Looking Through The Lens

This is the first unit of my Junior STEAM course Light Sound and Time. In the first unit, Light, we learned about, light!..what a shocker. We learned about the mechanics of electromagnetic spectrum and light waves. We also did some magic with trigonometry where we studied unit circles, similar triangles, and sine and cosine waves, as well as other equations in the branch of measuring waves in distance/angles. Our class also went on a Field Experience were we went to The Latin School to meet with their photography teacher Ms. Ross. We used their darkroom to develop our pictures. This FE was an important task to take in regards to or Action Project. For the first AP, we made a pinhole camera. We made the cameras in class and afterward took them to The Latin School where we took and built up the photographs. We at that point needed to figure the light and separation between the focal point and the subject we snapped a photo of in order to do our best in creating a functional camera. Although the odds were not in my favor on creating a functioning camera, it doesn't take away from the amazing experience I had.

Looking Through the Lens

How Does A Pinhole Camera Capture Light?

In order to figure out how a pinhole camera captures light, we will have to understand the fundamentals of light. Light is neither a particle or a wave as it is a duality of both meanings that light displays properties of waves at times and properties of traditional particles in others as light can be absorbed and changed by magnetic fields. Knowing this we can have a better sense on how light works when being perceived onto a camera. A pinhole camera is a kind of straightforward handcrafted camera. It comprises of a lightproof box, a manual screen, and a focal point. The pinhole camera can take pictures by setting your subject towards the camera and putting film inside the camera. At that point, you let light through the pinhole which lets a little measure of light into the totally dim camera, where the image gets absorbed by the film. The film is then created, and in the event that it works, you have successfully captured your subject. But in order to do so, the importance comes to the camera being completely light proof. The dark within the camera ensures all the light is ingested and the main light coming through will be through the pinhole. This will then ensure your image in picking up the independent light that we want. Once light gets into the pinhole camera we were asked if the light itself works as a reflection or refraction. By knowing that refraction can only occur when the light changes it's medium to another and that a reflection can only occur when the light is being reflected off we can conclude that a pinhole camera doesn't work in any of these ideas. A pinhole camera doesn't ever change it's medium as it's only going from air to air and we can also assure that the light from the pinhole camera absorbs the film instead of bouncing off or else there wouldn't be an image to see.

I chose to make my pinhole camera out of a box not knowing the challenges that come with it. Like I had stated up top its important to ensure that your box is lightproof in order to manipulate the light being captured. My box had several holes and folds that needed to be sealed and painted all black. I then took a vacant soft drink can and cut a hover out of it with an X-Acto blade. At that point, I utilized a stick and jabbed an opening through the aluminum to then sand it with sandpaper so everything was smooth. This became a hard task when it came to dealing with creating a seal that can open and close just like shutter would do on a camera. I ended up creating a flapping opening to work as my shutter.

The After(MATH)

Since the pinhole camera is low tech we needed to see for ourselves how far the subject has to be in order for the film to capture the entire subject. In order to receive this information, we measured the height of the tallest object, the height of the pinhole and the distance between the pinhole and the film. With these three measurements, we can know the distance of the object to the camera. 

GA, "calculations", 2019

Finished Product

GA, "Pinhole Camera", 2019

GA, "Image Captured", 2019

 

I Declare a People Watching Course!

This is the first unit of my Junior Humanities class A Nation's Argument. In this class, we are learning about the fundamentals of an argument by analyzing The Declaration of Independence. We learned about premises and conclusions as well as inductive and deductive reasoning. These are all key tools in forming a solid argument. We also took part in Yale University's online lecture series. We participated in a lecture on American history from Professor Freeman where she argued her take on the Declaration of Independence. We then read a passage from A Peoples History of the United States where Howard Zinn argued his take on The Declaration of Independence. We compared and contrasted the views of Zinn and Freeman where they had discussed if the preamble or the grievances were the most important in Jefferson argument. We had a Field Experience where we went to the Daley Center in Chicago. We participated in their Black History Month tours where they let schools experience a hearing in a courtroom. For this action project, we declared our independence. I chose to exercise my right by declaring an independent study on people watching!

