Essay Tools

Glossary
KEY TERMS IN PHOTOGRAPHIC THEORY

Classroom activity: Think > Pair > Share


Glossary
Movements & Genres


Glossary
Processes & Techniques


Useful linking words & phrases


Essay structure


Essay writing


History of Photography on a shoestring


Literary sources linked to specific subject or topic

Family / childhood Photography

Stephen-Bull_Phototherapy_family-albumsDOWNLOAD

Kuhn, A. ‘Remembrance: The Child I Never Was’ in Wells, L. (ed) (2003) The Photography Reader. London: Routledge

Annette-Kuhn_Remembrance_the-child-I-never-wasDOWNLOAD

Hirsch, Marianne, Family Frames: Photography, Narrative and Postmemory. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Read Introduction: Family Frames

Howarth, S. (2016) ‘Is My Family Normal?’ in Family Photography Now. London: Thames & Hudson.

McLaren, S. (2016), ‘Thanks for Sharing!’, in Family Photography Now. London: Thames & Hudson

Williams, V. (2013). ‘Who’s Looking at the Family, Now’ in Family Politics, Issue 20. Brighton: Photoworks.

All three texts above are too large a file to be uploaded to blog – find text here: M:\Radio\Departments\Photography\Students\NOSTALGIA\Contextual Studies\READING

Photography and Memory

Kuhn, ‘A. Remembrance: The Child I Never Was’ in Wells L. (ed) (2003) The Photography Reader. London: Routledge

Annette-Kuhn_Remembrance_the-child-I-never-wasDOWNLOAD

Here are a few articles and photobooks on Photography and its relationship with memory. You should read them and references them in your essay.

Colberg, J (May 28, 2012) Photography and Memory
blogger on Conscientious

Frames of Mind: Photography, Memory and Identity
by Anwandter, Patricia Marcella
In Frames of Mind, I have sought to explore the themes concerning the dynamic construction of memory. What do we choose to remember and how do we reinforce it? Who are we in relationship to who we were? Working with a collection of over five hundred images accumulated throughout my life, I have reinvestigated the images and their interrelationship with one another

A Matter of Memory: Photographs as Objects in the Digital Age 
An exhibition at George Eastman House

review on British Journal of Photography

Barthes, R (1982) Camera Lucida, London: Jonathan Cape

Overview of Barthes book Camera Lucida in Photo Pedagogy
The first half of this article talks about Barthes theory of a studium and punctum. The latter part about a photograph of his dead mother which allows him to think about memory.
Commentary on Barthes book

Rereading: Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes
Article by Brian Dillon in the Guardian, 26 March 2011
Grieving for his mother, Roland Barthes looked for her in old photos – and wrote a curious, moving book that became one of the most influential studies of photography

DEATH IN THE PHOTOGRAPH – critical article in response to Roland Barthes seminal book ‘Camera Lucida’ reflecting on photography.

Snapshot Photography
Vernacular photography

Stephen-Bull-Snapshots-in-PhotographyDOWNLOAD

Catherine-Zuromskis_On-Snapshot-PhotographyDOWNLOAD

Photography and Feminism
Gender Studies > Male/Female Gaze > Self-portraiture

Mulvey, Laura (1973) ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ in Screen (1975)

Judith Butler is an academic and writer who is an authority on feminism and gender studies, incl queer theory. Her seminal book is: Gender Trouble which we do have a copy of in the Library LRC and in Media. Here is a good overview of her work – make sure you read it all and watch video as well.

Gender-as-Performance-Judith-ButlerDOWNLOAD

Feminist-Theory-Liesbet-van-ZoomenDOWNLOAD

Female-Gaze_learning-to-look-at-womenDOWNLOAD

Healy, C. M. (2023) Girlhood, London: Tate Enterprises Ltd.

C.M.-Healy_Girlhood_part1DOWNLOAD

C.M.-Healy_Girlhood_part2DOWNLOA

Photography and Portraiture

Robert Mapplethorpe: The Male Gaze – in pictures. The Guardian

The-Photographic-GazeDOWNLOAD

Andela-Kelly_Self-Image_personal-is-politicalDOWNLOAD

Amelia Jones The “Eternal Return”: Self-Portrait Photography as Technology of Embodiment

Documentary
Realism > Representation > Ethics

A short PPT on Documentary Photography

Sontag, Susan (1977) ‘In Plato’s cave’ in On Photography. London: Penguin Books

Sontag, Susan (1977) ‘Through a Glass Darkly’ in On Photography. London: Penguin Books ch 2

S.-Sontag.-On-Photography-Ch2DOWNLOAD

Here some helpful resources on Sontag: On Photography from PhotoPedagogy

Rosler, Martha (1981) ‘In, around, and afterthoughts (on documentary photography)’ in Stallabras Julian (2013) Documentary. Cambridge (MA): The MIT Press.

Photograph-as-document_modern-and-postmodern-debatesDOWNLOAD

DOWNLOAD

Stephen-Bull_Photographs-as-art_Pictorialism_Modernism_PostmodernismDOWNLOAD

Bate, David (2016) ‘The Art of the Document’ in Art Photography. London: Tate Gallerie
How documentary photography now is considered within a fine-art context.

Solomon-Godeau, Abigail (1994), ‘Inside/ Out’ in Photography At The Dock: Essays on Photographic History, Institutions, and Practices. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press

Here some helpful resources on ethical questions regarding the photographer’s position of being inside or outside from PhotoPedagogy

Photography and truth

Photography and Truth – see blog post with many resources.

Bright, Susan (2019) Is it Real? in Photography Decoded.

See more short essays here in Photography Decoded

Photography & Truth

Issues in Photojournalism

Photojournalism: Truth, Representation, Propaganda, Aesthetics

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