Human Behavior and the Photographic Image

How do photographs become more than just a pile of disparate images? Is there more to photography than that single "decisive moment" in the hunt and capture of an image? How do photographers comment on issues that are important to them? How can photographs tell a story? Is there a way one can use the art of photography to elicit change? In this class, students will use their digital cameras to investigate individual photographs, as well as series of photographs. We will look at photography in its historical context -- at the advent of documentary photography and photojournalism, and at narrative photography in its more contemporary form, as photographers use it to chronicle their own lives and to tell a story. Through the exercises of looking at and making photographic images, several core concepts of social work, along with theories of human behavior in the social environment, will be introduced. Students will learn not only about the place photography holds in our culture, but our culture itself, and the students' place in that culture. Students will critically analyze published photographs, as well as photographs made during the class. The semester will culminate in a class exhibition where students will be given the opportunity to present their photographs to the public, demonstrating their understanding of human behavior in the social environment.