Midterm Exam

Due: 1 p.m., Thursday, February 26. Late assignments will not be accepted.

Choose 3 out of the following 4 questions to answer. Your answers should be around 400 words or more and typed. Please proofread your answers making sure that there are no misspellings, no grammatical errors, good word choice, etc., as points will be deducted from answers that are unclear or poorly written. You may use your book to answer these questions, however, all thoughts should be expressed in your own words.
Please remember that this is a private endeavor, and your answers should be the result of your own inquiry, not conversations with others.

1. Trace the transition of the documentary photograph from the 19th century to our current conception of documentary photography, making sure to include examples.
What events and photographers have contributed to the way we define documentary photography today?
 Then answer the following questions:

- What are the inherent “problems” of documentary photography?

- How do you distinguish between documentary photographs and art photographs that are documentary? 

- Is it important to distinguish between the two?


2. Discuss the images below in terms of photography’s role in identifying and defining the “Other”. 
Also discuss how these images exemplify Foucault’s theory of knowledge and power. Then answer the following questions:

How does the classification of people according to type still exist in our society today? Give an example.

Do you think it is possible to build an archive of data that is “powerless”? What would that be? Be as creative as you wish.




3. Using the image below, discuss the concept of “objectification” of the female body within photography, as it relates to Freudian psychoanalysis and the male gaze.
Then answer the following:

- How would you define “the female gaze”? Is it different at all from the male gaze?

- Do you think the concept of the male gaze exists outside of a heterosexual framework? How?




















4. Discuss the characteristics of personal portrait photography, specifically the unique relationship that exists between photographer and subject.

- What is power structure within that relationship? How is it different from other photographer-subject relationships?

- How do Robert Rainey’s projects Walmartification and Self Portrait Family subvert that relationship?