Nil Santana's Archive

Making cyanotype prints

0 Commentsby   |  01.22.12  |  Assignments

Our group

1 Commentby   |  01.21.12  |  Announcements

Our group photo – smart and fun bunch! :)

To read, and comment.

34 Commentsby   |  01.21.12  |  Assignments

Follow the link below, and read this intriguing conversation (interview) between Susan Sontag and Geoffrey Movius. Sontag was an American essayist, literary and cultural theorist, icon, political activist, writer, and critic. She intensely wrote about photography.

http://bostonreview.net/BR01.1/sontag.html

Based on our discussions in class, and after reading the interview, voice your opinion on how you see the influences of photography in society and culture.

Comments deadline: by spring break.

Welcome

0 Commentsby   |  01.11.12  |  Announcements

Introduction

In this course, “Photography and Society” students will investigate and analyze the concept of how photography can shake society from indifference to induce social action. An in depth examination of various practices to achieve this goal will be studied and critiqued in the following categories: observation, contact, engagement of the subject, direct intervention of the photographer and the appropriation and aesthetics in contemporary photography as an effort to bring awareness to or change public opinion. Through the duration of the course students will be required to identify and engage with specific social issues, investigate and analyze the subject through photographic practices and finally to objectively evaluate how their individual work can directly alter public opinion or induce change within the society. A collective project in the form of a book and exhibition will be one of the key objectives of this course.

Required reading (pre-colloquium)

Documentation: Social Scene (download PDF)

Nil Santana's Comment Archive

  1. Nil Santana on To read, and comment.
    9:28 pm, 02.16.12

    I have really enjoyed these two posts so far.

    Sontag is socially conscious in her writing as it relates to photography. She once suggested that socially concerned photographers assume that their work can convey some kind of stable meaning—if that’s ever possible—can reveal truth. But partially because the photograph is, always, an object in a context. If you’re interested in her thoughts, I suggest a reading of Sontag’s book: On Photography. (ACU’s Library call number: 770.1 S699O).

  2. Nil Santana on Our group
    5:51 pm, 01.22.12

    Thanks for all your hard work and enthusiasm! I enjoyed having you in class. Have a great spring and stay in touch.

  3. Nil Santana on To read, and comment.
    5:58 pm, 04.13.12

    Very interesting text, and questions. Indeed, there are many ways a person could unpack those stories, and intentions from the photographer. Being old (others would argue ‘antique’) photographs, we are immediately launched to the past, but how can they also project a force into the present, future, as the images are reviving those stories? Thanks Becca!

  4. Nil Santana on To read, and comment.
    2:18 pm, 03.09.12

    That’s right Sara — an excellent book, relevant to our discussion. Chapter Eight from same book was our pre-colloquia reading, but the entire text can provide an interesting overview of the development of photography.

  5. Nil Santana on To read, and comment.
    10:45 am, 03.09.12

    Well, it is also interesting to investigate how photography is intrinsic to language. One departure point could be Roland Barthes’ writings on photography. As semiotician and literary critic, he also had great interest in how photographs communicated. In particular, I’d point to his short book Camera Lucida, where he primarily exposed two main ideas: studium, and punctum. Studium being the formal elements which are present on the image, public, common to everyone. The latter understood as private, it triggers my own memories, “piercing” my eyes thru subjectivity. Just another thought!

  6. Nil Santana on To read, and comment.
    10:35 am, 03.09.12

    Absolutely! In many ways, photography is at play within those dualities.

  7. Nil Santana on To read, and comment.
    10:33 am, 03.09.12

    Thanks for the link, Leah. Check out the link below when you have a chance. “Shorpy” has a wide collection of antique photos, which also helps us to understand the development of our society. Most of the images were taken in the early 1900s and account for an incredible description of the hard times. Some may be packed with more stories than others.

    Shorpy
    http://www.shorpy.com/