I am about to start a new section of my street photography class that uses two distinct spaces as classrooms. Classroom One will be designated C1 and Classroom Two will be known as C2. As a photography teacher, I like to teach a day of creativity followed by a day of technical learnings. This allows the students to learn both sides of the art form in complimentary steps. Many times students will overwhelmingly bring new ideas to the class that need a lesson in creativity as well as step by step technical learning. This method allows the class to apply what they learned the previous class throughout the program.
My students are diverse in age and in gender but as we have seen in the past, the student population leans towards a white privileged culture. Fine art classes, in many urban settings, are still an elite offering but the community is making strides in making the classes more accessible for all socio-economical groups with a big emphasis on creating access for the large BIPOC community. One thing to mention here is the geopolitical landscape of Evanston is 85% Democratic and less than 10% Republican which means that the systemic issues lie within the liberal thought groups who feel they are doing enough for the underrepresented when in fact, they are not. The program I am working with has made huge strides to help level the playing field and within time, the student body numbers will represent the population numbers.
For the class, C1 is an ever changing space that encompasses any public property and uses the Evanston, Illinois landscape as our pallet. Some days it is the busiest intersection I can find, some days it is the beach that stretches across the eastern border of our city that connects us to Lake Michigan, and some days it is a CTA train car filled with commuters headed to the city of Chicago for work. C1 is essentially, wherever we want to be (within legal reason). C1 is visually stimulating and creatively invigorating in a way that text books could never be and it helps connect what we learn from textbooks to real life situations.
C1 has very few limitations. My biggest disappointment is a lack of physical elevation changes as the midwest is cursed to be flat for hundreds of miles in any direction. Evanston sits on the northern side of the city of Chicago and southern Evanston is a smooth continuation of one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the country (Rogers Park). Within this area, dozens of languages are spoken, there are a plethora of ethnic foods and smells, and within it lives a population that includes diverse religions, diverse backgrounds in a way that only an urban sprawl (greater Chicagoland) of more than 13 million inhabitants can. Evanston itself claims 75,000 residents and contains a rather large downtown area that begs to be photographed and explored. The issues we commonly run into is when’s students end up where they shouldn’t be, usually private property, and are escorted out of areas that they have wandered into. The good that comes out of these incidents is that the students are forced to interact with people while working on their craft. It can create some amazing relationships once a stranger knows what you are working on. And it seems to open more proverbial doors than it closes. One of my favorite rules is to be nice.
Daily routines when the class is in C1 are very fluid. As a class, we meet at our designated spot for the day and I begin by talking about how we look for the unique things we will see, hear, feel, smell, and taste (if we are so inclined). We discuss what types of people are around us, what types of languages do we hear and what types of cultural differences are we witnessing. And THEN we discuss how to document it. From street corners to alleyways, storefronts to cabbie stops, bike lanes to semi trucks unloading goods, there is so much to take in visually.
C2 is the opposite of C1. It is quiet, clean, and utilitarian in nature. C2 is a simple digital photo studio. It is a white room with off-white with black fleck linoleum covering the floor, lit by daylight tinted overhead lights that match the window light. The light wood covered tables and black chairs break the visual monotony while silver computer/monitors and white keyboards continue the antiseptic motif. The lack of a microscopes are legitimately the only objects standing between the studio transforming into a science lab. To add to the ultra clean feel, the room is repainted after every class session so that any sign of humanity (pushpin holes, tape, printed photographs, wall scuffs) are wiped clean and covered in another layer of white.
C2, much like many studios, was designed to fit the needs of the art medium being taught within. Antiseptic white walls allow for images, whether they be in color or black and white, to stand out from the surroundings, to jump off the wall, and for those who are looking at them to focus on critiquing and enjoying them. The space is used more as a technical tool than an inspirational one. It is a place for students to control, expand, edit, and interpret their photographs. And it is just physically comfortable enough for people to be able to focus on their own screens or on the projection of mine. It is welcoming to all and people can carve out their own work without taking away from others. Headphones and personal music are encouraged as creativity and music go hand in hand in my classes. Always.
For my classes, the daily routines within C2 are consistent. We split up our time in the studio reviewing photographs from a diverse group of artists that are hand picked to inspire visually as well as expanding the students technical knowledge. The only limitations we have are the size of the class. There is a finite number of machines to edit on and for me, as the teacher, 10 seats seems to be the optimum amount of students so that I can share as much information as I can in the time allotted.
C2, to me, is only missing one thing… comfortable chairs. The starkness is there so that students can focus on their work or the work of their peers. But at the end of a long class, the chairs can cause restlessness and we try to take at least one walking break to break up the soreness.
For my classes now, these are the classrooms that I work within. With 10 students over the course of the program, I can get to know each of them on a personal level that allows for me to push them as photographers to express themselves. There are certain students where I would love to have more time with as they are either shy and have a hard time warming up to expressing themselves, or, they need just a bit more technical practice to truly get out what they have in their heads. For these occasions, I try to keep in touch with them to make sure they keep practicing and using their cameras regularly. With apps like Instagram, I can keep tabs on my students creative growth if they choose to keep posting their work.
