Photo Composition

A Bauhaus tradition: designing the capture of a compelling image through the composition of frame

Faculty Lead:
Eric Hausman

Class:
Introduction to Photography

Students:
Aamena Ansari
Samar Anwar
Rodrigo Dyer
Samar Elhouar
Lizzy Engele
Jessie Gao
Hugo Hsiao
Noah Keppers
Evija Kristopane
Eddie Kure
Shinichiro Kuwahara
Stephanie Meng
Anand Nagapurkar
Veronica Paz Soldan
Zack Schwartz
Faye Sun
Pukka Tackie
Julian Walker
Alison Yang
Minyi Zhang

#honorsfundamentals
#soID

*Eddie Kure explores with Chicago Riverwalk. Shot by Stephanie Meng.*

Over the course of seven weeks, Foundation students worked incrementally through the fundamentals of photography. Through assignments in black-and-white and color; through studies of form, whether of static infrastructures or the human silhouette; and through examinations of still life and street life, Professor Hausman impressed on us that photography is an art of light. As such, Foundies developed a keen relationship with daylight, perpetually calibrating it as they scampered around Chicago with tripods, backup chargers, and wireless clickers in tow.

We overcame (or learned to endure) the discomfort of photographing strangers, crouching on sidewalks for the sake of composing the exact frame, and flipping through hundreds of depressingly unusable images. With the support of our professor, TAs, and one another, we came to appreciate the challenge of this craft.

The ID Foundation program at the Institute of Design welcomes students with no design background. Students take Foundation classes in Communication, Product, and Interaction Design, together with Photography, to become versatile, well-rounded, designers.

“Learning about composition and how the direction of light creates texture, shape and tone within the environment of the river walk, I’ve learned that composition and leveraging various kinds of depth are good ways to make a photo more dynamic.”

— Shinichiro Kuwahara

“I took multiple photos at the exact same spot for later classes, but none of them told a story like this one. Though it might be a bit blurry, it still stands out.”

— Stephanie Meng