What does Szarkowski mean when he says photography is a process of Visual Editing?
What does this idea of Visual Editing suggest about photography's relationship to The Truth?
How do you think / feel these ideas figure in peoples' fascination both with taking and viewing photos?
HW:
For Wed / Fri: After you present your photo essay, please make a short blog post in which you 1) display a representative photo of a photographer you researched, and 2) write a brief explanatory paragraph about that photographer.
For Fri: (reminder) Read Sontag's "In Plato's Cave." Follow instructions on essay assignment sheet.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
HW for Monday, etc
For Monday:
1) Look back at your list of photographers listed in the Szarkowski reading. Pick one or two, and see what you can find out about him or her using Google, Wikipedia: try to get a feel for that photographer's pictures, and style. How does it relate to Eggleston?
2) Over the weekend, compose a photo-essay of 4-6 photos (somehow influenced by the photos you've viewed). Try NOT to simply make the essay tell a story. Post these on your blog. Half the class will present Mon, half will present Wed.
3) For Friday, you will need to read Susan Sontag's "In Plato's Cave" which is in On Photography, and also available as a link on this blog. If you are writing a Reflection Paper for Friday, then please consider Sontag's ideas alongside your own. Even if you are not writing a Reflection Paper, please write a short (2 paragraph) summary of Sontag's essay on your blog, and please list any questions it raised for you.
1) Look back at your list of photographers listed in the Szarkowski reading. Pick one or two, and see what you can find out about him or her using Google, Wikipedia: try to get a feel for that photographer's pictures, and style. How does it relate to Eggleston?
2) Over the weekend, compose a photo-essay of 4-6 photos (somehow influenced by the photos you've viewed). Try NOT to simply make the essay tell a story. Post these on your blog. Half the class will present Mon, half will present Wed.
3) For Friday, you will need to read Susan Sontag's "In Plato's Cave" which is in On Photography, and also available as a link on this blog. If you are writing a Reflection Paper for Friday, then please consider Sontag's ideas alongside your own. Even if you are not writing a Reflection Paper, please write a short (2 paragraph) summary of Sontag's essay on your blog, and please list any questions it raised for you.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
William Eggleston's Guide essay assignment and calendar
William Eggleston essay assignment
Eng 102, Writing and Photography
INTRODUCTION: For this essay, you will pick a single photo that is somehow representative of the concerns/interests you detect in William Eggleston’s Guide. You will then want to offer a Close Reading (a thesis-driven, specific analysis) of that picture, in the context of the rest of the Guide. Then, you will want to bring in at least 3 sources that will both help you in making your claims about Eggleston’s work, and also to situate your analysis in-terms of The History of Photography, Social/Cultural Concerns, The Role of Art in Society, or other broader critical lenses. Finally, you will want to include 4 of your own, original photos, meant to illustrate, or demonstrate, or further, or expand your essay.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Student Blogs
on Wednesday, complete the following:
1) Create a blogger account at blogger.com and choose a theme for your blog.
2) Create a POST comprised of your HW due today. (and an additional Welcome post if you want)
3) Import a "Links" sidebar and link to the William Eggleston Trust
4) Import a "Blogroll" sidebar, name it Student Blogs, then link to the class blog and each other's
5) For HW: Import an Eggleston-inspired picture to your blog, and, in a sentence or two, explain how your work relates to Eggleston's
Reminder: Response paper (with at least one original photo due Friday)
1) Create a blogger account at blogger.com and choose a theme for your blog.
2) Create a POST comprised of your HW due today. (and an additional Welcome post if you want)
3) Import a "Links" sidebar and link to the William Eggleston Trust
4) Import a "Blogroll" sidebar, name it Student Blogs, then link to the class blog and each other's
5) For HW: Import an Eggleston-inspired picture to your blog, and, in a sentence or two, explain how your work relates to Eggleston's
Reminder: Response paper (with at least one original photo due Friday)
Monday, January 24, 2011
"Reading" Eggleston's Guide
1. This book claims to be a Guide or sorts. What could it be a guide to? How does it function as a guide?
2. Take 10 minutes to look back through Eggleston's Guide and pretend you are watching a movie or slideshow.
What do you notice about the order of the pictures? How do they move between outside and inside? On what page do people first appear in the pictures? How do the colors (and maybe your emotional reactions to them) change as you browse through the pictures? What repeated patterns and colors do you detect? How are the photos composed? What does the photographer seem interested in?
Considering all of these things, what claims can you make about how Eggleston has put this book together, and why it is in the order it is in?
2. Take 10 minutes to look back through Eggleston's Guide and pretend you are watching a movie or slideshow.
What do you notice about the order of the pictures? How do they move between outside and inside? On what page do people first appear in the pictures? How do the colors (and maybe your emotional reactions to them) change as you browse through the pictures? What repeated patterns and colors do you detect? How are the photos composed? What does the photographer seem interested in?
Considering all of these things, what claims can you make about how Eggleston has put this book together, and why it is in the order it is in?
HW for Wednesday and Friday
FOR WEDNESDAY: Read carefully John Szarkowski's Introduction to Eggleston's Guide.
1. Each group will be assigned to take notes on one or several of the following:
What does S. write about the art of Photography in general? (list 5-7 representative sentences and page #)
What does S write about Eggleston's Photos in specific? (list 5-7 representative sentences and page #)
What does S. write about the use of color in Photography? (list 3-5 representative sentences and page#)
What does S write about Art in general? (list 3-5 representative sentences and page#)
What comparisons does S. make between Writing and Photography? (list 3-5 representative sentences and page#)
2. Everyone also keep a list of each other photographer S. lists.
3. Pick 1 term you do not know from each page and define it. Some examples to get you started: Romantic, vernacular, Faustian Ambition, sotto voce, eidetic memory, etc
This homework will be checked in class Wednesday (remember: we'll be meeting in the computer lab in the Bates Basement)
FOR FRIDAY:
Mandatory Friday Paper DUE: 500-600 words, with 1-4 original photos somehow inspired by Eggleston. Use the questions we consider in class Monday to get you started in offering a unique reading on Eggleston's work. Make sure to include at least 2 short, direct quotations (properly cited) from Szarkowski's essay.
1. Each group will be assigned to take notes on one or several of the following:
What does S. write about the art of Photography in general? (list 5-7 representative sentences and page #)
What does S write about Eggleston's Photos in specific? (list 5-7 representative sentences and page #)
What does S. write about the use of color in Photography? (list 3-5 representative sentences and page#)
What does S write about Art in general? (list 3-5 representative sentences and page#)
What comparisons does S. make between Writing and Photography? (list 3-5 representative sentences and page#)
2. Everyone also keep a list of each other photographer S. lists.
3. Pick 1 term you do not know from each page and define it. Some examples to get you started: Romantic, vernacular, Faustian Ambition, sotto voce, eidetic memory, etc
This homework will be checked in class Wednesday (remember: we'll be meeting in the computer lab in the Bates Basement)
FOR FRIDAY:
Mandatory Friday Paper DUE: 500-600 words, with 1-4 original photos somehow inspired by Eggleston. Use the questions we consider in class Monday to get you started in offering a unique reading on Eggleston's work. Make sure to include at least 2 short, direct quotations (properly cited) from Szarkowski's essay.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
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