Literary sources: Go to this blog post here: Theory: Literary Sources and copy relevant key texts relating to the subject of your essay and list in alphabetical order in your bibliography. In addition, find your own key texts in relation to artists selected for in-depth analysis in your essay and list these too. These texts could be interviews with the artist, or reviews/ critique’s written by others. See useful online sites/ sources here .
- Research and identify 3-5 literary sources from a variety of media such as books, journal/magazines, internet, Youtube/video that relates to your personal study and artists references .
- Begin to read essay, texts and interviews with your chosen artists as well as commentary from critics, historians and others.
- It’s important that you show evidence of reading and draw upon different pints of view – not only your own.
- Take notes when you’re reading…key words, concepts, passages, page number to be used for in-text referencing etc.
Essay Question
- Think of a hypothesis and list possible essay questions
- Below is a list of possible essay questions that may help you to formulate your own.
possible-essay-questions-to-investigate
Some examples of Personal Study essays from previous students:
How can elements of Surrealism be used to express and visualise the personal……?
new topographics and traditional street photography
In what way can abstraction make visible what is invisible in the natural and urban landscape?
What is abstraction exactly?
……..William Klein’s confrontational approach to street photography?
Essay Plan
Make a plan that lists what you are going to write about in each paragraph – essay structure
- Essay question:
- Opening quote
‘To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed.
It means putting oneself into a certain relation to the world that feel like knowledge– and therefore, like power.’ (Sontag 1977:4)
‘To collect photographs is to collect the world.’ (Sontag 1977)
- Introduction (250-500 words): What is your area study? Which artists will you be analysing and why? How will you be responding to their work and essay question?
“I happen to believe in the beauty of simple things. I believe that the most uninteresting thing can be very interesting.”.
Saul Leiter. Throughout my personal study I aim to investigate street photography through different elements such as colours, shadows, texture, patterns, and space. Through these visual elements I hope to create an interesting concept and relationship, for example the composition, and arrangement of visual elements. Experimenting with different editing techniques such as cropping, … will create an interesting feature.
- Pg 1 (500 words): Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian.
- Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
- Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
- Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
- Bibliography: List all relevant sources used#
Sontag, S. (1977) ‘In Plato’s cave’ in On Photography. London: Penguin Books.
https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=3666
https://www.clerkmaxwellfoundation.org/html/first_colour_photographic_image.html
Essay writing: Here is a link to another blog post which will provide you with guideline about how to structure each paragraph in your essay.