning of the semester I feel was too close up.  I feel that I should have zoomed out and made the space seem more open than it appears in the photograph.  In the picture of the Gianicolo Residence which was taken on later during the semester I wanted to capture as much of the building as possible and put it up against a blue sky so that it made the building look even larger.  In the picture of a cupola at St. Peter's Basilica I created the large empty dark space to make the colors of the sunlit area stand out.  This course has taught me this new style of photography and I feel in the long run it will benefit me greatly.

Hope everyone has safe travels home!

PS
I think we should all continue to post our photos to the blog!  

FINAL MEETING

Dear Students,

The final meeting, (exams) is taking place in Largo dei Fiorentini

THURSDAY - MAY THE 5th from 12:00 to 14:30

Please, in these days write your post with a description of a photos taken by you during the semester.

Art Show Next Week

I wanted to invite you all to an art exhibit I have been co-curating this semester of contemporary Roman artists for my Curating Museums and Galleries course.
~Phoebe

Final Statement

The collection of photos that I took from our class trip to EUR are a nice culmination of my photos taken this semester. I have always been interested in geometry, bold graphic photos with strong lines and shapes. I spent my time in Rome shooting urban landscapes, trying to focus on the architecture and contrast of old and modern structures. I visited EUR earlier in the semester and had a great experience shooting the neighborhood that does not seem like Rome at all. When we returned as a class, I brought a different lens and was able to capture the buildings from a new perspective. My knowledge and photography experience had grown between the two visits. Here is an image from my first visit to the area:

The building is flattened and simplified into geometric shapes of arches, rectangles and squares. I captured the moment when a plane was flying above the building leaving a white streak behind adding an unintentional line to the composition. The combination of the references to the ancient colosseum and the modern straight lines results in an interesting juxtaposition. 

On my second visit there the contrast of the white buildings on the blue sky was vibrant. This is a photo I took of the same building however this time I decided to include the organic elements of the tree. The silhouette of the leafless branches against the white structured architecture interact. I took a similar picture with the traditional camera that Prof. Amato brought for us to use. 

You can see I had the same intentions with this photograph: to include nature in front of the strong architectural elements. In black and white gives the scene more depth than in the color one where the trees are simply silhouettes. 

I am fascinated with this building and am glad I got to visit EUR multiple times and shoot the scene with many cameras. My development can be seen from these three photos. 

Phoebe 

Final Art Show Spring 2011

John Cabot University

Students, faculty, staff, and friends

Are cordially invited to attend

The end-of semester

Student Art Show

Featuring student work in drawing, painting, and photography  

Opening reception Thursday April 28, 2011

From 5 to 7 pm

    At the Largo dei Fiorentini Art Studio

Refreshments will be served.

Please join to celebrate the students’ hard work

and to visit the new photo and graphic design lab.

Final Art Show Spring 2011

John Cabot University

Students, faculty, staff, and friends

Are cordially invited to attend

The end-of semester

Student Art Show

Featuring student work in drawing, painting, and photography  

Opening reception Thursday April 28, 2011

From 5 to 7 pm

    At the Largo dei Fiorentini Art Studio

Refreshments will be served.

Please join to celebrate the students’ hard work

and to visit the new photo and graphic design lab.

A Special Moment In Lebanese History

Throughout the Lebanese civil war, the famous Lebanese singer, Fairouz, stood out as a true symbol of nationalism because she refused to perform in any part of the then divided country. In the above picture, she can be seen performing at the international Baalbek festival 1998 in Lebanon for the first time in more than 20 years. It was a very powerful performance that moved most people to tears.

Iconic Imagery from the US

Here is an iconographic image from the US. The picture was taken on 9/11. I remember the day vividly and this photograph brings back the chilling memories. It is one that will always represent that day and the country.

Phoebe