The world and its cultures are external before one looks deeply. As artists and as responsible citizens, ways of focused looking will help us to learn from, and benefit back to our society and the world.

This is a course on fundamental knowledge of lens-based media. The essential foundation provided in this course is not merely technical skill but ways of inquisitive looking. Looking is attentive and active while seeing is external and passive. Accordingly, supplementary to technical training, this course aims at broadening students' visual perceptions and sharpening their senses responding to the outside world.

Students will explore and experiment how lens-based media artists understand, capture, represent and interpret the physical reality. Technical workshops on camera obscura, optical theory, colour management, framing and composition will be offered. Field work of self-directed nature for practicing skills of observation is an important part of the course. Class assignments will enhance students' ability to look into details both in aesthetic realm and in cultural contexts.

Students will be working mainly on photography and moving image production that are essential craft for visual artists in various fields and in a cross-disciplinary manner. This course serves as a foundation for works of photography, moving image, visual narrative and interactive media. Students will be both technically and intellectually ready to engage in further experimentations of lens-based media creations in advanced courses.