Textbooks
[Myth] = Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. 2nd ed. Translated by Richard Howard and Annette Lavers. Hill and Wang, 2012. ISBN: 9780374532345.
[NHP] = Weaver, Mike. A New History of Photography. Konemann, 1999. ISBN: 9783829013284.
SES # | TOPICS | READINGS And ASSIGNMENTS |
---|---|---|
Week 1: Introduction | ||
1 | Overview, Formal Analysis & How to Give Presentations | No Readings |
Week 2: Technologies | ||
2 | Technologies |
WatchWatch at least one of the Videos about Photographic Processes made by the George Eastman House. Read
Manovich, Lev Official Website. Photography After Photography. Exhibition Catalog, 1995. Read at Least 3 Photography Exhibition Reviews: Exhibition Reviews by Sarah Moroz: "Sarah Moroz: A Media Portfolio." Sarah Moroz's tumblr page. Reviews by Sean O'Hagan: Profile: Sean O'Hagan. The Guardian. |
3 | Visit "Daguerre's American Legacy" at the MIT Museum | |
Week 3: Likeness and Identity (Portraiture) | ||
4 | Early Portraiture & the Carte de Visite |
Read
[Myth] "The Harcourt Actor."
|
5 | Photography, Identity, & Resemblance | |
Week 4: Making Art I (Realism and Abstraction) | ||
6 | Photography & Painting |
Read
[NHP] "Artistic Aspirations: The Lure of the Fine Art." Krauss, Rosalind. "The Photographic Conditions of Surrealism." October 19 (1981): 3–34. |
7 | Surrealism & Abstraction | |
Week 5: Urban Exploration (Street Photography) | ||
8 | Documenting Urbanism |
WatchRob Hooley. "André Kertesz BBC Master Photographers." April 14, 2013. YouTube. Read
|
9 | People in the Streets | |
Week 6: Making Art II (Institutions) | ||
10 | Visit to the Study Room of the Museum of Fine Arts |
Read
[NHP] "Photographic Institutions and Practices."
|
11 | Photography and the Art Market / Museum | |
Week 7: Photography and the Novel | ||
12 |
Photography and Literature Special Guest: Carrie O'Connor |
Read
|
Week 8: Research and Investigation | ||
13 | Science & Society |
Watch"Harold "Doc" Edgerton - How Fast is Fast?" From the Vault Video Collection. MIT+150. Produced by MIT Video Productions for the Edgerton Foundation, 1994. Read[NHP] "The Body of Evidence" and "The All Powerful Eye." |
14 | Virtual Visit of "Doc" Edgerton Archive | |
Week 9: Tourism & Travel | ||
15 | Picture-taking & Picture Postcards |
Read
|
Week 10: Spreading the News I (Photojournalism) | ||
16 | The Decisive Moment |
WatchTom Johnston. "Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Decisive Moment." Novermber 19, 2012. YouTube. Read
"Why France Fell." Photographs by Lisette Model. PM's Weekly. 19 January, 1941, pp. 38–39. |
17 |
Photography & the Press Special Guest: Jason Hill | |
Week 11: Humanistic Photography | ||
18 | Aesthetics & Suffering |
Read[NHP] "Looking At Others: Humanism and Neo-realism." [Myth] "Shock Photos" and "The Family of Man." |
Week 12: Spreading the News II (War Photography) | ||
19 | The Ethics of War Photography |
ReadSontag, Susan. "Looking at War." The New Yorker, December 9, 2002. Lavoie, Vincent. "War and the iPhone: New Fronts for Photojournalism." Translated by John Tittensor. Etudes Photographiques. Snow, Lalage. "Kabul's Hidden Gardens Offer Afghans Haven From War," Financial Times, September 13, 2013. "We Are Not The Dead: Soldiers' Faces Before, During and After Serving in Afghanistan," The Telegraph. |
20 |
Photographing War Special Guest: Lalage Snow | |
Week 13: Sell, Sell, Sell (Photography in Fashion and Advertising) | ||
21 | Do Pictures Sell? |
WatchMa Pelette. "Sarah Moon is a Master of Photography." June 14, 2009. YouTube. Read[NHP] "The Dream of Beauty: Fashion and Fantasy." [Myth] "Electoral Photography." |
Week 14: Photography and Law | ||
22 | Photographs as Witnesses |
Read
Laurent, Oliver. "Protecting Privacy, Limiting Street Photography," The New York Times, April 23, 2013. Estrin, James. "Criminalizing Photography," The New York Times, August 14, 2012. |
23 | Photography as Crime | |
Week 15: Cataloguing the World (Photo Archives to Instagram) | ||
24 | Albert Kahn & The Archives de la Planète |
ReadMurray, Susan. "Digital Images, Photo-sharing, and Our Shifting Notions of Everyday Aesthetics." Journal of Visual Culture 7, no. 2 (2008): 147–63. |
25 | The Documentary Impulse Today |