A Sign of the Times

I received a letter this week from my Alma Mater, SCAD. In it there was an update on the photography department that stated the following:

"The Photography department will be implementing a major change in the fall of 2007 to the undergraduate curriculum. First year students will now take photography foundations courses that emphasize camera vision, technique, aesthetics and creativity in an all-digital environment."

Did you notice that last part? They also went on to point out that "the department will maintain its commitment to a comprehensive program by continuing to teach all traditional and alternative photographic processes."

That sounds perfectly fine to me. In fact, I'm a bit surprised they hadn't changed already.

It leads me to seriously reexamine the direction of my own classes at Georgetown. For some time I've tried to begin implementing digital workflow within the courses I teach, or might have the opportunity to teach. And it looks like this coming fall, just like SCAD, I'll have my chance.

With my Intro Photo class I anticipate working in the traditional darkroom by creating photograms, building pinhole cameras and experimenting with mordançage. But as for shooting and post-production...I believe we'll be using a digital workflow. That means digital SLRs or a combination of film SLR and digital point and shoot.

An interesting side note is that I already have 4-5 students in an independent study, focusing exclusively on digital photography. There has been so much interest that it may be opened up as a special topics class.

I guess it's a sign of the times.