J.D. Hammond, Photography and ambivalence Visual Studies, 19 (2004) pp. 135-145.
S. Sliwinski, A painful labour: responsibility and photography Visual Studies, 19 (2004) pp. 150-162.
MacDougall, D. Whose Story Is It? Visual Anthropology Review 7, 2 (1991), 2-10.
Sontag, Susan. 1977. On photography. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Short excerpt. Sontag is especially articulate about photography of people. This excerpt only quotes a little of what she said on this topic.
The website Click! Photography Changes Everything consists of a variety of short reflections (with images) on a variety of topics — many by prominent people associated with photography, but not all. These are especially useful when read in conjunction with the articles above.
- Photography changes how we choose to represent ourselves By Barbara Buhler Lynes (and how we resist how others represent us)
- Photography changes personal history By Wendy Ewald “I taught the children how to use Polaroid cameras to photograph inside their tiny, crowded rooms. I also asked the children to photograph their dreams…They took pictures of what they noticed—an extraordinary thing considering that they were in a place that didn’t acknowledge them—didn’t know who they were—and without themselves really knowing where they were.” See also Photovoice
- Photography changes the way we represent ourselves By Mindy Stricke (online dating images)
- Photography changes the ways we understand ourselves By Greg Graham (family photos)
- Photography changes our life stories By Marvin Heiferman (family photos)
- Photography changes how we perceive ourselves Jim Moore, poet, contemplates what it feels like and what he’s learned from being photographed repeatedly.
- Photography changes the ways cultural groups are represented and perceived
By Edwin Schupman - Photography changes what we see, depending on who’s looking By Elizabeth Edwards
- Photography changes what we’re willing to reveal of ourselves By Tien Nguyen
- Photography changes who we become By Lyric R. Cabral
- Photography changes our relationship to time, the unknown, and to ourselves By Robert Pollack
See also Photovoice — a method that puts cameras in the hands of the participants
Optional: T. Clark, On ‘being researched’: why do people engage with qualitative research?, Qualitative Research, 10 (2010) pp. 399-419. We will not discuss much in class but useful for understanding why people would want to cooperate with you.