COURSE CONTENT

Course Code DP 2002

Course Title History of Photography
Pre-requisites NIL
No of AUs 3
Contact Hours 39 hours studio contact

Course Aims

This interdisciplinary elective course provides an overview of the evolution of the photographic
medium, from experiments of photographic principles over a thousand years ago to the discovery
of the first fixed image in Western Enlightenment, and to contemporary innovations, utility and
critique. In this course, you will examine the emergence of photographic traditions and practices
within the context of artistic, cultural, social, scientific, and philosophical forces that shaped the
expansive directions in the medium’s development. This course highlights the development of
photography as the first media art and is highly relevant to students pursuing the photography
pathway in Media Arts.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)

By the end of the course, you should be able to:

1. Describe the key significant events that informed the emergence of photography.

2. Discuss the relationship and influence of the photographic medium in art and cultural
practices, social and economic phenomena, as well as philosophical and scientific fields.

3. Apply principles, theories and examples to examine the role of photography within
contemporary society.

4. Present a critical position developed from the diverse photographic art and socio-historical
context.

5. Discuss and evaluate points of view and collaborate with peers to form sound critical
arguments on the history of photography.
Course Content

Through weekly slide lectures by the lecturer, assigned readings, group seminar presentations,
production of practical work, written assignment, active participation, you will learn about early
photography experiments, simple and abstract principles of the medium, ideological movements
and their implications, social effects of photographic expansion et cetera, positioned within the
historical framework.

By studying the past, you will learn to use history to inspire and understand new ways of thinking
concerning the photographic medium, either as part of your academic pursuit or as professional
practice beyond your studies.

All assignment briefs and weekly lectures will be uploaded to Blackboard for your reference.

In the first half of this course, you will learn of the photographic medium’s early days of
experiments, the invention of the very first fixed image, advancement in the photographic
instrument and its twilight period, the foundations and principles of the image making mechanism,
rising phenomena of early photographic practices, early photography as socio-political survey in the
East. We will also discuss the various categories of alternative processes, invention of the very first
colour image, Eastman Kodak Company and the rising popularity of the photographic medium,
photography in Southeast Asia through colonialism, early developments of photography in
Southeast Asia and consequential impacts, the parallel evolution in intellectualism and the changing
face of art and philosophy in the era of Modernism, how such shifting thoughts allowed
photography to influence the practices of artists in the West, how the ideology also influenced
photography in Southeast Asia. We will also take a look at the changing forms of the photographic
devices and its shift of focus on instrumental portability, the utility of photography during years of
the second world war, the rising trend of the moving image, its shared foundation and differences
with the still image, photographic dissemination and its effects the fine arts, specifically through
discussions of Walter Benjamin’s theory on the ‘aura of art’.

The next half of this course will look into the photographic medium’s continual rise and impacts, in
the West, the East, and in Southeast Asia. The lessons will survey the deep entanglement between
photography and the natural sciences, the invention and continual increase in popularity of the
digital format, its similarities and distinctiveness from the analogue, its effects in the creation of a
new visual sensation, the growth of movie culture as cinematic phenomenon, the role of
photography in late 20th century capitalism, with specific focus on Southeast Asia. The lessons will
also look at photography in Postmodernism, hyper development of photographic technologies and
the inevitable continual popularity of photographic image making, the emerging issue of imageries
as imperative perceptual data, a noticeable resurrection of analogue technologies in the 21st
century, Social and cultural effects of the photographic expansion in the global age of materialism
and hyper-consumerism., artists and their photographic practices in contemporary age, as well as
photography within new emerging ideological eras and a new way of seeing, thinking, and making.

This course will reference the works of John Berger, Susan Sontag, Scott Walden, Kendall Walton,
Roger Scruton, Liz Wells, Walter Benjamin, Graham Harman, and other scholars who have
contributed to the progress of discourses in art, and the continual evolution of the photographic
language.
Assessment

Component ILO Tested Programme LO Weighting Team/ Individual

Continuous
Assessment:

1 group 1, 2, 3, 4 - 30 Team
seminar
presentation

1 series of at 1, 2, 3, 4 - 20 Individual
least 6
photographic
images
submission
2000 words 1, 2, 3, 4 - 30 Individual
written essay
Participation 5 - 20 Individual

Total 100%

Reading and References:

Beaumont, Newhall (1975). The History of Photography. New York: The Museum of Modern Art.

Berger, J., & Dyer, G. (2013). Understanding a photograph. New York: Aperture.

Rancière, J. (2009). The future of the image. London: Verso.

Barthes, R. (1988). Camera lucida: Reflections on photography. New York: The Noonday Press.

Wells, L. (2019). The photography reader: History and theory. London: Routledge.

