Workshop: Photography in Social Science Research - Foundations and Technique

This workshop offered by the Graduate Network African Studies for the Graduate School of Social Sciences is intended as an introduction to photography in field work and social science research in general.

What is (in) a picture and what potential does it have?

Despite the much cited pictorial turn and the omnipresence of cameras in our daily life, few researchers master the art of (deliberately) taking high quality pictures that can actually be used for depicting the object of their research.

This workshop offered by the Graduate Network African Studies for the Graduate School of Social Sciences is intended as an introduction to photography in field work and social science research in general. Participants learn about the potential of photographic images to speak. They are introduced to the basic principles of composition and learn what makes a picture. However, photography is also interaction and issues of entitlement, authorship and ethics (the right to one’s own image) will be discussed in this workshop.

Date:     16 & 19 April 2018, 9:15-17:00
Venue:     Rheinsprung 21, Basel
Instructor:     Balz Andrea Alter, visual anthropologist & filmmaker, University of Basel
Further info:    balz.alter@clutterunibas.ch
Registration:     by email to balz.alter@clutterunibas.ch  until the 24 March 2018. The maximum number of participants is 9.

Requirements:
Each participant will read introductory texts and select three pictures from his or her own stock (of an object, a landscape/ a building and a person – taken in the context of their research and relating to their topic), which will be analysed and discussed during the course. Participants are required to bring a decent camera, its manual and a notebook computer. Please note that although you might be able to take good pictures with your cell phone, the latter is not suitable for this course – a decent compact camera, however, may do.

Structure:
The workshop will be held in blocked form on two full days (16 & 19 April 2018). It will entail some introductory lecturing, joint reflection on input received and joint analysis of pictures. Participants will do practical exercises venturing into the city to take pictures of specific objects, buildings, encounters, traffic scenes and produce a portrait. These pictures will then again be the object of joint analysis and discussion. On the days in between the two course days participants will accomplish photographic assignments. The pictures produced will then be discussed on the 19 April 2018.

Readings:
Banks, Marcus / Ruby, Jay. 2011. Introduction: Made to be seen. Historical Perspectives on Visual Anthropology. In: Made to be seen. Perspectives on the History of Visual Anthropology edited by Marcus Banks and Jay Ruby, pp. 1-18. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Edwards, Elizabeth. 2011. Tracing Photography. In: Banks, Marcus / Ruby, Jay (eds.), Made to be seen Perspectives on the History of Visual Anthropology, pp. 159-189. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Pink, Sarah. 2007. Doing Visual Ethnography. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. (primarily chapter 3)

Download:
Flyer (pdf)

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