Seeing through creative photography

This introductory course will focus on the various genres of photography starting from its birth until today´s master photographers. An emphasis will be shown towards the rise of new documentary photography and visual storytelling. By viewing works of old masters and contemporary artists, we will examine how all these artists used the medium to address and visually communicate different aspects of everyday life.

Applying a methodology which is based on synthesis and analysis, we will examine the relation that photography has with itself, as well as with other forms of visual arts. We will achieve that through visual and reading materials where we will explore important movements and current notions in photography as visual art. By studying recent and older movements in the history of the medium we will be able to see in detail, how the visual language of photography has been formed and which are those criteria that have shaped the art theory and critic theory of the medium. Together we will examine all those elements that are necessary to address in order to understand which photograph is better than another and how an image can stand out from an ocean of images.

Each seminar will be structured into one hour of visual presentation and reading material of artists and masters of photography and one hour of critical discussion and theory based on the material shown. Participants will progressively develop their own critical gaze and get motivated for experimenting with various genres of photography, while being encouraged to enrich their own personal portfolio.

The course is suitable for everyone who works with photography in a professional or a more personal manner and wants to develop their theoretical and critical knowledge in using the medium to develop their own personal portfolio. At the end of the course, participants will have learned about the role of context in image interpretation and that substance that appears in photography which pushes people to use the medium to understand the world around them. In addition, the participants will be entitled to a compendium upon completion of the course.