J455

DOCUMENTARY PHOTOJOURNALISM
SPRING 2008
Wednesday 2-4:50pm, MZ 213
Office hours: MZ 327 M 12-2, T 10-11AM, W 6-7PM
Tel: 818 677-3144
Email: david.blumenkrantz@csun.edu

LAB HOURS: M 11-3, T 4-8, W 5-9, TH 11-1

Syllabus (Word document)

DOCUMENTARY HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY (PowerPoint)

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This lecture/lab course covers aspects of Documentary Photography, and its relation to photojournalism. Areas to be emphasized include: the historical role of documentary as a force for social change; the role of subjectivity in documentary as compared with photojournalism; the psychological, philosophical and practical approaches employed by prominent documentarians throughout the history of the genre; the use of digital and electronic technology in the publication and dissemination of documentary work including multi-media slide presentations with audio, and videography. Lectures will be accompanied by slide (PowerPoint) presentations, videos and DVDs, and guest lecturers.

COURSE OBJECTIVES
We will be collaborating with graduate students and faculty from CSUN’s Social Work Program on a semester-long project, documenting a variety of social services and minority communities in the Los Angeles area. Students will form groups, and our groups will in turn be teamed with a group of graduate students. Teamwork and cooperation is a key component of this course, as the two departments coordinate efforts.

As documentarians, our role will be to create a visual and captioned record to supplement and complement the data-researching efforts of the social workers.

Students will be expected to make weekly visits to their project sites in the field, and prepare weekly presentations for class. Ultimately, the objective is to combine our efforts into presentations that can be shown as a photo exhibition, and presented online in PowerPoint, Soundslides or online video formats.

TEXTBOOKS

• Students will be assigned readings from one or both of the books, and should come to class that day prepared to lead a discussion. Submit a list of five questions you plan to ask the class to stimulate the conversation:
  
  Witness in Our Time: Working Lives of Documentary Photographers, by Ken Light

• JOURNALISM 2.0
  (download PDF and read chapters 9 & 10 on shooting and editing video)

TECHNICAL CONCERNS
This course is geared toward the electronic and digital processing and dissemination of images. Digital SLR cameras are preferred. 35mm film cameras are acceptable, but all negatives will then be scanned for processing with Photoshop. Fully automatic, fixed-lens “point and shoot” cameras are not allowed. Each student should have a 1GB USB mini-drive for transferring work to the instructor’s laptop for classroom critiques.

JOURNAL/LOGS
Journals will be collected every other week. There should be at least one entry per week. Each entry should cover:

• A brief synopsis of what the social worker is trying to achieve, and your strategy for visual documentation
• New ideas for photographs that have come to you from what you’ve seen and learned so far
• Obstacles you’ve encountered, and your response to them
• Technical and artistic concerns
• Observations on your personal encounters with the subjects of your photographs

GRADING WILL BE BASED ON THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA:

• Written documentation: Each student will keep a log/journal, detailing the collaborative effort, technical and artistic concerns, and general philosophical observations about the process. Journals will be collected periodically for grading.
• Six (bi-weekly) critiques in class: Each critique will result in a grade based on progress, effort, quality of images and how well they illustrate the social worker’s findings.
• Final Presentations (PowerPoint, Soundslides or video)
• Participation in critiques, discussions; demonstration of having read the book. Students will lead discussions from chapters in both books.
• Research paper: Graciela Iturbide (due April 9)
• Attendance: Three tardies or absences lowers grade

Africa documentary By David Blumenkrantz

ORGANIZATIONAL NOTES

• Since this class only meets once per week, it is imperative that you attend class as often as possible. Remember, missing one class in this format is the same as missing an entire week of instruction in a daily class. More than three absences will definitely result in a lowering of your final grade.

• This is a laboratory class. Although you will not be expected to adhere to a formal lab schedule, you should treat each assignment as if it came from a publication, and remember that you have a deadline to meet. The work can be completed at your discretion, though you are advised not to leave your lab work until the last minute. Lab hours for independent work will be posted.

• Your lab fees go toward hiring lab techs, but you may incur additional expenses for film, paper and other incidentals. Although there are lab techs to assist you in the computer labs and darkroom, all students are expected to clean up after themselves. Common courtesy is expected, and appreciated. Failure to leave the workspaces in good working condition for others may result in a lowering of your grade.

  PLAGIARISM: DEPT. OF JOURNALISM STATEMENT
  Plagiarism and other forms of cheating will not be tolerated, and anyone caught cheating will be reported to the dean of students and will receive a failing grade in the course. For a further explanation of disciplinary procedures, consult pages 522-524 of the 2002-2004 CSUN catalog. Please also remember that much of the information posted on the Internet is protected by U.S. copyright laws. Passing this information off as your own is a violation of CSUN’s plagiarism policy, and carries the penalties outlined above.

  JOURNALISM DEPT. POLICY ON CULTURAL DIVERSITY
  Students in this course are strongly encouraged to broaden their journalistic experiences, with the instructor’s help, by including in their work people and subjects such as ethnic, racial and religious minorities; the elderly, disabled and poor; gay men and lesbians; and other similar groups. The intent is to ensure that student work reflects the diversity of the community.