PHOTO 83 — Fine Art Photography with Your Smartphone
Quarter: Spring
Instructor(s): Yunfei Ren
Date(s): Apr 29—Jun 3
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Wednesdays
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Class Meeting Time: 5:30—7:30 pm (PT)
Tuition: $415
Refund Deadline: May 1
Unit(s): 1
Enrollment Limit: 25
Status: Registration opens Feb 23, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Spring
Day: Wednesdays
Duration: 6 weeks
Time: 5:30—7:30 pm (PT)
Date(s): Apr 29—Jun 3
Unit(s): 1
Tuition: $415
Refund Deadline: May 1
Instructor(s): Yunfei Ren
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Enrollment Limit: 25
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Registration opens Feb 23, 8:30 am (PT)
This course explores photography through an artist’s lens. Weekly exercises on color, light, composition, and storytelling will help you transform everyday captures into intentional works of art that express emotion and meaning. While camera settings are covered briefly, the emphasis is on concept, visual language, and the creative process.
We’ll study fine art photographers, analyzing how they build narrative and develop a visual language, then apply those strategies through creative assignments that encourage experimentation and self-discovery.
Chapters include:
- Painted colors: Use color to build emotional resonance and layered symbolism
- Moody lights: Shape atmosphere and meaning through natural and artificial light
- Distorted lens: Experiment with distortion and abstraction to reimagine reality
- Constructed scenes: Stage and compose photographs with conceptual clarity
This course is for students of all levels, with any smartphone. Students can expect to spend $20–$25 on apps; accessories demonstrated are optional purchases.
YUNFEI REN
Visual Artist
Yunfei Ren works in installation and photography and constructs temporal portals that collapse the boundaries between past and present. His practice engages with history, memory, and rituals, mapping cycles of migration, transformation, and recurrence. His work has been exhibited at the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, the de Young Museum, Stanford, and the Chinese Historical Society of America Museum and featured in The Washington Post.Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.