Phobia

In January of 2009, five Basic Graphics students at Colorado College were challenged to design photographic representations of phobias. With the guidance and instruction of photographer, Heather Oelklaus, they learned a variety of cameraless photographic techniques and traditional photographic methods . Combining at least three of these methods, their goal was to produce a provoking, gallery quality image that clearly conveyed their chosen phobia. The students also designed warning signs with the same themes. Here, the objective was to use iconic images that passersby would be able to interpret at a glance, yet that would blend into the urban landscape unless scrutinized more closely.

Each section centers around one of the five chosen phobias and includes images and materials the student used to develop his or her final work. All of the students discovered processes and techniques that they liked best after experimenting with the numerous techniques. Through technological failure, painstaking Xacto knife work, trials and errors, and hours spent with Photoshop, they pieced together their works and produced the images exhibited in this book.

Phobia is a sketchbook documenting the processes the students explored to create their final images.