COLLEGE OF IMAGING ARTS AND SCIENCES
School of Photographic Arts and Sciences
ANNUAL FACULTY REPORT AND EVALUATION OF PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
for the period of December 1, 2009 through November 30, 2010.
Name: ANDREW DAVIDHAZY
Department: School of Photo Arts and Sciences
Highest Degree & date: M.F.A., 1968
Date of first appointment to RIT : 07-01-66
Rank: PROFESSOR
Date present rank achieved: 1986
REVIEW of 2009-2010 PLAN of WORK and
Proposed PLAN of WORK for 2010-2011 and coming year(s).
1. Teaching/Advising
a. List courses taught (including credit hours, enrollment and any TA support)
ACCOUNTING OF TEACHING ACTIVITIES
Winter 2009-10 (092)
course title course number credit hours enrollment
1. SPECIAL EFFECTS PHOTOGRAPHY 2076 408 01 4 16
2. PHOTOINSTRUMENTATION SEMINAR 2076 431 01 4 6
3. PHOTO TECH COOP 2076 499 01 0 1
SPRING 2009-10 (093)
course title course number credit hours enrollment
1. SURVEY OF NON-CONVEN. IMAGING 2076 503 01 3 10
3. PHOTO TECH COOP 2076 499 01 0 1
SUMMER 2009-10 (001)
course title course number credit hours enrollment
1. PHOTO TECH COOP 2076 499 01 0 11
Fall 2010-11 (101)
course title course number credit hours enrollment
1) As in past years I have never used a TA or GA in any of my classes.
b. Given your 2009-2010 plan of work, provide a thoughtful review of what you have achieved relative to what you planned to do in the area of teaching/advising. Be sure to include an analysis of student evaluations indicating areas of strength and weaknesses as well as actions taken to address concerns. Original documentation should not be submitted, but it should be available upon request. (Depending on what your plan of work called for, examples of such documentation could include one or more of the following: student performance data, student evaluations, curricula/syllabi for new or revised courses, advising logs/evaluations)
Well, last year I did not prepare a plan of work. In addition, whatever plan I might have had was derailed by unexpected events in the Department.
My student evaluations have not changed over the years. I do take these to heart but I have established teaching procedures and practices that are more flexible than those of a freshman faculty have
In my opinion evaluations that students might provide after they have been away from the school and are working in industry are a much better way to collect feedback and learn from than those filled out in class when the students don't really have a good idea of how the course contents impacts on-the-job.
I have continued to encourage my students to use a web-based evaluation service at . I don’t know what my current “ratings” are there but I seem to be doing OK in terms of level of difficulty, helpfulness and overall quality. I did earn a red chili pepper though.
My perception from these various methods of gathering feedback is that students generally find me knowledgeable, approachable and helpful but sometimes lacking in organization. I think this latter fault is most evident in my Photoinstrumentation Seminar and Special Effects courses. In both instances there is a strong emphasis on creativity, innovation and self-determination. Many students are not used to such an opportunity.
For next year my plan of work vis-à-vis teaching and advising is to: Continue to develop and incorporate more digital high speed imaging into my High Speed course. The Cage now has a low-tech Casio Exilim cameras donated by Casio. I bought myself one as well and will bring it to RIT for students to use as needed. We also have access now to a higher end digital high speed camera but it is not as "user friendly" as students expect it to be and the learning curve for exploitation of his device is rather long and this makes its availability for class usage difficult.
I understand that my role as advisor and mentor to Imaging and Photographic Technology students has been curtailed and that other faculty will handle such matters in the future. This will give me an opportunity to devote more time to pursuing my own interests and creative endeavors.
I will become more engaged with time lapse photography and expand on my personal efforts to produce more polished results than what I have been able to produce so far.
