Invisible Cities by Photography 1

The book, "Invisible Cities" by Italo Calvino,  explores the concept of imagination and varying perspectives. The explorer Marco Polo describes cities of his travels to the Chinese Emporer Kublai Khan. Because the two speak different languages, Marco Polo uses objects from the cities to describes them. Kublai Khan wanted to know about his expanding empire, looking to Marco Polo and traveling merchants to describe it. 

Photography students were challenged to read an excerpt from the book and recreate that city in a digital photograph manipulation. We learned how to edit, overlay, and blend images in Photoshop. I liked this assignment because students were challenged to read a descriptive (but nonsensical) excerpt and asked to make it into an artwork. Great assignment for these students!

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