So many people claim there are no job prospects in the art fields.  So I decided to give our colorization project a new spin.  I broke it up into two parts.  I have the students scan a negative without cleaning it.  If they have scratched or damaged negatives - and boy do they - they should pick those.  I then teach them how to use Photoshop to fix and clean the negatives.  last year, we did an extra credit project for the police department.  We scanned the 4"x5" police images and fixed them digitally.  There are so many ways the students could put this to use in a job.  For instance, working for a photographer or a magazine retouching images.  Or, they could restore historical or family images.  So they learn how to scan a negative.  Then they use what they learned about retouching in the CS6 videos to clean it up.  I love showing them how easy it is to get rid of dust and fine hairs.  I also remind them that it didn't used to be that easy.  I had one girl in period 2 who had a fabulous shoot ruined by massive chunky scratches in her negatives.  She fixed that up so quickly.  And the coolest part is that two days after working, she decided to scan more negatives.  I hope some kids decide to dig through family stuff and bring those in.  I have had some students put in extra time cleaning up a parent's old pic or negative.  I wouldn't mind the extra time helping them do this for family.

Then the students work on colorizing the image.  Around Christmas time, I played Italian silent films for those who were finished early.  The films were hand colored, frame by frame.  This related to the later hand-coloring print project, but now I can relate it to this current project.  On top of that, I found a great video showing colorization. Short enough to keep their attention, but detailed enough to give them completely different methods than I had in the other instructional video.  Needless to say, I am excited for this project.

I always go on with my classes about how there are indeed career options in Photography, especially since many of our graduates who come back to sub come back because they cannot get jobs in their more commonly approved majors:  business, education, etc..  As a matter of fact, I have one former student looking to intern in the entertainment division of my former job at a sports organization and another student works there part time.  No jobs in my area?  Sure.

Hubby and I went back to Amsterdam during spring break.  I saw a few men (yes, no ladies, just guys) shooting with film cameras.  You bet I got a pic of one of them!  And outside one of the churches, there were two people with a cart selling custom wet plate collodions.  They photograph you with this beautiful archival method and you get the glass plate image.  The lowest price was 25 Euros or so.  I glanced at the images on display.  So nice!  But then I looked across the path.  On a tri-pod was the piece de resistance:  an amazing large format camera, wood body, amazing lens, all the bells and whistles.  I was too shy to talk to them and ask about their equipment.  But oh wow, it was so nice seeing that.  We also went to the Huis Marseille to see their current photo exhibit.  So I was perusing their website the other night.  They have all these analog and archival method workshops.  Yes, I know that there are lots of these here in the US.  But here is the thing.  While I see a high degree of technology embracing in Europe, there is still a deep appreciation for the historical methods.  And this is not just knowledge of an out of date artifact.  This is an appreciation for the method that is still accepted as viable.  They seem to be able to have the two co-exist.  They do not see the need to throw one out one method for the other.  A lesson we could learn here.