New "Dodge and Burn" Book Features Student Photography

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ELMIRA, NY (07/31/2018) Dodge and Burn 2017-18, a print-on-demand book, features selected photos and statements by Elmira College students enrolled in Photography I courses during the academic year. The words "dodge and burn" are rarely spoken in digital photography, but it is a phrase quickly learned and spoken by everyone who has ever worked in a darkroom. Besides samples from student darkroom portfolios, this year's issue of Dodge and Burn features student commentary about camera-less photography and alternative photo processes.

Philadelphia artist Michelle Cade conducted a cyanotype workshop with students in front of the Gannett-Tripp Library in the fall of 2017 where they made their own prints by simply laying objects on top of sensitized paper, and allowing the sun to expose the image. Many students were fascinated and wrote enthusiastically about their experience.

Jaima Cicero '19: "It strikes me that most people believe photography to be wholly about capturing decisive moments with a camera to then be printed on just photography paper, but there is truly an entire world of possibilities that people fail to think about. I love that photograms in particular are extremely easy to do."

Jordan Newcomb '18: "I'm not an art student by any stretch of the term, so when I came into this course I honestly believed that film and digital photography were the only two real mediums a photographer could work with. I couldn't have been more wrong. After just a few weeks, my eyes have truly been opened to see all that the term "photography" truly encompasses."

EmilyAnn LaClair '19: "I really liked viewing Michelle Cade's silk cyanotypes that hung from the ceiling of the George Waters Gallery. She would never have been able to show her work in that way if she had just taken a normal photo. I think the way she portrayed the women, who had to physically lie on the cyanotype cloth, made them look almost as though they were drowning. It was unique and showed something different than she would have been able to get in a digital photo."

Read more comments by students, as well as view their works, in the 2018 Dodge and Burn.

All student portfolios, including both traditional and digital photography, can be viewed here.