Teaching Portfolio
Teaching Philosophy
Diversity Statement
Courses
Intro to Photography (Analogue ) Intro to Photography (Digital)
Photographic Design Photographic Editing & Printing
Documentary Photography Fine Art Photography
Photography & Social Engagement Special Topics in Photography
Contemporary Issues in Art Photographic Criticism
Photography History I & II History of Socially Engaged Art
Modern Art History Art & Activism
Student Work
The following are samples of student work from my university courses, seminars and workshops:
Photographic Editing & Printing
PHO9 is lower division course on workflow, photo editing and printing. The objective of the course was to learn the basics of destructive (Photoshop) and non-destructive (Lightroom) editing. Additionally, they were introduced to color correction and file preparation for print. At the culmination of the course, students were given the opportunity to create a printed portfolio of their best work, which prepared them for vocational opportunities after school.
Special Topics: Curation & Exhibition Design
PHO400 is bachelor's level special topics course on exhibition design and curation. Throughout the course, students were introduced to the collaborative nuts and bolts of putting together a group exhibition. Having taken my photography criticism class the previous semester, they were able to write a curatorial statement, select artists by invitation and print/install photographs in the school gallery. Additionally, we designed and produced our own promotional materials to feature the event on campus. The exhibition, entitled "Home", showcased 7 artists whose work was concerned with the notion of home as a space and place.
Analogue Photography
Analogue photography is taught as a foundation level class for both university and community college students in California. In this course, I teach the fundamentals of manual camera operation, black and white film developing and printing. Students are introduced to the basics of composition and conceptual development for creative expression.
Digital Photography
Digital photography is taught as a foundation level class for both university and community college students in California across media majors. In this course, I teach the fundamentals of manual camera operation on a DSLR, post-production in programs like Lightroom and Photoshop as well as archival printing. Students are introduced to the basics of workflow, composition and conceptual development for creative expression.
Special Topics in Documentary Photography
This course was a 3rd year independent study to explore and grow a documentary body of work.
Intermediate Photography
This intermediate course explores advanced photographic techniques such as working in a series and communicating ideas through photographic expression. Assignments reinforce the foundations of photographing with a DSLR, while introducing post-production, workflow and research in contemporary practice.
Fine Art Photography
A 200 level course, Fine Art Photo explores the conceptual and expressive principals of photography through lectures, discussions, assignments and field trips. Students submit their work for critique, refining the theoretical and practical skills needed to create meaningful imagery.
Socially Engaged Photography
A 100 level course offered at Pitzer for all majors, Socially Engaged Photography explores how photographers work with communities to tell visual stories. Students learn the foundations of digital photography while employing research and collaboration into their practice as image makers.
Sadie Scott’s project entitled “Fast Tract to Fulfillment” was expanded from her initial research project in this course documenting food scarcity in the I.E. in relationship to land use policies. Her work was featured in KVCR and was awarded a grant which culminated into an exhibition at the Garcia Center for the Arts in San Bernardino, CA.
Photo Book
A 300 level course offered at Pitzer for art majors, this is an advanced studio-based lab which explores the traditions and practices of the photographic book from hand-bound artist books to more modern direct-to-publishing methods. Students are encouraged to develop their own concepts and interpretations within the medium.
James Dailey | CSUSB
James Dailey’s photographs document industrial sprawl moving into the high desert from the perspective of someone who was raised in Hesperia. His images render the civil neglect of his town visible as his use of the grid mimics the proliferation of “boxes” that populate the area with track home developments and warehouses. James was inspired by artists like Robert Flick, Trevor Paglan and the New Topographics images of the same era from the 70s.
James is a California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellow (Emerging) and is an MFA candidate at UCSD.
David Ardill | CBU
David Ardill, an adept fashion photographer, was able to explore a documentary style approach to his work as he observed what people keep and what they let go of in this series he did on garage sales in his suburb of San Diego.
Raymond Alva | CBU
Raymond Alva, an artist who works across photography and video, intimately captures subjects that are close to him. He has won multiple awards and was recently featured in CommArts magazine.
Juan Carillo-Dominguez | CSUSB
Juan Carillo Dominguez’s photographs chronical the migration of his family from Mexico to the US; redlined Long Beach to the I.E. His work meditates on the historical connection Chicanos have to their land and their removal from it as more industrial jobs lead to displacement.
Fernanda Durazo | CSUSB
Fernanda was born and raised in Bloomington, a predominately Latinx unincorporated Ranchero town that has been overtaken by warehouse development. In my classes, Fernanda began working on a portfolio that led to our collaboration on a grant funded public art project to save displaced families in Bloomington.
Rodney Muñoz | CSUSB
Rodney grew up in West San Bernardino, home of Ybarras market— which sits on a railroad next to the freeway. 50 years later, as an Amazon distribution center was erected right across the street, Ybarra’s looks at closing up shop. Rodney created a scrapbook in commemoration.
Graduates & Mentees
These are photographs from students that I’ve had in my classes over the course of several years and with whom I keep in close contact with to mentor and support. I’m inspired by their commitment to the medium and am proud to have aided in their research.