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Universidad Católica de Salta

Advance Language II

Augusto Chocobar

Maria Soledad Loutayf

Portfolio: Seeing through Photographs

2020
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Introduction of the course 3

Biography of the instructor 4
Course development 4
Week 1- Introduction 5
Week 2 - One Subject, Many Perspectives 8
Week 3 - Documentary Photography 11
Week 4 - Pictures of People 14
Week 5 - Constructing Narratives & Challenging Histories 17
Week 6 - Ocean of Images: Photography & Contemporary Culture 19
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Introduction - Seeing through

photographs

‘’Seeing through photographs’’ is a mooc I made in www.coursera.org offered by

the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) and taught by curator Sarah Meister. This course is
aimed at explaining the impact photographs have had in our life; the impact
photographs had throughout the last 100 years in society.

By virtue of photographs, people can shape and tell everyday life through
photographs because photographs themselves have a power; they have been used as
a means of artistic expression, as a tool for science, journalist purpose, as a record for
history, or as a means to show a message in social media.

Additionally, the mooc offered a forum discussion for anyone that could post in
doubt or problem that one might have during the course.

Regarding this portfolio, it has all the contents I have learnt as well as a full
description of the six weeks of the course: images of some photos, quizzes, grade
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quizzes, discussion, among others. In order to access the different week classes’
contents , I have asked to do a quiz for every week class in which all of them my score
is 80%.
As a final project, I have asked to write an essay of a topic I encountered most
captivating in one of the weeks.

Sarah Meister

Biography

Sarah Meister became a Curator at The Museum of Modern Art in 2009, having
joined the Department of Photography in 1997. Her recent exhibitions include From
Bauhaus to Buenos Aires: Grete Stern and Horacio Coppola (2015; co-curator), Modern
Photographs from the Thomas Walther Collection, 1909–1949 (2014-15; co-curator),
Nicholas Nixon: Forty Years of The Brown Sisters (2014); Walker Evans American
Photographs, 75th anniversary (2013-14), Bill Brandt: Shadow and Light (2013) and
Eugène Atget: “Documents pour artistes” (2012). Meister contributes to and edits a
variety of Museum and external publications including most recently Photography at
MoMA: 1960 to Now (2015) and two collaborations with Maira Kalman and Daniel
Handler, Hurry Up and Wait (2015) and Girls Standing on Lawns (2014). Many of her
favorite MoMA photographs are featured in this course including (but not limited to!)
work by Diane Arbus, Iñaki Bonillas, Lee Friedlander, Katy Grannan, Zoe Leonard,
Susan Meiselas, Vik Muniz, Nicholas Nixon, Martha Rosler, Cindy Sherman, Hank Willis
Thomas, Carleton Watkins, and snapshots given by Peter J. Cohen. She holds an AB in
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Art History from Princeton University, with honors, and is a recipient of the Lee
Tenenbaum Award for outstanding research and scholarship.

Week 1- Introduction

The first week deals with the history of photography and the history of the
Museum of Modern Art. The materials provided are interactive videos and reading
materials in pdf format and articles in different webpages. In the case of the videos
there is an interview with Marvin Heiferman who explains the responses people make
by seeing a photograph; the psychological and emotional response they have towards
seeing photographs: how images work and how they are constructed. In the reading
materials it can be found the history of the Museum of Modern Art, and a bit of
explanation of the history of photography.
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This is the final score I got in this week:

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Week 2 - One Subject, Many

Perspectives

The second week deals with the moon, how it became the most photographed
object throughout history, and how technology allowed photographers and scientists to
know a little bit more about it. This week also deals with vernacular, scientific and fine
art photographs. The term ‘vernacular photography’ really called my attention in this
week-class since it is somewhat related to the concept ‘vernacular language’. To draw
a parallelism, it can be said that both vernacular language and vernacular photography
express the meaning of ‘informality’. In this course there are different interviews and that
is, video materials, and reading materials:
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This is the final grade I got in this week:

