Syllabus
Advanced Documentary Photography
The Role of Place in the Photgraphic Essay
PPS 177S, Doc/Stud 177S.01,
Arv/Vis 119.01, Fall 2006
Alex Harris
alex.harris@duke.edu
Center for Documentary Studies
660-3659
OVERVIEW
Synopsis of Course Content
This class is about role of “place” in the photographic
essay. Most documentary photography is – directly or indirectly
-- about place. Creating a distinctive and compelling sense of place
is as important for a photographer as it is for a novelist, an historian,
or a journalist to succeed at their work. Walker Evans –the
American photographer known, in part, for his ability to create
a sense of place in his work – wrote, “The secret of
photography is the camera takes on the character and personality
of the handler. The mind works on the machine, or through it.”
So place may be as much about the individual making the picture
as it is about the person or thing being photographed. This class
will examine the way in which the personality, life experience,
and beliefs of particular photographers help them to create a sense
of place in their work. As a class, will define place primarily
in a physical sense, such as a particular town or city or country.
But we will also pay close attention to the way photographers themselves
have created a strong sense of place to strengthen photographic
essays on subjects as wide ranging as illness, war, work, athletics,
or even leisure activities.
This class is intended for students who have
successfully completed work in PPS/DocStud176S (American Communities
- A Documentary Approach) or equivalent, and wish to spend another
semester on documentary field-work in Durham or the surrounding
community. Students will complete semester long projects focused
on one particular subject of their choosing. The emphasis of the
class will be on establishing a strong sense of place in a completed
photographic essay. The class will emphasize the work that students
produce. But each week the class will also examine and discuss a
number of contemporary documentary photographers -- including the
instructor's photographs -- whose work is characterized by a strong
sense of place. The class is also intended to give students a solid
grounding in the digital output of photographic prints.
Technical Requirements
Students may shoot film, negatives or use digital cameras, but photographic
output for this class will be inkjet prints created using photoshop
printing. Students are expected to begin to master film scanning,
photoshop, and inkjet printing during the semester. As a class we
will work in the new digital lab in the Smith Arts Warehouse utilizing
photoshop CS2, a Nikon film scanner, and an Epson flatbed scanner,
and two Epson 4800 printers. Students will be expected to make your
prints in this classroom. Students may work in black and white or
in color. Students are expected to supply their own inkjet printing
paper and to have an external hard drive or Ipod to use for
storage and transfer of files. Currently the printers are set up
to print on matt papers only and I recommend Epson Enhanced Matt
paper for the class.
Class meeting Times
Mondays, 7:15pm to 9:45PM, Smith Warehouse Room 228.
Office hours
By appointment, Room 100 Lyndhurst House or in the Smith Warehouse.
Students are encouraged to meet with me outside of class to review
your documentary projects, work on Photoshop, scanning, and inkjet
printing, on editing and sequencing your work. Feel free to make
appointments with me for meetings. Best way to contact me is by
e-mail.
Digital Lab Hours
Card access is from 8 am to 11 pm M-F and from 9 am to 9 pm on weekends.
The gate and building are open until 5 pm on weekdays, but are otherwise
locked. We have requested an extension of hours until 2 am during
the two weeks prior to exams. If that is approved, I will announce
it immediately.
Assignments
Students will complete a semester long documentary project paying
special attention to the role of “place” in the photographic
essay. If a student begins the semester with a completed body of
work he or she wants to work on, the class requires that the student
also works on a local documentary project as a counterpoint to their
completed body of work.
By the third week of class students are expected to bring in to
discuss at least five new images every week.
Final Projects
For your final project students will produce an edited and sequenced
series of twenty inkjet photographs to be turned in during the last
class session. Included with these photographs will be an edited,
brief narrative about or from the subject of your documentary study,
and captions for the photographs. During the course of the semester
we will discuss and work on producing this narrative and captions.
Evaluation
Class attendance and participation are non-negotiable and critical
to a positive evaluation. You are expected to come to every class
and to come class on time. There will be a scheduled mid-term individual
meeting with each student to discuss your projects. The long-term
project will be due in the last class of the semester and the final
grade will be determined by: the strength of your final project
(including quality and content of inkjet prints) 60%; by your level
of class participation 20%, and by your individual development as
a documentary practitioner during the course of the semester 20%.
Class
Class time each week will be divided into two parts. Usually, the
first part of class will be devoted to discussing slides or scans
of professional photographers works as indicated on the syllabus
and to a discussion of student documentary work. Student work shown
in class must always be edited and sequenced. Learning how to select
the best photographs and to put them in an effective sequence is
an important part of the process of learning how to communicate
with visual material. Beginning with the third week of class students
are expected to show work every week. The second part of class
each week will be devoted to learning and mastering the use of the
digital lab.
