CI-189 The Extended Photo Essay
Photographer Edward Curtis sacrificed everything including his prosperous portrait studio and business, fame for being the celebrity photographer of his time, and even his family, his wife divorcing him, so that he could pursue a life-long obsession to photograph what he perceived to be the vanishing culture of the remaining Native American tribes of North America. And at the completion of his masterwork, The American Indian, even his ownership and copyright of the work had to be given to the House of J.P. Morgan and he received no compensation, only financial support for the project. What he created though was a visually stunning document and series of folios of a vanishing way of life and the last days of his subjects culture as well as a new way of seeing the other. In addition to the study of the life, times and creative struggles and successes of Edward Curtis in his personal mission, students will learn of other photographers who like Curtis sacrificed all convention using their creativity and taking personal and intellectual risks with using innovation to bring their ideas to successful completion. Students will learn to use cameras to make fine individual pictures and then series of images to tell important visually impactful stories culminating with an extended photographic essay of their own in portfolio book form. Their own projects subjects will be discussed with and approved by the instructor and a final Power Point presentation will be given to the class for critique. Restricted to students with less than 54 credits. Students with more than 54 credits needing to fulfill their CI requirement should seek approval from the Undergraduate Advising Office.
Prerequisite
Student has not met all of the following Student has satisfied all of the following Student has completed or is in process of completing 54 Credits