A Body of Photographic Evidence
Look ahead to the essay assignment due on Sunday and start thinking about what you want to write on. What passage(s) from Sontag do you plan to engage with? (Likely just one; two at most.) What photographic practice from the present day will you draw on? Will you apply Sontag as a lens to make sense of your photographs? Or will you use your photographs as evidence to patch a gap in Sontag’s theory?
For HW, assemble a collection of photographs that epitomizes the photographic practice you want to focus on. Five to ten photos is probably ideal, even though in your essay you’ll likely focus on just a few of them, since it’s nice to be spoiled for choice. Responding to my “Body of Evidence” comment below, please post:
- An evocative name for the photographic practice you plan to write on, along with a photo that epitomizes that practice.
- Responding to your first post, the passage from Sontag you plan to engage with, along with a second photo that shows the same pattern as the first.
- Responding again to your first post, a third photograph from your collection—this time a related oddity or an exception that proves the rule, along with a short verbal phrase that captures the way that this third photo challenges/contrasts the general pattern.
Since I’m hoping to see better titles on this upcoming essay, as a separate post respond to my “Titles” comment with a clever title. Aim to capture in words what your essay will do, its topic and mission. Usually titles are noun phrases (“A Tourist’s Best Friend”) and not sentences (“The Camera is a Tourist’s Best Friend”). You can use a subtitle to specify the essay’s topical focus: “A Tourist’s Best Friend: Photography and Travel.”