In this episode I’m talking to Art and English teacher, Ethan Lester. Ethan is a multidisciplinary artist from Toronto, Canada. He holds a BFA from the University of Western Ontario and an MFA from the University of Victoria, where he taught photography and drawing. He currently teaches Secondary Visual Art and English in Hong Kong.

We discuss:

• The best book he’s ever read or been taught
• Ethan’s background in photography and the extent it plays a part in his teaching career to date.
• Who he considers are the pillar stones of photography that everyone either learns about or knows of in the industry?
• Whether a set of integral terminology that newcomers need to know exists in order to analyse the photographer's message
• How Ethan feels photography is different from any other art from in terms of communicating its message
• And finally, for English / language teachers looking to teach photography for the first time, some key resources to look at.

Thanks again to Ethan for taking the time to enlighten me on a portion of the new IB Language and Literature course that I feel relatively insecure about. Be sure to check out all of his suggestions in the show links below as they make for excellent consideration if you fancy teaching photography in the future. 

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Links:

Alfred Stieglitz

Man Ray

Ansel Adams

Cindy Sherman

Andreas Gursky

Vikky Alexander

Jeff Wall

The Photograph as Contemporary Art by Charlotte Cotton

How to Write About Contemporary Art by Gilda Williams