A Day In the Life...

A Day in the Life... is the first assignment of the year where we ask the students to make photographs using their cameras. The main intention is to introduce them to using their 35mm SLR film cameras and to working with their digital cameras. During this time we also discuss the process for developing black and white film and for making prints in the darkroom. We also continue our discussions of Photoshop. The students then use this software to edit their photographs (density, contrast, color balance, etc). Finally, they make professional quality inkjet prints on our Epson 4800 printer. These are all skills that they will continue to improve upon during the year.

The subject for the assignment is wide-open. We merely ask them to consider the world around them, and to make pictures that reflect that world. This is where the assignment title A Day in the Life... comes from. Here are some examples:


Khalid El-Amin


Khalid El-Amin


Amanda Marco


Erika Marquez


Diana Oropeza


Diana Oropeza

Photography is an odd conundrum: it records the world, but the best photographs are something new--something only the photographer observes. As the students progress during the program, they begin to realize this more and more. They begin to understand Garry Winogrand's famous dictum that "I photograph to see what the world looks like in photographs.

Bill Guy
Teaching Artist
AAEP