Abelardo Morell: My Life in Pictures – So Far

Free Lecture at Boston University!

SPE NE Pop-up Conference Lecture Summary

Since I was a bit pinched for time in during my lecture, I didn’t go into quite as much detail as I would have liked in certain areas. We also didn’t have time for a formal Q and A session, but I did have many interesting conversations afterwards, during the reception, most of which revolved around these two topics:

1. Extolling the virtues of Instagram

During my lecture, I spent a good bit of time discussing Instagram as a wonderful vehicle for capturing and disseminating images. If you are concerned about the Instagram / Facebook terms of service then there are other options, such as Twitter or Flickr Mobile. (In fact, I really like Flickr Mobile, but my network is on Instagram.) Personally, I have never put too much importance on the “ownership” of my images online. I realize this puts me in the minority, but I view the networking capabilities provided by the Internet as a whole to be a fair trade, and acceptable risk, for the possible “theft” of my work. If you are worried about your work being “stolen” from the Internet, then don’t put it there – theft is but a screen-grab away.

What is important to recognize, which I did not have a chance to discuss in my lecture, is that Insatgram is not solely an image-making practice. Rather, it is, like Twitter, Flickr, or Facebook, its own communication platform and network. It allows photographers to communicate in a native, image-based language. And it also incorporates social media language conventions – abbreviated messages, hashtags, and even Emojis. Hashtags function as both a means of tagging, or connecting, images but also as a form of commentary. This element of commentary particularly applies to the use of ironic hashtags – those hashtags that are too long or too specific or are, generally, never going to be typed into a search field: #OMGicantbelievethisguyisseriousaboutteachingInstagram

I also mentioned reading Ron Cowie’s interview on the Photo-Eye blog on my phone and described how that re-presentation of his photographs, on a mobile-specific platform, is much different than merely presenting physical work as a digital projection (and in the case of Ron’s work, viewing postage stamp sized versions of beautiful platinum palladium prints on my phone is certainly a new contextualization of very traditional photographic information).

Overall, my discussion of Instagram and mobile-specific photographic practice was meant to provide an example of how digital photography has fundamentally changed the nature of photographic information – and how it has changed the way we consume that information – and that we need to consider these changes in our teaching.

2. Teaching photography in the post-print era

In the past, the medium of photography sold itself. The very hands-on nature of teaching students how to handle film and manual cameras, how to load film onto reels in the dark, how to handle paper in the darkroom – all of this “process” - allowed students to take ownership of the things they created. Once this foundation was established, we, as educators, could direct students down any number of avenues to further their photographic educations.

However, with teaching digital photography, if we limit our curriculum to a digital version of analog photography, then we risk having our courses look like a series of digital imaging tutorials – and who wants to pay for that? Or, how many students will sign up for (and pay for) a second photo course. In other words, if we don’t explore, engage in, and provide critical foundations for the unique and (relatively) new nature of digital imagery, then why would we expect students to pursue an extended and in-depth study of photography? Which begs the question posed in the last link I presented: Do I Need a Photo Degree?

And to extend this out a bit – I had a few conversations about enrollment and curricular issues in photo courses – if enrollment numbers for photo classes drop and budgets get tightened (as seems to be happening everywhere – and which always seems to affect the arts first and/or most profoundly) – as course loads for faculty are cut, as positions are downgraded or eliminated, as course offerings are cut – new voices and new ideas will be marginalized. If we can’t offer a new product to prospective students then why should we expect enrollment numbers to do anything but drop?

-Edward

Teaching Photography in the Post-Print Era

SPE NE Pop-up Conference

College of the Holy Cross

Worcester, MA

April 11, 2013

Photography no longer revolves around prints or processes, or even traditionally published books. Virtual versions of photography—websites, blogs, social media—surround us. Even physical books have changed, as self-published or print-on-demand publications, such as those available from Blurb, Lulu, MagCloud, or Vistaprint have become widely available.

Are these rapidly evolving practices being incorporated into photography curricula? As photography changes, becoming more virtual every day, how and what are we teaching our students? Academia must not only address the various methods of virtual photographic practice but also provide a critical understanding of these practices.

To illustrate these ideas, I will reference the following material, which looks at the evolving issues of photography from practical, academic, and contemporary art perspectives:

-       An interview with Steven Mayes, director of the VII Photo Agency, on Wired.com’s Raw File blog in which he refers to the cell phone as “pure implementation of the digital phenomenon.” http://bit.ly/X6ZIZ6

-       An American Photo magazine article about photojournalists using Instagram, from Syria to Sandy: http://bit.ly/Z8tonK

 

-       A video by multimedia journalist Richard Koci Hernandez where he makes a case for the serious consideration of Instagram. http://bit.ly/XD2R3G

 http://instagram.com/koci#

-       An essay from “The Pleasures of Good Photographs” by Gerry Badger that questions whether or not photography in the Photoshop era is indeed still photography. http://bit.ly/12aXcDG

 Andreas Gursky, "Bahrain I"

 Andreas Gursky, "Rhein"

-       Charlotte Cotton’s essay “Nine Years, A Million Conceptual Miles,” published on the Aperture blog, which raises concerns about institutions that have traditionally supported photography—museums, commercial galleries, and art schools—and their ability to adapt to rapid changes in photographic practice. http://bit.ly/W8G5hi

-       An article in PDNedu, a free magazine for photo students, that addresses both an interdisciplinary approach to teaching photography and using social media in the classroom. http://bit.ly/YtPrWg

-       The “dilemma” surrounding the New York Times’ use of an Instagram photograph on the front page: http://bit.ly/10Taoae

-       An article from The Guardian addressing 10 ways self-publishing has changed the books world – paying specific attention to point 4 re: photo-books: “If these [photo-books] are being presented to those who are not big readers, or regular frequenters of bookshops, the social significance of self-publishing may be particularly strong.” http://bit.ly/10KIM9L

-       An article from fstopers.com titled “Do I Need a Photo Degree” by Joseph Gamble: http://bit.ly/YLnmds

-       The concept of “Photo 2.0” as defined by Andy Adams, founder of flakphoto.com:

http://www.andyadamsphoto.com/photo2/

flakphoto.com

Interview with Andy Adams: http://bit.ly/17qOwJC

-Edward Stapel, April 2013

SPE Northeast Pop-up Conference

I will be participating in a panel discussion on visual literacy at an SPE Northeast Pop-up Conference next Thursday, April 11, at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison are the keynote speakers. Please come if you can – it’s free!