Lab fee
Students will be required to pay a $65 lab fee to cover partially
the costs of inks for the class. Checks should be made out to Duke
University. One set of inks for each printer costs $720 and we will
go through several sets this semester so your fees do not cover
the actual cost of supplies
CLASS SCHEDULE
Monday, August 28
In class: Introductions and discussion of documentary project
each student will pursue for the semester. Overview of course and
discussion of the role of place in a photographic essay. A discussion
of procedures for digital lab use during the semester.
Photographs in class: Alex Harris - North Carolina, 1971
- My assignment was to photograph substandard housing and living
conditions in North Carolina. I exhibited a selection of the photographs
in 1972. In 2006, thirty five years later, I went back to the negatives,
re-edited, scanned, and printed a new photo essay.
Assignment #1: for the second
class write a one or two paragraph description of your field work
project for this semester including your plans for carrying it out.
Begin to make photographs for this project. due September
4th
Assignment#2: Go into the photography section of the library
and find two books that you admire, at least one of them being close
to the idea of what you would like to do with your own work. Most
likely you will want to visit the photographic section of the stacks
in the East Campus library. Or on the Internet find two photographer's
sites that you especially admire and find particular bodies of their
work within those sites that you are drawn to. Write a 2 –
4 page double-spaced paper on each body of work, analyzing
and describing the structure, the choices, the photos, the sequence,
the pairings, etc. Be specific. Consider and discuss how you might
use aspects of these two books or web sites as a template for your
own project. Pay special attention to the way the photographers
create a sense of place in their work. Write about the ways in which
these photographs evoke the photographer's relationship to the place
being documented. Make photocopies to support the ideas in your
paper. due September 4th.
Monday, September 4
Two Assignments Due. I will
read and return them next week with comments.
In class: further discussion of plans for
student documentary work. Students should share some images of
earlier work with class from current project or previous projects.
Give us a sense of where you are coming from as a photographer.
Digital lab overview of scanning/photoshop/printing
Photographs in Class: In Cuba with Ernesto Bazan
and Alex Harris.
Monday, September 11
In class: Student Papers returned.
First half of class devoted to discussing the books or web sites
and student papers as a class. Each student will lead a discussion
of the photographers they chose using zeroxes, digital projection
of web sites, or the books themselves to show the work of these
photographers.
Digital Lab: work with scanners and printers
to begin digitizing work for this semester's project.
Monday, September 18
In class: students to show first
images from this semester's project. From this point on in the
semester students are expected to bring at least five new images
in print or digital form to class each week.
Photographs in Class: In South Georgia
with Paul Kwilecki
In Brooklyn with Thomas Roma
Monday, September 25
In class: discussion of prints from
student projects. Work in the digital lab
Photographs in class: In Middle School
with Judith Joy Ross and Nicholas Nixon
Monday, October 2
In class: discussion of prints from
student projects. Work in the digital lab.
Photographs in class: At Work:
Steven Ahlgren’s Corporate portraits, Lee Friedlander’s
Dreyfus Fund Portraits, Scott Montgomery’s Workers, Paul D’Amato’s
factory Workers. Bill Bamberger’s White Furniture Factory
Monday, October 9
No Class Fall Break
Monday October 16
In class: discussion of prints from
student projects. Work in the digital lab.
Photographs in class: In Sickness:
Mathew Swarts on Children with Cancer
Melissa Springer at “A Baby’s Place, Merry Berridge
living Positively with Hiv/Aids
Monday, October 23
In class: discussion of prints from student projects. Work in
the digital lab.
Set up schedule of individual
meetings this week with each student for midterm discussion
and evaluations
Photographs in Class: Alex Harris’s northern
New Mexico
Monday, October 30
In Class: discussion of prints from
student projects. Work in the digital lab.
Photographs in Class: Joel Meyorowitz
on Cape Cod,
In Los Angeles with Robert Adams
Monday, November 6
In class: discussion of prints from
student projects. Work in the digital lab.
Photographs in Class: Alex Harris:
Reinventing Age - Illinois, Maryland, California, Pennsylvania,
Florida, South Carolina
Monday, November 13
In class: discussion of prints from
student projects. Work in the digital lab.
Photographs in Class: Mitch Epstein's
Family Business
Monday November 20
In class: discussion of prints from
student projects. Work in the digital lab.
Photographs in Class: Thomas Roma’s
Brooklyn
Paul Kwilecki’s Georgia
Monday November 27
In class: discussion of prints from
student projects. Work in the digital lab.
Photographs in Class: Margaret Sartor’s
suburban Louisiana
William Gedney’s rural Kentucky
Monday December 4
In class: Final projects due. Final
Class presentations.
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