Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer
In this 3-4 page report, you will be discussing at least three images with a common theme. Each image will have been made by a different photographer during different eras (an era is a minimum of 20 years between times chosen, for example: 1850s, 1870s, 1890s or 1900s, 1920s, 1940s, etc).
Use images other than ones we have studied in any of the textbooks.(PHOTOGRAPHY: A CULTURAL HISTORY(4TH EDITION) AND Criticizing PHOTOGRAPHS (5TH EDITION)) In other words, find new images to write about. Very important, write about the influences of one photographer to another, using appropriate references that you will quote and note in a bibliography. An example of themes might be: street photography of kids, hats, landscape photographs, abstracts, celebrity portraits, the use of signs, censorship, etc. You will include a copy of all the photographs you write about. These images can come from books, magazines, or online references, but need to be at least 4” x 5” in size with enough detail so I can see the images clearly.
Discuss why you picked this theme and what it means for each photographer. You are looking for verifiable connections and influences; that is, a reference in an interview, catalog, autobiography, etc. Again, this is not a biography or DIET exercise. A brief biography paragraph about the photographer can be included.
IMPORTANT: I am interested in how each photographer came to photograph this image and most important: how the three images/photographers are related in style or content and how they influenced each other, that is why you are choosing photographs from different eras. So, choose your images and photographers carefully.
Door #1: Pick 3 photographers from 3 different eras, so they are not all shooting at the same time but separated by at least 20 years or more for the work they are known for.
Example: portraits is your theme. You would not choose Avedon and Penn or Newton as they were contemporaries. You might choose Nadar, Horst, Penn.
Proof of influence involves research. Typically, a photographer might indicate their influence in an interview (books, magazines, radio, introduction to a catalog, TV interview, etc.). Quote your source in a bibliography.
Do not assume or make up influences.
DO NOT USE WIKIPEDIA…it often has bad information. At least one photographer should influence one of the other photographers. Short bio for each photographer.
