James P. Brochin
The essential question for the students in this unit will be "How has war photography described the human condition, and how has war photography affected history?" The learning objectives are for students to be able to:
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1) describe and analyze their own personal reaction to war photographs.
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2) describe in detail the contents of images.
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3) identify and describe structural and compositional elements of images.
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4) identify the historical context of photographic images.
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5) describe important steps in the development of photographic technology from the Civil War to today's digital SLR's.
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6) identify and describe the role that war photography has had in awakening a feeling of empathy for the many victims of war, wherever they may live and whatever culture they may be from.
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7) identify and describe the role that war photography has had in awakening a feeling of outrage against atrocities and other war crimes, and
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8) identify and describe the use of war photography, particularly on the "home front," as a propaganda tool.
Where will we begin? In this unit, we will begin with photographs that communicate the overall themes of propaganda, outrage, and empathy. However, in the earliest classes and in all classes we will not begin with the themes but will move instead from the specific to the general. In each class we will proceed using roughly the following steps in analysis, with suggested class activities, focused on specific photographs:
1. (Basic preliminary questions)
Composition
(vertical or horizontal lines, borders, open, closed, open or blocked views),
props
,
condition
of the place,
clothing
and its condition, condition of the room etc,
significance of the proximity
of people and items to one another.
2. (Essential questions) approximate historical time line of the photograph
,
emotion
that is expressed, write a
caption
, write a brief
monologue or conversation
among the subjects in the photo,
describe what you feel
looking at this person or persons in the photo, socio-economic, cultural, historical ideology: write their story (of the photo, the subjects, how does this break down racial or other barriers?)
Where will we get to in this unit? We will have traced a thematic treatment and a rough chronological treatment of war photography from propaganda to horror to grief, and in so doing, students should emerge with a feeling of "compassionate horror" (using W. Eugene Smith's words) and with empathy for soldiers, civilians, widows, and for humanity in general. We will end with an inquiry lesson taking two to three lessons. This will be the form of final assessment, where the students will be given a question or an issue, and will work in groups of three to answer the question on their own. This inquiry lesson will require groups of students to lead the class in a discussion, using projected images, where the class would go through some of the steps outlined above. This is the difference between the final assessment and the lessons preceding it.