2. Scholarship/Creative Activity
Given your 2009-2010 plan of work, provide a thoughtful review of what you have achieved relative to what you planned to do in the area of scholarship/creative activity. Original documentation should not be submitted, but it should be available upon request. (Examples of such documentation could include summaries of one or more of the following: published articles, editor's response to unpublished material, exhibition reviews, reviewer's response to submitted grant proposals, consulting outcomes.)
My proposed plan for this in past year was (although not explicitly stated in writing): Continue to remain connected with technical professional groups such as the IS&T and the SPIE and although I'd like to prepare another paper for presentation at one of these group's national conferences I am not sure I have one in me at this time. I plan on continuing to produce photographs that have scientific validity as well as aesthetic qualities. I plan on trying to make the exhibition of High Speed and Technical photographs available to other audiences. I also will continue to make my images accessible and available for a variety of purposes through the widespread use of the WWW as a tool of image availability dissemination.
Partial listing of events and publications by Andrew Davidhazy in 2009-10
Prepared and published several books/catalogues through Lulu Press:
Annual SPAS Exhibition - this is a record of the annual SPAS exhibition by members of the faculty of the School of Photo Arts and Sciences. This was the third year that I prepared this catalogue and made sure that a copy was included in the RIT archives as a permanent record of the accomplishments of SPAS faculty.
IDSA Peripheral Photographs - a collection of all the peripheral portraits made of people attending the IDSA conference who asked to have a peripheral portrait made during my demonstration sessions that were part of the conference.
Fotored - a collection of photographs by 28 members of the Fotored, a photography related email based discussion group conducted in Spanish and reaching over 350 subscribers worldwide. I am the moderator/coordinator of this list and established in 1996.
PhotoForum - a collection of photographs by 28 members of the PhotoForum, a photography related email based discussion group reaching over 500 subscribers worldwide. I am the moderator/coordinator of this list and established it in 1993.
SHOTS - a calendar of high speed ballistic photographs.
I also published a second edition of: Beyond the Naked Eye - Technical and Scientific Photographs by Andrew Davidhazy
I was interviewed in Lancaster CA for a segment related to my visit to the place and my "life story" so to speak for a podcast still available at:
Presented a paper and gave interactive demonstrations at the IDSA (Industrial Designers of America) national conference of 2010 that was held in Portland, Oregon. My paper was "Adventures in Strip and Streak photography" and my demonstrations on the conference floor were supported by the ZIBA Corporation of Portland, OR.
Traveled on my own dime so to speak to Lewiston, NY to give a daylong presentation at the Lewiston Porter high school, on special effects photography to several photography classes under the supervision of Mr. Mike Townsend
I presented at the Seminar on High Speed Photography organized by the Visual Instrumentation Corporation in Lancaster, CA in November 2010 on the topic of Applied Streak and Strip Analog and Digital Imaging. This was to a group of about 20 government technical photographers.
I presented a paper at the 2009 Symposium on the History of Photography organized by The Photographic Historical Society of Rochester, NY of held at the George Eastman House with a paper entitled "The Vanishing 16 mm High Speed Motion Picture camera". I was also a member of the Program Committee of the Symposium and am the Internet Liaison for the Society.
My photographs have been published worldwide in various textbooks and specialty publications. A more complete record will be available when the RIT publication on faculty scholarship becomes available to the general public.
I published in Tech Directions magazine (December 2009) an article on simplified techniques for stress visualization in plastic objects.
I had an exhibition of my technical photographs on exhibit at the national conference of the Optical Society of America that was held in Rochester in October, 2010. As part of the same conference I also presented a daylong demonstration as part of their E-Day event (Education day) on the topic of "Flashing Lights".
My picture of a sneeze was used in various health related campaigns both in the US and overseas. It is currently on view as part of a campaign at the University of Rochester Medical Center to encourage people to prevent the dissemination of flu germs though uncontrolled sneezing.
I was one of three photographers that were included in an article on slit-scan photography that was published in American Photo magazine in the Nov- Dec. 2010 issue.
My photographs was used on the cover of Water - and Life book published by CRC Press in June 2010.
