This module looks at the changing nature of documentary practice. The idea of showing the everyday lives of 'ordinary' people and the where and how they lived is and was at the heart of this way of working. You will consider how documentary has evolved from the ideals of the political/social reformist movements of the twentieth century, the illustrated photo magazines and the rise of the photojournalist, to the idea of documentary as a contemporary fine art practice and how new technologies might effect this practice in the future.

Knowledge of these ideas will enable you to work with a deeper awareness and understanding of how to represent and ask questions about the 'everyday'. The fact that documentary practice requires an understanding of how particular types of text provides information and a context about that which cannot be 'seen' in the photograph will also be considered. You will be asked to photograph an aspect of contemporary life and to contextualise that approach through historical and/or contemporary methods, with a specific audience in mind.

Portfolio Project

You will present for assessment one piece of work:
A Portfolio of photographic images combined with a Statement of Intent.
(Learning Outcomes 1,2,3)

Submission is Summative Assessment. Please refer to the Award Handbook for a full description and rationale for assessment methods.

Key Information Set Data
100% Coursework

Austin, T. (2008). Rethinking Documentary: New Perspectives and Practices. Open University Press
Light, K. (2000). Witness in Our Time: Working Lives of Documentary Photographers. Smithsonian Books
Stange, M. (1989). Symbols of Ideal Life: Social Documentary in America 1890-1950. Cambridge University Press.

Sontag, S. (2008). On Photography. Penguin Modern Classics
Sontag, S. (2004). Regarding the Pain of Others. Penguin.
Walker, I. (2007). So Exotic, So Homemade: Surrealism, Englishness and Documentary Photography. Manchester University Press.

Specialist Periodicals in Library:
AG, American Photo, Aperture, British Journal of Photography (BJP), Camera Austria, Ei8ht (Foto8), Exposure, History of Photography, Image (AOP Magazine), Next Level, Photographer (BIPP Magazine), Photoworks, Portfolio (Back issues only no longer published).

Specialist photographic equipment
Specialist digital and darkroom facilities
Lecture theatre and tutorial rooms
Thompson Library
Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment will support this module where relevant.
Word processing and output facilities
Internet access

Scheduled Learning Activities
Lectures
Group Tutorials (Feedback)
Group Discussion (Feedback)
The `Photo-Voices' Lecture Programme

Guided Independent Study
Independent Photographic Practise and Visual Experimentation
Independent Reading and Research

Key Information Set Data
Scheduled Learning 16%
Guided Independent Learning 84%