Total Hours: 4.5
MCTC, Paul Sinkler, 4.5 Hours
This week, MCTC didn’t have class on Wednesday like they normally do, so Paul suggested I come to his Tuesday morning class instead. Unlike the Photo 2 class, which is mostly about technical exercises, I got to come to the Portfolio and Presentation class.
This class met in a different classroom, and was structured very differently. As one of the last classes students take before graduating, the discussions were more open ended and nuanced.
Students have been working on diverse commercial portfolios, and it was incredible to see everybody’s work. There were just endless amounts of incredible commercial photographs.
The photos were presented on a projector, and Paul manned the computer and I sat among the students. Somewhat like MCAD’s critiques, Paul would call among people to contribute their opinions on the presenters work. It was really interesting being among a class that is commercially oriented, versus a critique focusing on artwork. The vernacular of an art school critique was mostly not present, but the core of the critique was the same.
I was able to add my voice in critique on a lot of the landscape and environment images, which was really enjoyable. I remember some really amazing fashion shots from one student that was models by a pool in summer that was very stylized and memorable—the same student also showed images from a shoot in the woods with models that were very cinematic and well edited.
In the critique, I talked a lot about composition, context, and technical things like white balance or exposure. Unfortunately, as I don’t know much about commercial photography, I felt like I had little to add to the discussion on things like lighting, models, and studio work. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the discussion immensely and felt like I learned a lot.
There was such a wide variety of work, both in style and proficiency, and it was wonderful to see and discuss. I’m looking forward to seeing more work from MCTC students.