Several of my photographs are included on the website for the outreach website Physics To Go ( and is produced at the American Physical Society. The requests come on a regular (for now) basis from Edward Lee,
The number of instances where my photographs have been included (invariably with mention of my association with RIT) is just too large to list in detail. I should keep better track of these but I must admit I am not very good at record keeping of such matters.
I remembered another instance of overseas publication and this was in the January 7, 2010 issue of the London Times in association with an article on the “String Theory”. As per photo at left and email notification below:
From: Penny, Madeleine - Times Assistant Picture Editor [
Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2010 8:21 AM
To: Andrew Davidhazy
Subject: RE: note from andy davidhazy in rochester, ny
Hi Andy, Your image is in the magazine tomorrow! It looks fab, send me your address and I'll pop a couple in the post for you. Happy New Year, all the best, Madeleine.
I was interviewed for a program that was aired on Japanese television by FUJI TV on the topic of what a "rolling shutter" is in digital photography and the kinds of effects that it might produce. A compilation of what this was about can be seen here:
I participated in the Black Mountain North Symposium that was held at RIT this past Fall with: ( "All Day: RIT Photography Professor Andrew Davidhazy will present Time and Space, an interactive rollout photography demonstration. Become a part of a novel space and time portrait photography experience that will be provided by Prof. Andrew Davidhazy at the Innovation Center. Participate in the demonstration and receive a signed memento print and the digital file for your use (or amusement)."
I've been planning to contribute to the USA Science and Engineering Festival in October 23-24, 2010 and while I cannot go to Washington for the "main event" there was an op to associate with a "satellite" event. I proposed it, they accepted it and this is the link to its listing on the Festival's directory of such events.
And this is the webpage prepared for it at RIT:
I presented a lecture/demo to incoming students on Sep. 8, 2010 (or so). The purpose was to mix a bit of technology with some "thinking" or "brain power" to solve what is seemingly a VERY difficult photographic problem and to learn something about the behavior of popping balloons in the process. You can see a short video of this at:
some of the comments that were made regarding this presentation:
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Snow Hwuang r u a teacher?
September 8, 2010 at 2:41am · LikeUnlike
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W Keith McManus Snow, yes he is, and fine one!!
September 8, 2010 at 9:25am · LikeUnlike
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Kathleen Stear an extraordinary professor!
September 8, 2010 at 9:55am · LikeUnlike
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Bret Harmen I'll bring the blender!
September 8, 2010 at 12:05pm · LikeUnlike
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Tom Barker Reminds me of Prof Shoemaker.
September 8, 2010 at 12:35pm · LikeUnlike
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Roy Dunn Wonderful and inspiring!
September 8, 2010 at 3:42pm · LikeUnlike
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John Compton Andy - For over 30 years while I taught at RIT I was fascinated by the science and technology of photography and the skill and passion with which you taught it. This video makes me want to get back in the classroom! For all the crap that goes on with administration outside the classroom, when you close the door to your classroom, you're in charge and master of the domain. Hats off to a master!
September 8, 2010 at 7:12pm · LikeUnlike
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Nitin Sampat Concur with John 100%!
September 8, 2010 at 7:24pm · LikeUnlike
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W Keith McManus One of the things I miss about teaching at RIT was being able to hang out with the likes of Andy.
September 8, 2010 at 7:25pm · LikeUnlike
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Bob Lewis I was a student there 1989-1991. Most memories have faded but I remember Andy's classes fondly and I was very happy to find him here on FB. I still think about Kushner sometimes as well.....he seemed like a good guy.
September 9, 2010 at 12:39am · LikeUnlike
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Gordon P. Brown Good job!
September 10, 2010 at 10:59am · LikeUnlike
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Gordon P. Brown I agree with John! I learned that while teaching at the Marketing Education Center at Kodak, that the happenings outside of the door are the dues that you pay for the enjoyment of the happenings on the other side of the door.
