Since its invention in 1839, photography has helped us document, understand and interpret the world. It has been reinvented continually through technological advancements and by the diverse ways in which artists and professionals have used it. Today, taking, sharing, and viewing photographs has become second nature for many of us. Given our near-constant engagement with images, this course will help you dig into the meaning of pictures and reconsider photography’s role in our visual culture.
Part 1 - Introduction to the Course
1.6.a. Introduce Yourself
Welcome to the Seeing Through Photographs community! You’re joining hundreds of thousands of international learners who have taken this course. If you're comfortable sharing, please help us get to know you by telling us where you're from and more about your interest in photography. What brought you to this course and what are you hoping to learn or experience? Please feel free to post an image you have taken as well.
I’m Steven Lee, and I started this course back in 2020 but never finished it. Sadly, I’m in quarantine in the hospital right now having contracted chickenpox as part of a bad reaction to a new diabetic drug I was placed on last week following a stroke I suffered following a stroke I had on January 31, 2023. To that end I cracked COURSERA open to start finishing off stuff I never completed and yesterday I finished MODERN ART AND IDEAS. I’m also a third year bachelor of fine arts student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. I like these short courses as they are helping expand my breath of knowledge in different areas including fine arts, digital marketing, photography, and creative writing.
The attached photo, “FADED PLACES” is a 20"x28" digital daytime long exposure I shot on February 23, 2019. Standing on Gore Avenue, looking south from Cordova Street in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side, this daytime long exposure blurs the people walking on the sidewalks and slightly blurs a truck that passed through the frame to stop for a moment - becoming eerily reminiscent of the kind of truck infamous serial killer Robert Pickton might have driven as he prowled the streets looking for his next victim.
1.6.b. Discussion: A “beautiful, useful, or consequential” photograph
Marvin Heiferman says, “Photography is used by everybody and everybody uses it for all sorts of reasons. Images can be beautiful… useful... and consequential for all sorts of reasons.” What is one image that has been beautiful, useful, or consequential for you? Post it or describe it, and tell us why you feel that way about it.
One photograph that was consequential for me was by Vietnamese photographer Nick Ut, called “The Terror of War / Napalm Girl,” taken on June 8, 1972. I remember first encountering the photograph in a high school history textbook, and I remember being deeply captivated by the image in a way I hadn’t been before. The central figure of the anonymous naked girl, screaming in agony as she ran towards the camera, stood out first and foremost for me. Secondly, the crying boy to her left also stood out. Both of their faces shout out about the experience of unspeakable horror and pain. Behind them, four soldiers and behind all of them, a sky darkened by the thick smoke of war. Ut’s photo needed little explanation: it was a definitive anti-war photograph, there was nothing that glorified the experience and even the soldiers walking look tired. I later learned how this photograph spread across the world, and helped turn public sentiment against the war. I also learned how the American government even tried saying that the photo was a fake, until photos and video by other reporters collaborated Ut’s work from that day. Ut’s editors even sensed that there might be pushback against the photo and what it represented, and as such they sent the photo out completely unedited. Ut was 21 when he took this image, and the young girl who had been so horribly burned was only 9. And I was probably 15 years old when I encountered this photo, so in many ways all of us involved in this moment were linked by the virtue of being so young. In an ideal world, none of us would ever even be involved in such things. But we don’t live in such a world, which is why it’s important for tools like photography to exist.
1.6.c. Photography Changes Everything
Marvin Heiferman asked over 100 people how photography changed what they did. How has photography had an impact on your life? Share a story about photography's impact on your life.
Photography has impacted my life in many ways. Firstly, photography has provided me with a means of preserving memories and experiences with my family and friends. I enjoyed taking photos of my friends especially, although I tried taking photographs where it wasn’t necessarily apparent that I as a photographer was there taking a photograph. I also didn’t like appearing in photographs when I was younger. And for a period of time as a teenager I tried taking vacation photos while excluding members of my family, and simply trying to record the memories of places we visited. But by doing that I created a disconnect between us and the experiences of the places we visited: they were essentially devoid of content and context, two essential elements of any photograph.
Secondly, photography has provided me with the opportunity to explore conceptual ideas, issues, and events in a style that bridges the worlds of documentary photography and fine art photography. Specifically I’ve created works that explore environmental issues as well as social justice issues.
Finally, since 2020, I’ve used photography to explore aspects related to my own life, including exploring my struggles with anxiety, depression, being overweight, binge eating, having diabetes, and high blood pressure. I’m also trying to come to grips with having suffered from a stroke on January 31, 2023, which has left the right side of my body incapacitated.
