Micro History

I recently switched to the new OCA website and took advantage of the free courses to help students navigate the new website and provide advice, suggestions and ideas for studying. When working my way through these courses I came across an interesting article about Micro Histories, these are recorded events of small insignificant moments mostly

The Suit and the Photograph (1979) by John Berger

Young Farmers, 1914, August Sander. Country Band, Seigerland, 1913, August Sander. Stadtmissionare, 1931, August Sander. In John Berger’s essay, The Suit and the Photograph, Berger examines Sanders famous photograph The Young Farmers (1914). Berger suggests that the status of these three individuals can be deduced from their clothes. He begins by explaining that the dark

Summary for Part 3, “Look at Me!” – The Representation of Self.

In section 3, “Look at Me!”, I studied the subject of ‘self’ and how it has and is used and interpreted in the portrait. I learned that the idea of the ‘selfie’ goes back beyond photography. Originally the early selfies where exclusively for the rich and powerful to express wealth and more importantly, power, examples

Susan Sontag’s criticism of Diane Arbus

From On Photography, (1977) Susan Sontag, London: Penguin, pages 32-48. Untitled – 1, 1970-1971. Diane Arbus Notes & passages of interest. Sontag begins her essay comparing an exhibition of 112 photographs by Diane Arbus that was exhibited in 1972 in at The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York city that drew large crowds