Photography and the Narrative of Place

Catalog description

This half-semester course will use photography to develop understandings of our surrounding environments. Students will choose a single location to work in, photographing and researching its function in the community, its history, and its relationship to broader concepts and similar spaces. Weekly assignments will require students to work with a variety of photographic methods to construct a narrative that derives meaning from the complex connections between people, objects and the spaces they inhabit. Throughout the course, students will strengthen their understanding of the ways in which these tangible and abstract elements of our environments work together through in-class exercises, weekly discussions and critiques. The course work will culminate in a portfolio of the completed project. The class will study work and books by notable and emerging figures in the medium, including Robert Adams, Carolyn Drake, Roy DeCarava, Rinko Kawauchi, Alec Soth, Carrie Mae Weems, Zoe Strauss, Gregory Halpern, and Susan Lipper. Required readings will include essays and short stories by Wendell Berry, Rebecca Solnit, Teju Cole, Joan Didion, and Georges Perec.