AP Photography class offers students ability to express their creativity
March 27, 2019
The Advanced Placement Photography class gives students the opportunity to spend the year creating portfolios, allowing for flexibility of coursework while guiding students to produce college-level quality, artistic investigation and breadth of work, according to the College Board website.
“The whole year, you creating your portfolio,” AP Photo student Samantha Macleod ’19 said. “The portfolios have three arts; a concentration, which is 12 photos with a storyline or general unity; breadth, which shows your skills as a photographer; and then quality, which is your best five photos.”
According to Macleod, she loves photography because she can create a work of art exactly like what she sees with her eyes.
“My role, as the teacher of this course, is to guide students as they perfect their portfolio of work and help them individually through that process, ”photography teacher, Emily Wolfe said.
According to Wolfe, there has been a growth in popularity in photography because of the growth of accessibility in it. Students are able to practice taking photos on their phones, Wolfe said, and use actual cameras in class as well.
“For my concentration, I wanted to put people’s’ thoughts into a photo and reality,” AP Photo student Sully Costa ’19 said. “I do that with multiple exposures of people–the multiple figures in the photos represent what they’re thinking or their emotions, and I used a lot of photoshop, too.”
Costa said tends to sketch out some of his photography ideas beforehand, so that way he has an idea of what tools he will use after he takes the picture.
According to Macleod, photoshop is a great tool for different things from exposure to coloring. Editing plays a major part in creating a photo the artist’s wants, Macleod said.
“Art Fest is a great opportunity to showcase what we’ve been working on the whole year,” Macleod said.
Macleod ’19 will be attending the University of Michigan, studying photography and art in Stamps School of Art and Design. Costa is unsure where he is going, but said he will continue photography as a hobby.
“One of the things I like about the medium is its power of communication,” Wolfe said. “The more you shoot, the better you get.”