What is Luminous.

What is your favorite piece of art? I get asked this a lot. Mostly by eager middle school students upon meeting me for the first time. Though constantly evolving, I can typically share a response with confidence. What surprises me is how many of my high school students struggle to name their favorite piece of art. Lack of exposure, interest, or development in art might be the reason, but it's a consistent observation in my introductory courses. The first week of Digital Photography - a semester-long class for 9-12th graders had me asking this very question, but with a twist. I prompted them to consider their favorite art, inviting all genres including theatre, film, and music, into the mix. For once, every student had an answer to this very personal question. Songs that they connected with were accessed far more readily than a painting or sculpture that they had studied in the past. Their favorites filled their journals and our class discussions with excitement and energy. I used this as a starting point for our first hands-on activity - a photography and polaroid emulsion project.

 

Musician and photographer, Ben Folds, one of my favorites, shared his insights on creativity in his memoir, A Dream About Lightning Bugs. The first chapter, available on the publisher’s website, inspired our discussion. It tells of Folds' childhood dream where he, the only person who could see a field of lightning bugs, captured them in a jar and shared them for others to witness. In doing so, his act spread joy to those around him. He goes on to connect this dream with the opportunity of any artist - “At its most basic, making art is about following what’s luminous to you and putting it in a jar, to share with others.” As a class we discussed the reading, making connections to photography and to what we can glean from the art around us. I emphasized the unique power of photography to reveal beauty and significance that might otherwise go unnoticed.

“As we speed past moments in a day, we want to give form to what we feel, what was obvious but got lost in the shuffle. We want to know that someone else noticed that shape we suspected was hovering just beyond our periphery. And we want that shape, that flicker of shared life experience, captured in a bottle,.. gracing our living room wall or singing to us from a speaker. It reminds us where we have been, what we have felt, who we are, and why we are here.” (Folds, A Dream About Lightning Bugs)

 

I asked my class to capture images using their phones while we learned about our DSLR/ mirrorless cameras. This comfort allowed them to ease into photo-making without anxiety. They were tasked with finding imagery throughout the school that they or others may typically overlook; something that might “move” a person who views it with fresh eyes. They focused on how light might alter a scene or how their own connection to the subject changes their perception. Using a Polaroid Printing Lab, each of the photos was transferred to film. Despite the cost and time involved, the excitement of creating tangible polaroids helped maintain their engagement.

 

I demonstrated the polaroid emulsion lift process and we went through the painstaking and often frustrating procedure of abstracting the images through the transfer. Students separated the emulsion using hot water and two small paint brushes carefully. A bit of chemistry was discussed when analyzing the amount of time the film needed to cure and what elements might affect the process. I encouraged students to move beyond simply transferring the photographs onto watercolor paper in the exact square that it originated in and to allow the process to form the shape. The water created beautiful movement in the lifts and the students hesitantly allowed that abstraction.

 

While each photograph was mounted individually, a copy was grouped together, and digitally collected in the same space resembling floating lightning bugs in a field for all to see.

 

This was a great way to start the course, ensuring my students' comfort level and introducing them to the transformative power of photography. I wanted to emphasize the importance of finding joy in everyday life, whether or not you share it with others. Through our initial reading and discussion, I discovered that students were more receptive to the potential impact of art on their lives, similar to how they appreciate the influence of their favorite music. This helped them to truly understand the purpose and scope of their photographic task within its broader context.

 

I couldn't resist smiling when a few students shared that they had listened to Ben Folds' music after class. It felt incredibly rewarding to introduce them to my own 'jar of fireflies’.