trevor cunningham wrote:
does anybody have any photo critique forms they feel
would be suitable for beginning high school
photographers?
if you have something on file, and you would like to
share it, feel free to send it to me privately
cheers! trevor cunningham
"The optimist believes this is the best of all possible worlds.
The pessimist fears it's true" - J Robert Oppenheimer
http://www.geocities.com/tr_cunningham
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There is some material on the internet, though I'm not madly keen on it.
One good search is "Analysing Photographs". You could try "Reading
Photographs" which led me to this site
http://nuovo.com/southern-images/analyses.html
My procedure is more open as I want to encourage freedom of thought
rather than applying a formula. I thus tend to avoid words like
connotation, denotation, though I am partial to Barthes "Studium" and
"Punctum" ideas.
I tell my students:
Your opinion is the one I want to hear, not someone elses, as a valid
interpretation is always personal, depending on so many different
factors (gender, age, social background, etc.)
Start by describing the photograph in detail as if explaining to someone
over the telephone who has never seen the picture. This can also include
any obvious information about the photo, e.g. any textual statement
From this you then can talk about specific aspects of the compositional
approach of the photographer
Then why do you think the photographer took it.
Next describe your own feelings about it. This can include emotional
responses, what the story leading up to it might be, and what could have
followed on
Place the image into a historical / artistic / social context if possible
Finally draw it all to a clear, simple conclusion.
Some photographs are very difficult to analyse though!
3 very good books are Tery Barrett's "Criticising Photographs",
available from Amazon, Liz Wells "The Photographic Reader" and her
"Photography: A Critical Introduction"
Howard
