Ask the Internets Part 1,037

[icepixie]

I'm on a hunt for interesting photographs, paintings, drawings, PSAs, images in general, and, perhaps, even short YouTube videos that I can collect together and give to my 101 students as choices to write a rhetorical analysis on. (If you're not up on your Aristotle, this is essentially a 1,000-word explication of what argument you think the image is making and how it's making it via subject matter, composition, color, pathos/ethos/logos, etc. etc. etc.)

Anyone got some favorites I can add to the list?

Current ones I'm considering are:
- this photo of New York, New York in Las Vegas
- Lange's "Dust Storm at the War Relocation Authority Center..."
- at least one William Wegman photograph
- Tim Davis's "Searchlights"
- one of Layla Essaydi's Converging Territories series
- Roe Ethridge's "Great Neck Mall Sign"
- #2 (both images) in Yeondoo Jung's "Bewitched" series
- Florien Maier-Aichen's "Untitled (2005)"
- others I can't find online, but which are in a book called New Perspectives in Photography (I particularly like an Anna Gaskell photograph that's sort of a modern take on The Wizard of Oz)

Comments

[tarzanic.livejournal.com]

Are you looking for for any particular types of photographs/images other than the genres listed above??

I tend to enjoy the roundups in Smashing Magazine. The shadow photographs at http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/01/showcase-of-beautiful-shadow-photography/ may be a good place to start.

[icepixie]

I'm looking for anything you think an 18-year-old could write a thousand words on. For example, for the "Great Neck Mall Sign" one, you could say, "Ethridge's photograph reveals the declining emphasis on libraries and learning in American society because of the placement of 'library' on the sign (among retail shops) and its similarity in font to 'liquors.'" Or for "Bewitched," "These images suggest that the viewer's ordinary life has the seeds of transformation in it. The girl in the photograph is in the same position, but her surroundings have changed entirely..."

You can do that kind of thing for most any image, but since this is freshman comp, I'm going for the blindingly obvious. :)

Some of those shadow photographs are very nice!

[tarzanic.livejournal.com]

Hmm, that's tough for me to judge. I got about 1200 out of compare/contrast "blue" and "green" once. I did my rhetorical analysis on my current icon.

Flickr has an "interestingness" stream, it seems.

These caught my eye:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/guybatey/3666906691/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13thwitness/3667868722/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/discarted/2295807682/

If you are able, allowing your students to use an image related to their areas of study (when possible) might be helpful. Are there an array of likely majors where you're teaching?

[icepixie]

I did my rhetorical analysis on my current icon.

Really? Do you remember what you said its argument was? (I'm having trouble figuring out what you could claim about it beyond that it's calming or theraputic due to the colors and design, but that could be failure of imagination on my part. We're supposed to steer them away from writing about the image's context or historical/cultural significance; that's for the second paper.)

That last picture you linked is pretty nifty--plays with your expectations of Superman as a force for good. (He is giving a smoker a light, isn't he? I'm not entirely sure.)

I'm giving them the option of doing it on an image of their choosing as long as they let me vet it first. (I'm less worried about them bringing in, I dunno, porn or whatever than I am about them having an actual idea of how they're going to analyze it rather than just thinking it's a cool image and not getting any further than that, then writing a terrible paper.) I'm compiling this pool because I don't want to have to approve 44 different images.

[tarzanic.livejournal.com]

Really? Do you remember what you said its argument was?

No, I don't, sorry. I will check my files to see if I still have it, but I think it's been lost. It was a horrible essay.

That last picture you linked is pretty nifty--plays with your expectations of Superman as a force for good. (He is giving a smoker a light, isn't he? I'm not entirely sure.)

I think so, yes. It might be a light for a bong; I can't tell. I'd love to see an analysis of it.

I'm giving them the option of doing it on an image of their choosing as long as they let me vet it first.

Great! I had friends who had to choose an image from an art exhibit at school that was rather disturbing.

I'm compiling this pool because I don't want to have to approve 44 different images.

Very good idea. I hope the kids will be inspired by what you have available.

Also, #3 in this set might a good one: http://photofreedom.livejournal.com/153791.html

[icepixie]

I think so, yes. It might be a light for a bong; I can't tell. I'd love to see an analysis of it.

I'm totally adding it to the image bank. We'll see if anyone chooses it.

Great! I had friends who had to choose an image from an art exhibit at school that was rather disturbing.

Yeah, I am all about the options; I hate being dictated to. Their final paper is going to be on any issue they want.

Very good idea. I hope the kids will be inspired by what you have available.

Me too!

Also, #3 in this set might a good one: http://photofreedom.livejournal.com/153791.html

Those are very nifty indeed.

[tarzanic.livejournal.com]

Very cool!

Hey, are your B5 discussion posts and fic all tagged? I would guess they are, but haven't had time to check. I need to write a couple of papers and am currently bribing myself with fun stuff (like going back through your posts!) so I actually finish these papers.

[icepixie]

Aw, my LJ is bribe material! Yay! :)

Everything B5--discussion, fic, graphics, etc.--is indeed tagged "babylon 5." The few Crusade posts are tagged "crusade."

[rensong.livejournal.com]

*If* you want to risk stirring up the hornets nest on War-issues, the first image that came to mind when you mentioned your assignment is this one:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/2008/09/29/slideshow_080929_platon?slide=16#showHeader

It's an amazing photo, but again, not sure if you want something so controversial. If it sparks your interest, though, rest of the pictures from that slide show also offer some extremely potent images.

[icepixie]

That is indeed very cool. I have yet to decide whether I'm going to attempt to ban politics in the class or not--my mentor did in her 101 class, but other teachers had their students analyze campaign materials last fall, so it can be done. Will have to think on that.

[cybermathwitch.livejournal.com]

I would be terribly intrigued to see what they might make of the Snow White piece I did that is in my icon. But if you need something more prominent... hmm... will think on it.

[nickless.livejournal.com]

There's a blog called The Big Picture (http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/index.xml) that might have something - most of them might just be current events or topical stuff, but there are some that might work. The main one for June 12 was kinda cool. There were some nifty ones in this bunch (http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/04/human_landscapes_from_above.html), but I don't know if they'll work quite right.

Ooh! Here's the link I was looking for: Running the Numbers: An American Self Portrait (http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php). The artist says he "looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something...This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs." The one with Prison Uniforms gives an awesome idea of the scale of the completed works.

A lot of them are just nifty designs made from all the small pics, but with some, the final "big picture" is part of the argument. You'd obviously have to give them the full set of pics for each one (ie, the zooms) and the stats. Really good ones for this specific exercise might be Energizer, Building Blocks, Constitution, Pain Killers, Denali Denial, Skull with Cigarette, Barbie Dolls, and maybe Toothpicks and Ben Franklin. At least, those are the ones that I think I could write about, given the basics of the assignment.

[icepixie]

Oh, these are GREAT! I especially love the statistics one--they're exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for. I saw the human landscapes from above collection when it first went online, but had forgotten about it; a couple of them would work nicely, I think. (Maybe the houses in Las Vegas or the electricity tower in the field.)

I'll be keeping an eye on that Big Picture blog, too. Thanks!

[nickless.livejournal.com]

Yay! As soon as I read the description of your assignment, I thought of the stats pics. Then I just had to find it! Thank goodness my mom keeps all the "interesting stuff" she posts at school!