Seeing Seeing: Thoughts on creating an image essay

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Thoughts on creating an image essay

Images can be found and/or made.
Images may be stills from films ripped shamelessly out of context.
Images may be from radically discrepant sources—the news, art, a film, your own photos.
The images in relationship to each other should make the argument.
Try NOT to have the images be evidence of your written argument. Just looking at your images should make your argument.

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A Collective Image Reckoning

Each week, we will consider an image. This image may come from anywhere—from a painting, the news, an art photograph, a picture of my child.

Your job is to read this image. You need write only four lines; you may write more. Inflect the image. Give it a spin. Make us see what we may not be seeing. Take up the image, do something with it, then give it back to us—in words.

The goal is multifold. It is to learn to reckon a diversity of images. It is to learn the art of the riff, the spin, the take. And, in the end, I hope we have created an exquisite symphony, a chorus of voices, each distinct, each singing an image in its own register.

Course requirements

ATTENDANCE IS REQUIRED. You may miss 3 classes during the semester. For each class missed after that, your grade will be lowered a full grade—from an A to a B.

EVERY weekend, I will post an image on this blog. By Thursday's class, you must write a response to that image as a comment on this blog.
-You will have to create a Google account.
-Please use your name in your identity so I know who you are when you post your comment. If you already have a Google identity but it does not reflect your name, please create a new one.
-Your comment can be brief; in fact, it should be—anywhere from 3-10 lines. Try to make it pithy, astute, sharp.
-These are not optional: each one you miss will translate into the loss of a full grade for your class participation grade.

There will be three papers scattered through the semester; they will be @ two pages long. These are not optional. If you fail to do one, you will fail the class.

Grading
-Class participation: 30%
-Paper 1: 20%
-Paper 2: 20%
-Paper 3: 30%
-I WILL NOT GRANT INCOMPLETES.

Seeing Seeing