Andrew Bale, MFA, ART & ART HISTORY
Photography
I attended the Valley and Ridge Workshop to have a better understanding as to how I could incorporate the principles of sustainability into my ARTH 221, Intro to photography course as well as create a new course that highlights sustainably throughout the entire semester. After attending the workshop I decided upon the following:
ARTH221 – Intro to Photography
Part 1) Using images from a diverse group of photographers from around the world, students will be asked to associate those images with the 17 SDGs. During this classroom session students will mark those images with the SDGs they feel it represents the most. Once students have completed identifying the images, we will complete our in class session by discussing why those images are associated with the corresponding SDGs.
Part 2) Using Carlisle and the surrounding area, students will now select one or more of the 17 SDGs and create their own images in which they believe defines that SDG visually, once again linking the locally to the globally. Students will be required to present their final image(s) to the class, fielding and defending their visual choices and how they relate the SDGs.
Future Sustainable Photography Course
The facts are very clear, both analog and digital photography are extremely damaging to the earth and society. Photography, regardless of whether we are talking about process or equipment, requires precious resources (mostly metals) to be mined from the earth. The results are, but not limited to deforestation, water contamination, human smuggling, sex trafficking, the loss of biodiversity, Child and slave labor, materials added to the waste stream, etc.
In this course students will learn how to create cameras using renewable resources (such as gourdes, cardboard boxes and aluminum cans) and will learn about less toxic ways of creating analog images using non-precious metals such as cyanotype material and organic materials such as Chlorophyll printing ( an alternative photographic process where photographic images are developed on natural leaves through the action of photosynthesis.) The end result will be a more diverse way of creating photographic images, with less impact both locally and globally.