Apr 7, 2020
Vancouver, BC - At a time when half the world is under stay-at-home orders, Langara College Creative Arts instructors are finding creative ways to deliver the same learning outcomes in remote-learning environments. How do you teach a DSLR-based photography class to students without DSLR cameras?
For Photography Department Chair Eric Stewart and Photography instructor, Sara McIntyre, the answer is simple: when you can’t be with the DSLR you love, love the mobile phone you’re with. Langara photography’s massively popular introductory course, Photography 1100 (which is also popular as an arts elective for science students), will for the first time be based on the art of mobile phone photography.
“A mobile-phone based version of PHOT1100 is something we’ve considered in the past, but I guess it took a pandemic to turn those ideas into reality,” said Stewart, over Zoom, in his living room. “Still, mobile phone cameras today are so powerful and there are so many tools and apps out there.” Stewart said the course will cover long exposure and painting with light, or how to set up studio photography in your own home, among other topics.
Stewart is ready to push back on the notion of mobile phone cameras as amateur tools. “We’ve started using the hashtag #PHOT100mobile to showcase the incredible work current and past students have made with their phones,” he said. “I know it’s a strange time, but I’m excited to be able to offer a course that empowers students to unlock their phone’s artistic potential, especially now.”
“Creativity can also be a survival tool in times of great stress,” says McIntyre from her living room office. “I’m looking forward to the opportunity to help students express themselves visually, using tools they have already have.”
In B.C., most other mobile-phone oriented photography classes are in journalism or not for credit, so Langara faculty’s online pivot is as industry leading as it is timely. PHOT1100 is one of hundreds of Langara summer term courses that opened for registration on April 6, 2020.
About snəw̓eyəɬ leləm̓ Langara College
Located in beautiful Vancouver, B.C., Canada, snəw̓eyəɬ leləm̓ Langara College provides University, Career, and Continuing Studies education to more than 23,000 students annually. With more than 1,700 courses and 130 programs, Langara’s expansive academic breadth and depth allows students of all ages, backgrounds, and life stages to choose their own educational path. Langara is also known as snəw̓eyəɬ leləm̓, a name given to it by the Musqueam people on whose unceded traditional territory the College is located. Langara is celebrating its 49th year on West 49th Avenue with Beyond 49, an integrated celebration, alumni engagement, and fundraising campaign to reconnect with alumni, and raise funds for student support and important College initiatives.
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Jackie Hoffart
Communications Officer
Langara College
jhoffart@langara.ca
604.323.5176