Sontag, S. (2010). On photography. New York: Picador.

Walden, S. (2010). Photography and philosophy: Essays on the pencil of nature. Chichester: Wiley-
Blackwell.

Ritchin, F. (2010). After photography. New York: W.W. Norton.

Heiferman, M. (2012). Photography changes everything. New York: Aperture.

Cotton, C. (2015). The photograph as contemporary art. London: Thames & Hudson.
Course Policies and Student Responsibilities

(1) General

You are expected to complete all assigned readings, activities, assignments, attend all classes
punctually and complete all scheduled assignments by due dates. You are expected to take
responsibility to follow up with assignments and course related announcements. You are expected
to participate in all project critiques, class discussions and activities.

(2) Punctuality

You are expected to be punctual for all classes. If you are more than 15 minutes late, you will be
deemed as absent and will not be able to sign on the attendance register.

(3) Absenteeism

In-class activities make up a significant portion of your course grade. Absence from class without a
valid reason will affect your participation grade. Valid reasons include falling sick supported by a
medical certificate and participation in NTU’s approved activities supported by an excuse letter
from the relevant bodies. There will be no make-up opportunities for in-class activities.

Academic Integrity

Good academic work depends on honesty and ethical behaviour. The quality of your work as a
student relies on adhering to the principles of academic integrity and to the NTU Honour Code, a
set of values shared by the whole university community. Truth, Trust and Justice are at the core of
NTU’s shared values.

As a student, it is important that you recognise your responsibilities in understanding and applying
the principles of academic integrity in all the work you do at NTU. Not knowing what is involved in
maintaining academic integrity does not excuse academic dishonesty. You need to actively equip
yourself with strategies to avoid all forms of academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, academic
fraud, collusion and cheating. If you are uncertain of the definitions of any of these terms, you
should go to the academic integrity website for more information. Consult your instructor(s) if you
need any clarification about the requirements of academic integrity in the course.
Planned Weekly Schedule*

*Subject to adjustment by instructor according to the teaching situation, students’ progress, public holidays,
and other unforeseeable circumstances.

Week Topic Course LO Readings/ Activities Remarks

1 Week 1: The Dawn of 1, 2, 3 - Introduction to

Photography course; module
outline;
- Experimentations of early expectations and
photographic devices in assessments
Europe, Middle East, and the
East, from > 2000 years ago. - Lecture

- Camera obscura and other

basic principles of the
medium.

- Etymological significance of
photography.

- Rising social phenomenon

of camera obs

2 Week 2: Advent of the 1, 2, 3 - Lecture

Permanent Image

- Recap of lesson 1

- Nicéphore Niépce and

heliography, Louis Daguerre
and daguerreotype: the first
fixed image, its problems and
solutions

- Establishment of societies
and organisations in Europe
and America.

- Examples of early
daguerreotypes and the
emergence of photographic
portraiture
3 Week 3: Expansion of Early 1, 2, 3 - Lecture - Finalisation of class
Photography list
- Organisation of
- Continual progression; students into
William Talbot and the paper presentation
process groups

- The Pencil of Nature as the - Group tutorial

first photographic book and
the conceptual significance of
windows in early
photography.

- Increased portability of
camera device and examples
of early paper prints.

- Expansion of photography
through movements by
imperial powers.

- Early photography in
Singapore; an ethnographic
survey.

4 Week 4: Global Progression 1, 2, 3 - Lecture

of Early Photography
- 1st group
- Development of alternative presentation
analogue processes:
Collodion wet plates, - Group tutorial
albumen papers, ambrotype,
tintype, cyanotype, silver
gelatine dry plates.

- Philosophical significance of
ambrotype and tintype.

- Photographic practices of
early Singapore; founding of
portrait studios, documents
of a rapidly developing
trading port.

- Image making in
neighbouring South East
Asian countries like
Indonesia, Cambodia and
Thailand.
 - Photographic portraiture as
new iconography and
political tool.

- Photography in Macau,
Hong Kong and China during
an era of political instability.

- Case study of photography

as political tool: Empress
Dowager of Qing dynasty.

5 Week 5: Photography and 1, 2, 3 - Lecture - Provide written

Revolution Modernism. feedback for
- 2nd group previous
- Hippolyte Bayard and presentation presentation
inclusion of narrative in
photographic image making. - Group tutorial

- Photographic medium and

increasing popularity,
resulting tension with other
visual art mediums.

- Rise of photography as an
independent medium.
Examples of early image
makers and their works.

- Shifting intellectual
paradigm and the beginning
of a new era: Modernism

- Art and the embrace of

Modernist ideology.
Emergence of new art
movements.

- Photographic medium and

its role in art of Modernism.

