Department Service Projects

First Years Focus and Fire Photography Blog:

I am the author of one of the blogs associated with the Photography Student Professional Network (PSPN) Community, the First Years Focus and Fire blog.  This blog is intended for our AiP Online students.  Three posts are written per week: "Make It" Mondays, "Website" Wednesdays and "Pho·Tog" Fridays.

The "Make it Monday" posts pertain to tips and tricks that student can use inside the classroom as well as within their freelance business.  Some of the topics for "Make it Mondays" have been: 

How to Create a Contact Sheet
How to Photograph a Still Life
Understanding Depth of Field and Focal Length
Exposure and White Balance Tutorials
Studio and Strobe Lighting Tutorials
How to Watermark Images
Sports Photography
Navigate Adobe's Creative Cloud
Understanding Cloud Storage
HDR Techniques

My "Website Wednesday" posts are dedicated to introducing students to new websites, podcasts and apps that can assist them inside and outside of the classroom.  Some of the websites that I have featured are ones hosted by AiP Online and others are outside sources.  A few of the websites I have featured are: 

Wix.com
Magnum Photo Agency
Underwater Photography Guide
AllYou.net
Photography Student Professional Network
Connections
Second Life Photography Gallery
Snapseed App
Purdue Online Writing Lab
Photography Podcasts Featured on iTunes
DP Review
B&H.com 

The final post of the week, "Pho·tog Friday" is dedicated to introducing students to historic and contemporary photographers.  If students are introduced to "new" photographers on a weekly basis, then they are bound to expand their knowledge of photography in general as well as their creativity within their on work.  With a few of the photographers whom I have written about, I've split the information about them into multiple posts.  To name a few of the photographers who I have covered in my posts, please read below:

Henri Cartier-Bresson (V Part Series)
Sally Mann (III Part Series)
Hiroshi Sugimoto
Carrie Mae Weems
W. Eugene Smith
Debbie Fleming Caffery
Thatcher Cook (Guest Speaker at AiP Online)
Elizabeth Claffey (Guest Speaker at AiP Online)
Neal Menschel (Guest Speaker at AiP Online)
Todd Hido
Garry Winogrand
Conor Tourmarkine (Upcoming Guest Speaker at AiP Online)
Annie Leibovitz
Julius Shulman
Cindy Sherman

Photography Lecture Series  

At the start of my Senior Full Time Faculty position, I was asked to develop a "Photography Lecture Series".  The photography lectures are designed to introduce students and faculty to contemporary photographers who specialize in different categories such as: photojournalism, multi-media, documentary, wedding, portrait, fashion, food photography, etc.  Each photographer speaks about his or her own work, their business plan as well as the ethics behind capturing their images.  

Cook, Thatcher, Kyrgystan Coal Miner, 2008.

So far, we have had two guest photographers give lectures at our school: photojournalist, Thatcher Cook (May 2013) and documentary photographer and activist, Elizabeth Claffey (August 2013).  Newspaper Editor, Neal Menschel will be presenting his work in October and videographer, Conor Tourmarkine in December.  Lectures have been scheduled through the spring of 2014, when fine art photographer Kate Philbrick will join us as well as portrait photographer, Rebecca Danzenbaker.

Cook, Thatcher, Field, 2008.

All lectures are recorded and uploaded to a the "AiP Online Division Photography Department" YouTube page.  Below is the video lecture from our first guest photographer, Thatcher Cook:

...and our second guest photographer, Elizabeth Claffey: 

...and our third guest speaker, Neal Menschel: 

{Insert Neal Menschel's Video}

Personal Artist Talk: 

In February of 2014, I will be giving a live lecture at AiP Online about my personal photography work.  I will be sharing images from some of the documentary projects I have worked on in the past.  Although, more importantly, I will be discussing my approach to photographing the human subject.  I see photography as a collaboration between the artist and the subject; the two go hand in hand. 

Fiander, Melanie, Abrar: Sudanese Refugee, Portland, Maine, 2007.