PLAYING MY SONG: MAKING IMAGES INSPIRED BY MUSIC
Ages 16-29
Summer 2024, JHU-MICA Film Centre

Music may reflect or create mood or atmosphere, may constitute or allow an emotional release, may express or affirm an identity.  It embodies a connection between artist and listener that's perhaps unique in the arts.  Songs speak not only to us but of us; written and performed by someone else, they can nonetheless feel our own.  In this workshop, student fellows will inhabit and respond to existing songs by making original photographs.  They'll listen closely to a small group of songs preselected by the instructor—"Feels Like Summer" by Childish Gambino and "Four Women" by Nina Simone are examples—then experiment with an array of approaches, from found, impromptu street images to carefully constructed compositions; exploring uses of light, color, texture, and line; each fellow interpreting the music and their experience of the music in their own way.  They'll collect their best work in individual portfolios to be shared in a public exhibition and on the program website.  Limited to 12 student fellows.

André Chung is an award-winning photojournalist and portrait photographer.  He has created images for a wide range of publications, and was one of a select group of photojournalists chosen in 2009 and 2013 to work on Barack Obama: The Official Inaugural Book.  His photographs are part of the permanent collection at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Will Standiford is ambitious and excited for the unknown future and what it has in store for him.