Course Description
Storytelling through documentary photography and video research. Introduction to the history and practice of documentary work as well as studio practice. Students will develop projects engaging social documentary work through photo essays, documentary videos, and digital storytelling.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be required to engage research
components outside of the art making practice, presenting
written papers and/or oral presentations on historical
movements and contemporary practices. In addition, the studio
work of those enrolled at the graduate level will require more
extensive research and practice resulting in portfolios that
are larger, craft that is more refined, and concepts that are
more fully realized.
Athena Title
SOCIAL DOCUMENTARY
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course is designed for students to engage the practice of story telling through photography and video as a practice of recording time and place, a method of reporting events and situations, often utilizing such practices to influence public opinion and give rise to social change. Classroom discussions, slide lectures, gallery visits, research projects and critiques will expose the students to the conceptual framework of historical and contemporary practices in social documentary practices in photography and video. Graduate students will be required to research artists and/or movements within this genre, presenting both a written paper and multiple oral presentations of those topics, including both factual research and conceptual engagements into the ideas within the chosen subjects. Through research students will become familiar with social, political and personal subjects to engage in their studio work. Emphasis in the course will be on portfolio development through proposed project design and implementation. Students will be required to engage assignment topics and present their work in the context of historical and contemporary practices within the medium. In presenting his/her photographs, each student will be expected to assimilate and analyze the topic of the assignment and present the work orally as well as through various modes and media, including the use of appropriate technology. Students will be expected to engage other students' work with dialogue that is stylistically appropriate and mature. During critiques students will learn to communicate for academic and professional contexts, supporting a consistent purpose and point of view while considering and engaging opposing points of view. Students will be required to interpret inferences within each photograph or video being discussed, developing subtleties of symbolic and indirect discourse.
Topical Outline
This course will include an overview of historical and contemporary practices in social documentary photography and video through readings and slide/video presentations. Class discussions engaging effective use of media to tell stories and engage public opinion. Studio practice and technical assignments in image capture, audio recording, lighting techniques and image/video editing techniques. Sustained personal portfolio development through project design and implementation practices. Regular critiques on developing work. Regular in-class assisted studio and lab work.