In the Fall of 2012, University of Toledo Physics department unveiled a new fancy projector in the Ritter Planetarium. As part of their grand opening ceremony, they invited us to put up work in conjunction with the opening. It went really well. Students enjoyed the project and produced really great images. So the Physics department asked us to do it again.
Your class will be the third class to produce prints on this theme for display at the Planetarium. Next time you are on campus, be sure to stop by Ritter Auditorium on main campus to see the prints on display from the previous class. They play full dome films in their planetarium which are fun to see. You should check one out.
So, your second Project is going to be about Space. This may seem difficult with photo, but I assure you there is much that you can do. Start by checking out this excellent series of photos of the topic.
The film The Fountain made use of close up photography of viscus fluids for much of the special effects. Here is a short write up about it. Here is a link to the guys that made the visual effects with some additional similar examples.
A Photogallery honoring the first chimp in space. InPraise of Ham the Astrochimp.
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Air and Space magazine have a collection of photos and articles titled 50 Years of Space Flight.
Americans Dream of Space. A great video about the nation's excitement and fascination with space during the 1950s-1980s. Excellent gallery of early space program photos.
Did you know that there is a museum dedicated to space named The Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio? Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon, was born in Wapakoneta. The museum chronicles Ohio's contributions to the history of space flight.
You can make an inexpensive balloon camera outfit and launch it. Similar article in PopScience. Yet another similar project.
Be sure to check out NASA's extensive resources. Much of the imagery that comes to mind when we think of Space is included in NASA's Great Images in NASA collection.
Here are the Flickr Astro Photographers of the Year for 2012
Additional food for thought: There are some people who don't think we ever really landed on the moon.
Bannedin America: Proof of Fake Moonlanding is a film on the topic. It is interesting as they explain the methods which they believe were used to fake everything. You could use these techniques to fake your own trip to the moon. If you want more information on the supposed conspiracy, just do an internet search on ‘Moon Hoax’.
Think aliens...think early space exploration…think current space exploration….think space tourism…watch some bad science fiction for inspiration…think War of the Worlds….read up on private space exploration such as Space X. Most people believe it is where the future of space exploration lies.
The only limitation is that any editing that occurs to your image must take place in Adobe Camera Raw. This isn’t an exercise to see how good you are at image editing. This is to say, you are supposed to the work for this assignment with your camera, not on the computer. It’s about how creative you can be. Millions of excellent photographs were taken prior to the invention of the computer. You are allowed to perform local edits in ACR.
Below is a slideshow made from the students work from Fall 2012. You can see the images as a Set on Flickr.
Here is a little video about getting into Astrophotography
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