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

Photography A Very Short Introduction

Stephen Edwards, Photography A Very Short Introduction, 2006, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN: 978-0-19-280164-7 (Kindle Edition). In my opinion, this is a very good book and a very important book to read for any photographer. Notes/Quotes: Documentary is said to provide its viewers with direct access to truth. In his pioneering book on the subject,

Reading Photographs – In Our Own Image, by Fred Ritchin

Peter Kennard and Cat Phillips created the image, titled: Photo Op, in 2005. From Fred Ritchin’s book, In Our Own Image, his essay, Reading Photographs, (Ritchin, 2010) discusses the authenticity of a photograph. He asks, …after all that is happening in computer imaging can one safeguard the integrity of the photograph in its populist role

The ‘Mona Lisa’ by Leonardo da Vinci 1503/06 – 1517

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci (1503/07 – 1517) This portrait is now probably the most famous portrait in the world. Painted by Leonardo da Vinci, he started painting this from around 1503 – 06 and is believed to have continued working on it until as late as 1517, close to his death. It is

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

Questioning Identity: Gender, Class, Nation.

Kath Woodward, (ed.) (2000) Questioning Identity: Gender, Class, Nation, London: Routledge. ISBN: 0-415-22288-5. This publication is part a series of books for the study of social science through the Open University, published in 2000 it is probably a little dated now as it pulls from examples no later than the 1990s. However, as a book

Exercise 1.1a – Planning & Preparation.

The brief for this exercise is to produce five portraits of strangers from a variety of backgrounds. They must be classed as ‘Other’ so that they may differ by a significant respect from myself. This could be by age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic background, social class, etc. I am also to keep notes of contact

Porträt 1986-1991

Porträt (P. Lappat), 1987 by Thomas Ruff. Porträt (M. Roeser), 1999 by Thomas Ruff. Porträt (A. Kachold), 1987 by Thomas Ruff Ruff’s project Porträt 1986-1991 is a collection of photographs made like passport I.D. photos, only Ruff used a large format camera and printed the photographs size 1600 x 1205 mm at a printing quality for

The ‘Other’ in the history of photography

Because photography was seen as the ideal tool for providing evidence due to its perceived indexicality, it was used to observe and record the face and head. In the 1850s and 1860s the British eugenicist Francis Galton obtained portrait photographs of criminals from the archive of Millbank Prison. He meticulously re-photographed theses pictures, exposing a