Exposure

Read the Sally Mann article on Blackboard and comment on the relationship between Mann's intention in her photographs of her children and the public's perception of what she represented in them. Would you self-censor your work, not photographing something or someone in a certain way because of what your viewer might think? If you are familiar with Robert Mapplethorpe's graphic sexual images, you might comment on those as well.

Remix

Read the article titled "Teju Cole article #2" on Blackboard. What is the most significant question raised for you as a photographer by this article?

Looking at art

Of all the art that you saw on our trip to New York, what are you still thinking about? Why? How does what interests you about this work relate to your own work? What non-art aspect of the trip interested or intrigued you the most?

Objects have the longest memories of all...

Read the article, "Objects have the longest memories of all," by Teju Cole on Blackboard and comment on it. How do objects and their conditions/situation speak to what has occurred there? Is this an effective way to represent violent conflict? Why/why not?

Getting started

How do you start a big new project? If there is no prompt to work from, what methods/tricks do you use to get new ideas going? What has worked and what has not worked for you in the past? This question is obviously geared towards your major projects, but you should also be thinking about how you will generate new work on your own after you graduate.

What should be seen?

Do you think the additional photographs from Abu Ghraib should be released? Would you look at them if they were available? Why or why not?

Photographing the "Other"

What are the photographer's responsibilities in photographing people from cultures, subcultures, religions, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, political viewpoints etc. other than his/her own? Is it necessary to be part of the group you are photographing? to learn about them? to engage with them? Or is it OK to photograph as an outsider? There are no right answers here, and each of you may have a different idea about what is ethical and what is not, what has value and what does not. The point is to give some thought to your own point of view and to write about that.

Whose gaze?

When you put yourself in front of the camera, who do you imagine looks at you? Does that gaze feel accepting, critical, curious, harsh, etc.? When you are behind the camera photographing another, what influences how you look at that person? Do the following sometime this week. Take your camera and tripod into a room alone. This could be the studio or your dorm room. Lock the door. Using the self-timer, photograph yourself totally nude for at least 30 minutes (an hour is better). Write about your experience on the blog. Don't show the pictures to anyone, and DO NOT post the pictures on the blog! And if you use a school camera, don't forget to delete the pictures!

Aestheticizing the Difficult

If you make a beautiful photograph of something terrible (violence, war, poverty, etc.) does that draw the viewer in to experience the subject matter or distance the viewer from it by making it easier to look at it? What do you think? List examples of either if you can think of them.

What motivates artists?

Surely we are not in this business for the money, so what is it that drives artists to make art? You can write about what motivates you as well as what you have observed in others. Are there character traits, experiences, and desires that make us artists and other people not?

Discouraged?

Discouraged about your creative work not living up to your expectations? This from Ira Glass, writer and host of public radio's "This American Life," http://omeleto.com/188186/ (Try to ignore the obnoxious, swirly typography.)

Your contemporary issues...

What are some of the social and/or political issues that concern you the most? If you know of artists addressing these issues in their work, please list them.

Here are some of mine to kick things off:
1. consumerism - see the link to "The Story of Stuff."
2. violence against women
3. climate change
4. religious fundamentalism
5. the corporatizing of higher education
6. the distribution (or lack of) of wealth

I could keep going...