Teaching History Of Photography - Digital Revolution - How would you do it?

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I've been a member of Photo.net since 1998 (and haven't really posted much since then). So anyway, fast forward to today, I find myself teaching the History Of Photography.I have 2 3 hour sessions to teach it at a local design school. My students are beginners.<br>

In any case, given the explosion of Photo forums since that time, it happens that the Philosophy Of Photography forum here in Photo.net is one that I hold in high regard and read. I have posted my course outline on my blog here;<br>

<a href="http://tommyzablan.com/blog/?p=270">http://tommyzablan.com/blog/?p=270</a><br>

and given the material 'The Digital Revolution', I thought I'd do the Wikinomics thing and ask you folks for feedback. What would you do different? Is there anything important I'm missing? Any wild ideas that might make it more interesting? ;)<br>

Thanks.</p>

<p>It looks like part 2 of your course is primarily about the evolution of cameras. It's a shame that, by devoting so much of the course time to the topic, you're putting such emphasis on a particular set of tools. That will only reinforce the view they would get by going online and seeing endless discussions about equipment.</p>

<p>I would scrap the detailed timeline of digital camera development and instead focus on issues like a changing attitude toward and understanding of photography.</p>

<p>In covering the subject in 2 3-hour sessions, you're obviously having to do a lot of condensing, and I wouldn''t disagree with the way you've done it. I would feel the central idea to get across is that while the digital revolution has not really made anything possible which wasn't possible before, it has vastly democratised the process of photography, vastly opened up access to and use of images and in the process destroyed a very large part of the world of professional photography as it existed just a few years ago. I might get students to reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of this situation.<br>

PS: Out of the corner of my eye - check spelling in your blog - Alfred Stieglitz!</p>

<p> I would definitely learn how to spell Stieglitz's name. The technical timeline, while significant, is only a tiny portion of Photo-history in the digital age. You can only hit highlights during 2x3hr classes, so you should choose carefully. I would do it by citing and showing (projection) digital work done in various kinds of photography as digital evolved, and mentioning technical advances somewhere in between. Also, how digital has changed the way people show and view photographs and the shift between the image and its referent.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I'm totally in agreement with Mike D. and Louis G. on this - art history is not about the history of brushes, chisels, and paints, it's about vision, expression, reaction, <em>life</em> ...</p>

<p>- Randy</p>

<p>Hi Tommy,</p>

<p>I think the main thing I would recommend is to also include the forces that really drove the popularization of digital photography. The high-end / professional world was really the rear guard.</p>

<p>The bigger story was that once cameras were inexpensive enough for the general consumer, digital photography became driven by an intense social use. Once a person could take photos of the family and send them by email, a rift started between the conventional processes and digital processes. Flickr, the growth of blogs, and the increasing ease consumers found in digital moved the field forward -- all strongly fueled by social factors such as the ease of sharing, a sense of community, and pure speed.</p>

<p>I remember a slow process from 1997 to 2000 that was about the public's discovery that digital photography could be instant, could be social, could be a form of creativity many had never experienced -- merged with increasing use of digital media in general (meaning you could send the family photos to Grandma -- she now had a computer). There is a connection back to the Kodak Brownie -- sold on its use as a family camera -- and the family album (now online at smugmug.com). </p>

<p>From a teaching point of view, I would also consider what the digital boom has meant for the "meaning" of a photo. At one time, making a single photo was a completely professional endeavor. Then a craft, then a high-end-art practice, and only now is it really even more common than the snapshots / 1-hour photos of the 1980s. So, if one comes home, posts 100 photos from the kids soccer games, and makes endless copies of those, and if one photographs almost every social thing that happens and instantly shares it, photography becomes a different practice. And that forces us to ask: why photograph? What is the value of the single photo? How does it communicate? When does it become art rather than social documentation?</p>

<p>One last thing I would consider: the current shift from still image to video.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>To follow up on Mike, you should take a look at the book The Photograph by Graham Clarke and build around that. I would fall asleep during Part II, it's not how to get high school students interested and knowledgeable about photography, it looks more like a summary for an engineering class. It would far more interesting and useful to spend the time on the implications of technology on photography rather than chronicle technology. And then apply it to the way it affects their lives - I'm sure they all use camera phones and most probably document their lives with them (or small cameras) and use social media to share the photographs. That's what's really happening that has use for them.</p>

<p>Perhaps you should ask the moderator to move this thread to P.N's EDUCATION Forum?</p>

<p>Good point, I hadn't noticed the forum used. It's now in Education.</p>

<p>I wouldn't mind sitting in that class!</p>

<p>It might be nice to include the introduction of GIMP, an alternative to PhotoShop. It was introduced between <a href="http://www.gimp.org/about/">'96 to '98</a> , and is considered the de facto photo editing tool by many.</p>

<p>I'll be starting the class in less than 30 minutes.<br>

(My god...thanks for catching the spelling error!)</p>

<p>I'll be pointing them to this thread as part of the class.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>Tommy:<br>

I would begin explaining how photography changed our world...</p>

<p>1) How the images became an important part of the journalism... <br>

2) how photography changed the awareness of human calamities as war and famine.. <br>

3) how the images gave strong support to words....<br>

4) how the digital era, with virtues and defects, put the news at one click from one side to the other side of the world! How digital era manipulates the TRUTH... how reliable are the messages!<br>

Have you read the book "The power of photography: How photography changed our world"? <br>

http://www.amazon.com/Power-Photography-Photographs-Changed-Lives/dp/1558594671<br>

I think is a very HOT SUBJECT... I wish your students were willing to deeply discuss and argue about the subject.. There is too much to discuss about ETHICS, national and international political and economical interests... WOW.. it sounds as a very exciting class<br>

Wish you the best<br>

JC</p>