Photography in the Academy

I never heard of Neal Rantoul before running across this piece in my FB newsfeed.  It explains quite well my experience of doing photography in an academic context.  I can't say that I've seen nearly the volume of this type of work, so can't possibly agree or disagree with Rantoul's generalization on its quality.  From my student experience I do know that there is far less emphasis on craft and much more reading, analyzing, and writing in order to contextualize the bit of actual photography you do when you are not engaged in documenting your work.


A Disturbing Trend

I’m old. Believe me, I know it. I’ll be 70 in a few months. That fact may make it hard for you to take me seriously, but bear with me for just this post. With age comes wisdom, right? What I want to write here is that I think the field of photography by those making art is changing in a disturbing way. Read on.

Photographic series or bodies of work are being explicated, explained, contextualized, rationalized, and elevated with text or verbal rationals. You’re thinking: so what? That’s no big deal. Let me start with a short history and then let’s take a look at current practice.