SEMESTER AT SEA COURSE SYLLABUS University of Virginia

Transcription

1 SEMESTER AT SEA COURSE SYLLABUS University of Virginia Voyage: Summer 2014 Discipline: Studio Art ARTS : Photography and the Photographic Essay Lower Division Faculty Name: Richard Robinson Credit Hours: 3; Contact Hours: 38 Pre-requisites: none COURSE DESCRIPTION: Students will explore the historical practice of photography in Europe with a special emphasis on documentary photography in the construction of a travel narrative. After learning the basics of camera operation and digital capture, students will explore the language of photography in the production of a travel narrative. Readings and discussions will introduce students to historical and contemporary issues of photographic practice. Over the course of the journey students will develop their own travel narrative employing strategies learned in class. COURSE OBJECTIVES: This course will introduce the student to the basics of camera operation. Students will learn how to use focal length, shutter speed and depth of field. Students will be introduced to basic concerns of composition including framing and perspective. Students will gain a basic understanding of digital capture, editing and processing. Students will study the issues involved in creating a photographic series, including how to sequence images. Students will be introduced to the history of photographic practice with an emphasis on documentary photography and the photographic narrative. Students will be encouraged to develop their own vision and incorporate it into their work. REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS AUTHOR: Roland Barthes TITLE: Camera Lucida, Reflections on Photography PUBLISHER: Hill and Wang ISBN -10:

2 DATE/EDITION: 1982 Students must have their own digital camera (minimum 8mg), and access to a computer to work on their images. Adobe s Lightroom is strongly recommended and will be used in class presentations. TOPICAL OUTLINE OF COURSE June 16: Depart Southampton June 17: Orientation C1-June 18: Technical Orientation. Camera operation. C2- June 19: Seeing in Two Dimensions, Using Time and Focus as compositional tools. Learning to see as the camera does Reading: pg 3-27 Camera Lucida C3- June 20: Framing the World Using perspective and framing to compose Reading Cartier Bresson s The Decisive Moment June 21-24: Lisbon Trip Assignment: Using framing and focus to create compositions C4- June 25: Critique C5- June 26: The Spanish Civil War and Documentary photography. Reading: Censorship and Commitment. June 27-30: June 29 Bilbao Field Lab Guernica. C6- July 1: Critique. C7- July 2: Street Photography and the Photographic Essay Readings: Open City Possibilities of the Street C8- July 3: Street Photography Koudelka Reading: Exiles The Dusk of the World. Project Proposals Due July 4-7: Glasgow. Assignment: Documenting Place C9- July 8: Critique C10-July 9 Reading: Camera Lucida Reading: Robert Frank and Jack Kerouac July 10-13: Dublin. The Photo Book. Gallery of Photography. The Library Project. 2

3 C11- July 14: Critique C12- July 15: Narratives Strategies of Sophie Calle and Alec Soth Reading Jean Baudrillard Please Follow Me Reading Edgar Alan Poe Man of the Crowd C13- July 16: Personal Narrative. Reading Camera Lucida July 17-20: Bergen and Oslo. Flaneur Narrative C14- July 21: Critique C15- July 23 Martin Parr The Tourist Narrative July 24-28: St. Petersburg: Tourist Narrative. C16- July 29: Sequencing of Images C17- July 30: Reading. The Text in Photographic Space Stigneev July 31- August 3: Stockholm. C18- August 4 Critique C19- August 5 Complex Frames Alex Webb s Istanbul August 6-9: Helsinki Working with Complex Frames. C20- August 10 Critque C21- August 11 Sequencing your images. August 12-15: Gdansk Final Production C22- August 16 Work Day C23- August 17 Presentations C24- August 19: Presentations Final Exams FIELD WORK Field lab. At least 20 percent of the contact hours for each course. Attendance is mandatory for all students enrolled in this course. Field Lab will occur in the town of Guernica, known for Picassos depiction of its bombing during the Spanish Civil War. Students will reflect on its history in their production of images. Informed by the role of documentary photography in the Spanish Civil War, students will look for a contemporary perspective. Please do not book individual travel plans or a 3

4 Semester at Sea sponsored trip on the day of our field lab. FIELD ASSIGNMENTS The majority of photographs for class will be taken at port. Students are expected to produce images at all ports with assignments identifying select themes. Once students identify their narrative they be expected to develop this narrative throughout the voyage. During critiques, students will be expected to be able to articulate their narrative and explain how it relates to their images. The Field Lab will orient students to this process in the production of images reflecting on the narrative of the Spanish Civil War. METHODS OF EVALUATION / GRADING RUBRIC 25% Student attendance and class participation. 25% Field Lab Participation and Production. Students will be expected to produce a photo essay from field lab participation. 50% Final Project. The bulk of the students grade will be determined by the successful completion of their project. This project will include at least 50 images with captions and descriptive text. ELECTRONIC COURSE MATERIALS AUTHOR: Henri Cartier Bresson ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: The Decisive Moment 1952 JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Photography in Print DATE:1981, 1990 PAGES: AUTHOR: Koudelka ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Exiles The Dusk of the World. By Domeique Edde JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Koudelka DATE: 2006 PAGES: AUTHOR: Luc Sante (Sara Greenough) ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Robert Frank and Jack Kerouac JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Robert Frank s The Americans. Looking In DATE: 2009 PAGES: AUTHOR: Sophie Calle Jean Baudrillard 4

5 ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Please Follow Me JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE:Sopie Calle. Suite venitienne. DATE: 1988 PAGES: AUTHOR: Hilarie Sheets ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Trolling for Strangers to Befriend (Alec Soth) JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: The New York Times DATE: August 2, 2009 PAGES:2 AUTHOR: Russel Ferguson ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Open City:Possibilities of the Street JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Open City Street Photography Since 1950 DATE: 2001 PAGES: 8-21 AUTHOR: Valery Stigneev ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: The Text in Photographic Space JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Poetics of Space Steve Yates Ed DATE: 1995 PAGES: AUTHOR: Paul Preston ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Censorship and Commitment JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: The Mexican Suitcase 1 DATE: 2010 PAGES: AUTHOR: Sophie Calle ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Venice Biennale: Sophie Calle JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Tate DATE: 2007 PAGES AUTHOR: Walter Benjamin ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: The Flaneur JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Charles Baudelaire: A Lyric Poet in the Era of High Capitalism DATE: 1907? 5

6 PAGES AUTHOR: Edgar Alan Poe ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: The Man of the Crowd JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: DATE: 1840 PAGES HONOR CODE Semester at Sea students enroll in an academic program administered by the University of Virginia, and thus bind themselves to the University s honor code. The code prohibits all acts of lying, cheating, and stealing. Please consult the Voyager s Handbook for further explanation of what constitutes an honor offense. Each written assignment for this course must be pledged by the student as follows: On my honor as a student, I pledge that I have neither given nor received aid on this assignment. The pledge must be signed, or, in the case of an electronic file, signed [signed]. 6