Great Artist: Ansel Adams Photobook

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Great Artists Finale: Panoramic Photo of Studio

In case you did not get a chance to make it to the Great Artist Finale, here is a panoramic view of the completed studio.













Click to view interactively: http://360.io/WBrJqV

Great Artists: The Process by MHS

“There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.” 
- Ansel Adams

        When you look at our photographs, you see an image that will hopefully make you feel something. We put effort into the picture, but you might not see our process.

       Stage 1: The Beginning. First, we had to learn about Ansel Adams and what inspired him. We watched a documentary called “Great American; Ansel Adams”. Then Bret C.came in and taught us about the grey scale, which is a scale invented by Adams that goes from light to dark and has all the shades of grey. To practice this technique, we drew simple things like a box and shaded it. Then we applied it to an Ansel Adams Photograph. We took our new found skills and transferred it to our photographs.

        Stage 2: Experimenting. After we collected background information we started to go out into nature and take photographs. At first, we started simply taking pictures around the school. We experimented with our own cameras and occasionally we got the opportunity to use a Sony a57. We tried taking pictures of different things to find our vision just like Ansel Adams did in nature. We wanted to take pictures that made us feel passion. After we had some experience we, decided we were ready for a bigger challenge.

        Stage 3: Dedication. We wanted to experience the dedication that Ansel Adams had for his photographs. Our first thought was it would be a great experience to camp out somewhere. The S***** graciously volunteered their lawn. With a lot of planning and cooperation we all packed into cars and off we went to KS's house. When we got there we set up camp (literally CAMP!) Then we went on a hike to a waterfall. “ When I was hiking to the waterfall I felt like Ansel Adams because I had to lug all of my stuff up hills.” says sixth-grader SW. We ate dinner and then went outside and slept. In the morning we woke up at 6:30 a.m to take early morning photographs. We ate breakfast and left our campsite. We still wanted more opportunities to take photographs.


       Stage 4: Field Trip! On March 20, we went on a field trip to Torrey Pines State Reserve. We had to hike up a hill which gave us a lot of good photo-taking opportunities. The we went on a short 3/4 of a mile beach loop. On the way we bonded and took lots of amazing pictures with the help of Carwai (our advisor) and Laure (our film and photography teacher.) After we had hiked down to the beach we walked back along the beach. Which gave us amazing scenery to snap photographs of. After we were happy with our photographs we had to make some decisions.

      Stage 5: Decisions. One of the best parts of Great Artist in NMY is the opportunity to choose. We knew that we wanted to print our photographs in order to display them. So Carwai did some research. We had to take a lot of things in consideration for example we only had a budget of $16.50 per person. Carwai found two good places to print but we ended up printing at Cove.  We got our prints back and we were all happy with the result. Then we had to decide what to do about our banner. We decided to have a committee come up with the idea and our entire class to work on it. Then all we had to do were the finishing touches.

    Stage 6: Panic Mode. I say panic mode because this is where we had loos ends to tie up. First, Amy C. came in to share her expertise in matting with us. We had to complete our banner and set up the room to for it to look like the beautiful exhibit that we envisioned.

I would like to close the same way I began, with a quote. This time, one said by a sixth grader, “If a photograph does not capture an emotion it does not achieve a photograph’s purpose”.

Great Artists Finale 2013

You did it! The Great Artist Finale was last night and it was a smashing success.  Everyone who came into your studio was impressed and awed by your talent and vision. There have been several requests to purchase your prints! 

Enjoy your spring break and bask in the knowledge of a job well done. Rest and be safe!

Great Artists : Torrey Pines Field Trip

In an attempt to photograph larger landscapes, the sixth grade headed out to Torrey Pines State Nature Reserve for a morning of photography. Armed with cameras and an eye for interesting perspectives, the class hiked the beautiful paths of the reserve. We began down at the beach with sunshine and ended up with dense fog once we reached the top of the mesa. The ever changing weather provided interesting moody vistas for us to shoot. For lunch, we picnicked on beach and enjoyed our free time with beach volleyball, building sandcastles, searching for sand dollars, and some candid photography. 

We are in the final stretch of Great Artists. We hope to see you on Thursday, April 4 from 5:30-8:00 for the Finale. It will be the best chance to see the fruits of our labor.  See you then!

Great Artists: Overnight

Inspired by the lengths that Ansel Adams would go to get the right light, the class took on the challenge to get late dusk/early morning light. Being the creative thinkers and go-getters that they are, they jumped at the chance to do an overnight outing at the home of KS. Unfortunately, due to busy schedules not everyone could attend. Those who were able to attend had a busy evening. We arrived after school at our campsite. We pitched tents, hiked to a waterfall, ate burgers/hot dogs, played Apples to Apples, watched a movie, slept outside under the stars, woke up at 6:30am, took pictures, ate pancakes and bacon, and cleaned up camp. It was a productive and memorable outing!

Great Artist Process: 3-7-13

Bret was back today to help us with our shading. Each student picked a black and white image to re-create with pencil. They were shown how to sketch out the outline of the major images, then begin filling in the the darkest areas and move up the tonal value chart towards white. Many students are well on their way to understanding shading and tonal values.

Thank you, Bret for sharing your expertise and your passion for drawing and art!

Stay tuned for the finished images!

Great Artists Process: Update 3-6-13

Our Great Artist process was enhanced with a visit from Bret C. He brought to life the tonal value chart made famous by Ansel Adams. The students practiced identifying tones in various Ansel Adams images. They worked on creating their own tonal value charts with pencils of varying lead hardness. They then practiced shading a circle to make it look more like a sphere. Bret will lead the class in an exercise to re-create an Ansel Adams image with pencils and shading techniques in the coming days. 

 

Great Artists Process: Update 2-28-13

This week marked the launch of TCS Great Artist 2013. The sixth grade began their work with a brainstorming session. The images below was the product of their collaboration. The class spent time perusing books and websites to collect biographical information on Ansel Adams. They began watching a PBS American Experience documentary on Ansel Adams to fill in the blanks of their research. There is a lot of enthusiasm and desire to jump right into photography, but we are being thoughtful in our approach. Stay tuned for updates on our progress.

Great Artist: Selection Process

We began the process of trying to select the sixth grade Great Artist in December. A Google Doc was created and everyone had an opportunity to add artists they thought might be interesting to study. The diversity of artists was impressive. The initial list included:

• Walt Disney
• Steven Spielberg
• Ansel Adams
• Kumi Yamashita
• Rob Gonsalves
• Tina Christiansen
• Mary Blair
• Robin Banksey
• Frank Lloyd Wright
• Harry Houdini
• George Seurat
• Gloria Muriel
• Kate Bingham Burt
• Andy Warhol 
• Anish Kapoor
• Ellen Grossman
• Leslie Wilkes
• George Lucas

 We reviewed the artists together and anyone who knew information about the artists shared their knowledge. Before we began narrowing down the list, students were given an opportunity to "pitch" an artist they thought would be a good choice of the class. They had time to do research and speak to the artists work and the potential as a Great Artist. Each member of the class cast three votes and we narrowed the list down to the top eight artists.

Students were given time to do further research and share resources before we made a final choice. As a class, we placed each of the eight artists on the board and brainstormed how we would approach studying the artist and potential projects (see images below) that we could achieve in the six-week time frame and a strict budget. We used Google Forms to make a ballot and the class voted. We narrowed it down to a final three artists and they voted again via Google Forms.


The class is excited to begin their study of ........Ansel Adams.

Stay tuned for updates on their work and exploration of Ansel Adams and his work.