The Non-Selfie

Catalog description

The Non-Selfie: using the camera to record, probe, and understand one's own and another's behavior This course is the opposite of the selfie, but it uses the camera to record human behavior, both your own and another's. Designers need to be good human observers in order to design for human needs. Designers also need empathy. This course aims to deepen sensitivity to others by first better understanding ourselves. Informed by Manfred Max-Neef's classification of fundamental needs and other relevant materials, we will create two in-depth photo-essays, the first being a study of ourselves, the second being a study of someone who is unfamiliar to us. In the first half of this course, while looking at the tradition of self-portraiture in photography and other media, we will be making in-depth photographic stories of ourselves. In addition to photographs, we may make scans of objects, include personal artifacts and anything else that may contribute to building an in-depth self-portrait. In the second part of the semester, we will apply what we learned to a person who we do not know, in hopes of bringing new insights and methods to understanding for another. In addition, we will look at the rich literature that exists in documentary photography about representing "the other." By the end of the semester, each student's work will be made into a hand-made Japanese stab book of two volumes: a volume on oneself, and one on another. The skills learned in this course are immediately relevant to becoming a good designer. Digital camera is necessary, and knowledge of camera operation, Photoshop and InDesign is helpful.