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Week 3 - Documentary Photography

The third week deals with the photography used as a means to make
documentary, to record or bear witness of different moments of daily life; photographs
may be read and interpreted in many different ways. Additionally, journalist newspapers
began to use photography illustration as a way of telling stories in their article news.
Some photographers took pictures to construct a narrative or tell a story about a certain
aspect of social classes of the time. This week-class also contains video interviews and
reading materials:
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This is the final grade I got in this week

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Week 4 - Pictures of People

The fourth week deals with how photography technology has improved in the late
nineteenth century; cameras’ film became more light- sensitive and cameras were
easier to use and it did not require long exposure to take a picture to objects or people.
As a consequence, photographers had access to take pictures in an easier way, that is,
the possibility to take pictures of people in the subway or make portraits. This
week-class also contains video interviews and reading materials:
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This is the final grade I got in this week

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Week 5 - Constructing Narratives &

Challenging Histories
The fifth week deals with how photographs have represented a powerful tool to
tell stories and shape our understanding of the society and daily life in general.
Photographs can be used as a means to tell historical events. This week-class also
contains video interviews and reading materials:
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Score of the final quiz

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Week 6 - Ocean of Images: Photography

& Contemporary Culture

The sixth week deals with the advent of smartphones, digital cameras,
photographs and the function they accomplished to let people capture images to be
uploaded in social media; how they impact in our modern society, as well as the
manipulation of images in advertising. We are submerged in an ocean of images. This
week-class also contains video interviews and reading materials:
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FINAL PROJECT
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In the mooc as a final project I have asked to write an essay about the week that I liked
the most, and I chose the week three. Here’s the essay:

Photographs– documentation for history

Photographs have been known for showing history, art, and feelings of
people. The power of images have been highly effective so as to tell a story and
transmit a hidden message behind the image itself. Additionally, they portray
different situations in the streets, in nightclubs, in parks, subways, among other
places. In week three titled ‘Documentary Photography’ of the course ‘Seeing
through Photographs’, there are two images that really caught my attention:
‘’Harlem Gang Leader’’ photograph taken by Gordon and the ‘Migrant Mother’
photograph taken by Dorothea Lange.

In the first place, the photograph ‘Harlem Gang Leader’ conveys an

interesting message about social conflicts in the American society. The
photographer, Gordon Pranks, was able to clearly describe the political and
social context through an image in 1948. Additionally, the narrative constructed in
the photograph emphasized a sense of a dramatic scenario and conflicts,
picturing a really interesting narrative to pay attention.

Moreover, the photograph ‘Migrant Mother’’ is another photograph that

conveys a social issue. Dorothea Lange, the producer of this image, was also
able to document a message with a photograph; the political and social context
of the Great Depression in America in 1936; how the impoverished farmers of
the time lived. In this sense, through images viewers are able to understand the
history, and travel in time.
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Taking everything into consideration, photography has been able to

transmit emotions, feelings and stories. I do believe that the main theme about
the class of week three is that photography may function as a tool for
documenting history such as political, social or economic situations. The third
week class really helped me to see beyond the image itself and look in-depth of
what’s the message behind it. Knowing the background of a photograph is
highly important to understand the past and the future of our lives.
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Final reflection

I encountered this mooc quite interesting since I love taking pictures in my free
time, and capturing the different moments of daily life. First of all, This mooc has helped
me to enrich my linguistic knowledge by learning new terms and understanding the
semantic field of the photography field.
Additionally, this course has also helped me to understand the role that
photography played in our life; the power and influence photography had in society:
from early times up to our modern times, photography shaped the way citizens view and
understand the world.
Also, I consider that photography is history, and we know that by learning history
we understand not only our present, but also a possible future.
Last, but not least, taking a mooc is really important because we can learn a lot
from different fields to enrich our knowledge and to broaden our horizon in life.

Reference

● ‘’Seeing Through Photographs, Coursera. Retrieved from

https://www.coursera.org/learn/photography