The Declaration of Independent Study: People Watching

I am a student exercising my right as I announce our Declaration of Independent Study. Going against the social control comes in many aspects one being the 1800's rebels, Flaneur. The concept of the flâneur, the casual wanderer, observer, and reporter of street-life in the city also known as People Watching. In a city that attempts to change at the speed of time, a stroll that went with time and passed by seconds and seen in stills were seen as scums. Flaneur was the arch-conservatives with a serrated change of an awakening, as Benjamin describes in “The Arcades Project”, “Empathy with the commodity is fundamentally empathy with the exchange value itself. The flâneur is the virtuoso of this empathy.” Detaching oneself from a continuous routine is in our nature. The same nature that questions is the nature we possess to act on our aptitude.

Learning starts when students develop ideas not the absorption of comprehension as if deliverables were the physical health exams to “check-in”. Ideas take place in all means, at all time and everywhere. An Adapting education can take numerous structures, for example, formal, casual, and non-formal and happen anyplace whenever. whoever we are, wherever we live we are given chances to learn regularly of our life. People are learning all through life, as life is learning people all through. GCE Lab school withstands with the principles of establishing innovative learning spaces, the school was founded by the same rebellion instinct of a capitalistic structure of standardized learning. That being said this accentuates the nature of peripatetic style (see Vergunst 2017, this issue). The figure of the flâneur catches a sense of inertly strolling in the city, with no particular goal, enjoying the act of strolling while at the same time mentioning objective facts on urban life. As a meandering figure who was traditionally gendered and elite, he represents the look of advancement which is both “covetous and erotic”(Pollock 1988: 67). This routine with regards to transgressive urban walking(Martínez 2015) has been stretched out to incorporate the female flaneuse (Richards 2003), as well as the impaired flâneur (Serlin 2006), meaning its job as a persuasive figure, beyond its manly connotations. Flanerie, the demonstration of the flâneur, has motivated writing, film ponders, craftsmanship history and practice, urban investigations and human sciences. It urges individuals to draw in with questions identified with the critical engagement of a cutting edge city. That being said the ways of a wanderer explores your inner self as much as it does in your environment. The concept of flaneurism makes up the meaning of learning. That being said I hold these Truths to be self-evident, that quality learning is ubiquitous, that they are endowed by nature to revolt.

I will pursue my means to explore my independent study by discovering the following Guiding Questions:

How did Flaneurs contribute to society?

Who is drawn to the Flaneur concept?

Who is deterred to the Flanerie?

How did the Flaneur method influence the arts?

GCE Lab school urges understudies to utilize their voice to take responsibility for learning. By following similar rules I declare my entitlement to think about outside the dividers of a classroom and wander the avenues utilizing the Flaneur strategy. My recorded suggestions will legitimize my rights.

P1. Peripatetic practices perform well-rounded learning.

P2. GCE Lab school encourages innovative learning spaces.

P3. Flaneurs detach themselves from a capitalized structure just like GCE detachment from standardized learning.

P4. Flaneurism influences fields of anthropology, sociology, and human geography, as well as artistic practice and subjects more commonly found within the humanities.

In order to absorb as much from my experience I will require the accompanying sources:

- Permission slip allowing me to leave GCE to roam the city

- Student Ventra card

-Art Institute of Chicago exhibition, The Flaneur: Kunstmuseum Bonn

- “Charles Baudelaire: A Lyric Poet in the Era of High Capitalism” written by Walter Benjamin

-“Key Figure of Mobility: The Flaneur” written by Jamie Coates

-“The Flaneur, the Sandwichman and the Whore: The Politics of Loitering” written by Buck Morss

I, therefore represent as a student to solemnly publish and declare, That I have the right to make the city my classroom by utilizing the Flaneur strategy.

http://blindflaneur.com/contact/browse-the-archives/tutelary-spirits/the-return-of-the-flaneur/

Works Cited

“Baudelaire, Benjamin and the Birth of the Flâneur.” Psychogeographic Review, 13 May 2014, psychogeographicreview.com/baudelaire-benjamin-and-the-birth-of-the-flaneur/.

kul, Tapanshu. “Morss 'The Flaneur, The Sandwichman and The Whore: The Politics Of Loitering'.” Academia.edu - Share Research, www.academia.edu/24817800/Morss_The_Flaneur_The_Sandwichman_and_The_Whore_The_Politics_Of_Loitering.