September 10, 2010 at 11:43am · LikeUnlike
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Ct Yeung It was fun building a sound activated switch. I used mine for Christmas lights. Though I imagine it would be great for Halloween lights too.
September 12, 2010 at 12:01pm · LikeUnlike
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Participated in a workshop for technology teachers and did the paperwork and promotion associated with organizing it. Unfortunately this was thought to be beyond the realms of appropriateness even though it was something that had significant historical precedence and had been recognized as a significant event in the lives of about 250 high school teachers who had participated in such workshops in the past.
Three of my photographs were published across a double page spread in the recently published book by the Pars Foundation of the Netherlands on the subject of ELASTICITY. They appear on pages 128-129 of the book edited by Hester Aardse and AstridVan Baalen. Copyright Lars Mueller Published 2010.
Donated 4 portrait photography opportunities to the 2008 WXXI 2008 Anniversary Auction. See details here:
Donated a photograph of Marlene Dietrich to Coyote Arts Group 2719 E Madison, Seattle, WA 98112 for their Art Benefit Auction on November 2010.
Donated 6 prints to the 6x6 exhibition/auction held by Rochester Contemporary. These, on the left, are two of them. See others at:
Donated 4 photographs to the Young Photographers Alliance auction that was held in NYC. Two can be seen above right and the others on the event’s website here:
I participated in the 2008 World Pinhole Photography Day project and my photograph and description is available online at their website at:
During the course of the year I wrote and installed on my webpage of articles about my experiments and personal "investigations" the following pieces:
THE HAROLD "DOC" EDGERTON PIDDLER - CONSTRUCTION AND USE
Harold Edgerton is world renowned for his contributions to high speed photography and especially to high speed electronic flashes and stroboscopes. One of his demonstration devices is The Piddler. Construction and use details are provided in this article.
DEALING WITH THE CASIO EXILIM CAMERA'S FRAME SPLITTING MODE DURING HS FRAMING
The Casio Exlilim camera allows recording rates at 300, 600 and 1200 frames per second but to go to 600 and 1200 pps it cuts the frames size into 1/2 and 1/4 segments. This article presents some discussion about the topic and a possible, though admittedly far fetched, solution.
THE WRATTEN 18A - A PROBLEMATIC FILTER FOR REFLECTED ULTRAVIOLET PHOTOGRAPHY
The Wratten 18A filter is one of the most commonly referred to and used filters for reflected ultraviolet photography. However, it not only transmits ultraviolet but also some infrared. This article examines the effect of the infrared transmitted as it might affect the ultraviolet record.
ALTERNATIVE TO CORNING 9780 FOR IR LUMINESCENCE PHOTOGRAPHY
The Corning 9780 or 9788 infrared cutting filters are considered the standard to use for infrared luminescence (or fluorescence in the infrared) photography. This article suggests an inexpensive solution to those high priced filters.
MAKING A PC FLASH SYNCHRONIZATION SOCKET FROM SCRATCH
This describes the making of a PC flash synchronization socket such as built into most professional grade camera bodies and used to fire an off the camera flash in synchronization with the camera shutter.
AUDIO AMPLIFIER DRIVEN SOUND ACTIVATED SYNCHRONIZER
There are several commercial sound synchronizers available on the market but this article describes one home-made solution to making photographs triggered by detecting their sound. It is based on the LM 380 integrated circuit audio amplifier. An added bonus is that it includes instructions on how to make an improvised female PC flash connector.
DSLR BASED ROLLOUT FOR PERIPHERAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Photographs that show surface detail of the entire circumference of objects can be made various ways. This article describes how to do it using a basic Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera for the purpose.
For next year more such articles are in the works.
So what are some of my other plans for next year?
I plan on devoting myself to teaching my traditional courses and developing more experiments suitable for incorporation into the curriculum, especially in the area of spoecial effects. This course was designed primarily as an "analog" based course since special effects can often be easily accomplished in the "digital" realm.