6 Week 6: Global Photographic 1, 2, 3 - Lecture - Provide written

Phenomenon feedback for
- 3rd group previous
- Commercialisation of the presentation presentation
photographic medium
through the rise of Kodak. - Group tutorial
- Examples of marketing
strategies by Kodak, their
messages and impacts.
 - Rise of competition from
the East; the founding of
Fujifilm.

- Introduction to basic
philosophical concepts
surrounding photography
(objectivity, subjectivity,
time, space, truth value).

- Emergence of documentary
photography as an image
making genre; examples of
image makers and their
works.

7 Week 7: Evolution of 1, 2, 3 - Lecture - Provide written

Photographic Chromaticism feedback for
- 4th group previous
- Early application of colour in presentation presentation
photography; examples of
colour on daguerreotypes - Group tutorial
and paper prints in Europe
and in Singapore.

- James Clerk Maxwell and

colour theory; early colour
photography experiment;
founding of RGB process.

- Gabriel Lippmann and

scientific progresses of colour
understanding and
application in photography.

- du Hauron and paper colour

experiments; founding of
CYMK process.

- Comparisons between the

additive and subtractive
colour process.

- Analogue colour processes.

- Examples of early colour

photographic images.
8 Week 8: Development of the 1, 2, 3 - Lecture - Provide written
Moving Image feedback for
- 5th group previous
- Photography and the search presentation presentation
for movement in early
imaging. - Group tutorial

- Eadweard Muybridge and

his photographic innovation
in documentation of
movements.

- Thomas Edison, early

projector and the invention
of the kinetograph.

- Kinetoscope as the
beginning of cinematic
culture.

- Case study on
commercialisation of moving
images: George Meilies.

- Artists and experimental

films in Modernism.

- Examples of photographic
artists in Modernism and
their works.

- Examples of early moving

image works; viewing of
experiments by Kodak,
Lumiere brothers, Hans
Richter and the Dadaists.

9 Week 9: Photography and the 1, 2, 3 - Lecture - Provide written

Sciences feedback for
- 6th group previous
- Natural sciences: a focus on presentation presentation
the relationship between
photography and the natural - Group tutorial
sciences.

- First case study of

photographic utility in the
field of theoretical physics:
Einstein and Eddington.
 - Second case study of
photographic utility in the
field of astrophysics: Katie
Bouman

- Third case study of

photographic utility in the
field of paleontology: Simon
Morris

- Further applications of
photography within the
natural sciences.

- Social sciences: a focus on

the rising interest in
photography and
consequences.

- Case study of increasing

popularity of photography
and the arts: Walter
Benjamin

- Examples of Benjamin’s idea

of the ‘aura’ and
photographic intrusion.

10 Week 10: Emergence of 1, 2, 3 - Lecture - Provide written

Digital Platform feedback for
- 7th group previous
- Early groundwork of digital presentation presentation
imaging through the efforts
of Kirsch and NASA. - Group tutorial

- First digital sensor and its

working mechanism; the
world’s first DIY digital
camera.

- Improvement in digitisation
and the contributions of
Kodak.

- Timeline of the rise of digital

technology and the fall of
analogue medium.

- Consequences of digital
technology: rapid increase in
 quantity of photographic
images.

- Examples of the world’s

most significant moments
through digital photography
in the last 50 years.

11 Week 11: Photographic 1, 2, 3 - Lecture - Provide written

Language in Postmodernism feedback for
- 8th group previous
- Economic implications of presentation presentation
digital photographic imaging
and utility in commercial - Individual
fields. tutorials for essay

- Case studies on commercial

imaging through the ages:
Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar,
Dolce Gabbana, Ikea

- Advertising photography
and visual apprehension of
messages.

- Changing attitudes and

social tendencies of
Postmodernism.

- Comparisons of
sociocultural phenomena
between Modernism and
Postmodernism.

- Examples of photographic
artists in Postmodernity and
their practices.

12 Week 12: Continual Evolution 1, 2, 3 - Lecture - Provide written

of the Photographic Medium feedback for
- Individual previous
- Position of art in era of tutorials for essay presentation
Postmodernism; its roles,
functions, and meanings.

- Changing tendencies of
critique and judgement in art
in Postmodernity.
 - Photography and its role
and function in art of
Postmodernism.

- Evolving forms of
photographic function in
contemporary society.
Progress in social and medical
fields.

- Photographic imaging as
interface and the emergence
of a new experience.

- Rise of speculation and

other problems with
contemporary imaging.

- Emergence of new possible

ideologies and contemporary
photographic practices.

- Examples of artists and their

practices, with focus on
Singapore.

13 Week 13: Presentation and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

submission.

- Presentation and
submission of practical
outcome.

- Submission of essay