Directed study ideas?

Hello,
I am about to enroll in a directed (independent) study version of a studio photography class. I will have full access to B+W darkroom facilities, as well as color facilities. For this directed study, I need to decide essentially what it is that I want to concentrate on or learn.. Anyone have ideas as to themes, or topics to concentrate on, or things that you enjoyed about studio work that I should include? Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks
Matt

Matt, when students enroll in my classes, the first thing that I ask is what do they want to achieve. Sometimes a whole teaching strategy depends upon an answer to this question. So, Matt, what do you want to achieve in photography? What REALLY tickles your fancy?

The problem is that people who know exactly what they want are rare.

Sure, if someone says "I want to learn what are the common ways of setting up lighting for portraits, what they achieve and what their trade-offs are" it's easy to teach him.

But more often people will say: "I want to make better pictures". What do you mean, better? -- "Well, you know, better..." :-)

I think this is one of the cases where asking the right question is much harder than coming up with an answer...

Fey

An interesting question, one I, for some reason had not thought of.
I would have to say, that there are a few different objectives. As far as a technical objective, I would like a full working knowledge of studio lighting and use of the 4x5 and larger cameras. As a more abstract goal, I would like to improve the "fine art" aspect of my work, related to B+W studio work. There will be some color as well, but it is concentrated on B+W. Just about everything related to studio photography is at my disposal for this class. With these objectives, do you/anyone have any previously used lesson plans or assignment lists that you found particularly helpful/creative/interesting/thought provoking?

thanks
matt

Personally, I am more inclined to teach artistic aspect, but I do teach a class on studio lighting techniques, which can be done in a group, or one-to-one. My specialty is portraiture and nudes, therefore I do not teach large format and still life photography. The class is tought in a form of lecture-q/a-homework modules. Grading is pass/fail, but students cannot stard a new module without passing grade in a previous one. You can see the course outline here:
http://www.photo-masters.net/online_course.php?code=29
If you are interested, drop me a line. Prices there are for groups of four and above.