Description
Intrduction
In the medium of photography, it is common to see sets of photos built around a theme. Some good examples of these photo series are Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills, Ali Mobasser’s A Life Told with ID Photos, or Manuel Cosentino’s Behind a Little House. Below are links to familiarize you with these projects.
Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills
Links to an external site.
https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/cindysherman/gallery/2/mobile.phpLinks to an external site.
(listen to the short intro and then click on some of the examples in thumbnail above)
Ali Mobasser’s A Life Told with ID Photos
https://www.lensculture.com/articles/ali-mobasser-a-life-told-with-id-photos#slideshowLinks to an external site.
(this “found art” project is written about in the article; click the “view images” tab at the top of the page to see the collection)
Manuel Cosentino’s Behind a Little House
https://www.lensculture.com/articles/manuel-cosentino-behind-a-little-house#slideshowLinks to an external site.
(you can read the article and click the “view images” tab at the top of the page to see the collection)
Instructions
First, come up with a theme for a photo collection. Themes like “nature” or “Florida’s beautiful beaches” or “family” or “pets” or “my computer,” though they are important to us personally, don’t work for this assignment. Also, just like the musical assignment, “love” is not acceptable here because it is too common. Same goes for “friendship,” “happiness,” or “having fun”–too common. By all means, do not choose the theme of “life”! Instead, I want you to choose a theme that is an abstract noun and to use that abstract noun in your title. Describe the unifying idea in a short paragraph, explaining its importance and why you chose it for your theme. If you’re not sure what an abstract noun is, here’s a link to a clear explanation:
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/abstract-nouns/Links to an external site.
You must use your own photos for this assignment. Take photos for the collection (minimum 3) and include them with your essay. Write a brief title for each photo, situating it within the overarching theme you’ve selected. You should also include a concluding paragraph to tie the collection together. My suggestion is to look through your camera roll and find images you’ve already taken first, THEN find a theme that unites them. Of course, you could do it the opposite way, too!
Do not include more than one photo of a person–including yourself. Try to find more abstract and conceptual representations of your theme.
The point here is not to come up with award-winning photos (though that might be a fringe benefit); in fact, you’re not being graded on the quality of the photos at all. The purpose of the exercise is to see how a unifying idea can join different images together into a collection, and to explore how verbal and visual ideas interact. Have fun with this assignment, but take the project seriously for its having the potential to reveal how we understand images within broader contexts.
What do I write about?
First, title each photo.
Second, describe the photo in one sentence only.
Third, use the word “capture” NO MORE THAN ONCE in your entire essay.
Finally, discuss why that photo represents your theme. Let’s say your theme is “dedication”–you might have a photo of your sister falling off her bike entitled “First Try,” a description that says something like “This is a photo of my younger sister on the day she got her first bike,” but you would mostly talk about how it ties to your theme–that she practiced for weeks until she was able to ride on her own, that she fell a bunch of times but got right back on, that she was motivated to ride bikes with her friends, etc. Then your other photos for “dedication” might be your Chemistry book opened as you study for an exam, a diploma or certificate of achievement you received, or even the end screen on a video game.
Don’t use photos of people without their permission.
This assignment will be a minimum of 400 words, and will be assessed on its formal clarity, the quality of the writing and editing, its degree of engagement with its topic, its creativity/inventiveness/originality of ideas, and the sophistication of thought it expresses.
