This is an archived course. A more recent version may be available at ocw.mit.edu.

Projects

Space Ship

This photo project was originally conceived by Charles Harbutt for use in his workshops. I have made some modifications in it.

This assignment is intended to test your imagination, and your ability to capture your ideas as images.

Assume for a moment that you are going to be leaving earth on a spaceship, never to return. There will not be any form of entertainment or decoration on the ship. You will not have any mirrors, films, works of art, etc. You will be eating processed food and drinking filtered urine. You may, however, bring 10 photographs with you.

In a 24 hours period, without consulting any of your classmates, make 10 photographic images that will sustain you on your voyage. We are not looking for great art; we are looking for personally meaningful images. Do you want pictures of your dog? Your mother? Or the manhole cover outside your apartment? It's up to you.

Sample Student Projects

Documentary Photo Project

Each of you will be required to plan and carryout a documentary photo project. You may select your own subject - subject to my approval, but I would urge that you not take on anything too grandiose. I would suggest that you begin looking for a subject close to home, considering, for instance:

  • Life on your dorm floor
  • A fraternity weekend, or life in a fraternity
  • A day-week-month in a local laundromat
  • A day-week-month in a local laundromat
  • The work of a scientist, or lab
  • The activities of a campus group or organization

On the other hand, you may push the envelop as far as you dare - If you can gain access to a group of people, or an organization, whose lives or functioning we normally never see, go for it. But remember, to paraphrase Susan Meiselas:
"Faraway is not a place."

And even more important, remember that there is one thing that you owe your subjects, be they your roommates or a group of developmentally disabled adults -

Honesty: honesty in your vision; honesty in what you tell your subjects about your project and its purpose; honesty in your approach to your subject; and honesty in what you present to your viewers.

Your finished project will consist of 15-30 photographs, and 1500-2000 words of explanatory text. The text and photographs should, together, present the uninitiated with an understandable, engaging, 'picture' of your subject, but the writing and the photos should each stand on their own.

Sample Student Projects