My latest photography assignment is to shoot a social landscape and present 10 photos to the teacher. I'm wondering what "social landscape" means to other photographers. Any thoughts?

Spaces people use

Ian

It could be just about anything. I would suspect that they are looking for some "social" significance in the picture. Whatever that is to you. Just have a story on why the print is important.

You can approach the "social" thingy in two ways.

On the one hand, take a deadpan, apparently banal picture of something significant ("this is the tuft of grass over which so-and-so did something major"). That's the conceptual art school approach.

On the other hand, you can look for graphic evidence of something. For instance, very old staircases made of stone have these impressive grooves in them because of time and usage. That's the more traditional approach.

Finally, you might want to ask your teacher what the heck "social landscape" means.

Spaces people use

Ian

A perfect definition if you ask me...

Cheers,
Gavin

Well essentially reading as a landscape photographer is "Yi Fu Tuan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi-Fu_Tuan) - A Sense of Place, or preferably if you can find it Topophilia". Although a geographer his writings are about how we use the space around us. All my own landscape work is about man's impact on the landscape and Tuan's books are very useful helping contextualise my photography.

Of course he writes heavily about the social landscape.

Ian

you know, party pictures

At the time I read this Mooseontheloose had just posted a very good example to the gallery. http://www.apug.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=35320

A man who teaches it, has won a Fulbright to photograph it, is Andrew Borowiec.
Look for his book "Along the Ohio" or the more recent one, “Industrial Perspective: Photographs of the Gulf Coast”. The later subject is the petrol chemical landscape of the LA and TX coast. It is shot in 6x17cm.

John Powers

My latest photography assignment is to shoot a social landscape and present 10 photos to the teacher. I'm wondering what "social landscape" means to other photographers. Any thoughts?

No fair. What does it mean to you ?

Better yet, where are the pictures ?

btw, i was serious

http://images.artnet.com/artwork_images_706_44325_andreas-gursky.jpg
gursky

http://www.academyleader.com/erikvidal/photos/BurtynskyChina1.jpg
burtynsky

http://criticalmiami.com/photos/2007/basel3/41.jpg
michael wolf

http://www.fotos.org/galeria/data/563/Cartier-Bresson-Henri-Coronation-of-King-George-VI-Trafalgar-Square-198.jpg
hcb

http://www.ldesign.com/Images/Essays/OnReality/OnReality%20Part%206/salgado_ladders.jpg
salgado

http://www.siue.edu/EDUCATION/AAM/lesson/jbaysin/AAM%20WEBPAGE/ptsofview_files/image001.jpg
ansel adams

Well essentially reading as a landscape photographer is "Yi Fu Tuan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi-Fu_Tuan) - A Sense of Place, or preferably if you can find it Topophilia". Although a geographer his writings are about how we use the space around us. All my own landscape work is about man's impact on the landscape and Tuan's books are very useful helping contextualise my photography.

Of course he writes heavily about the social landscape.

Ian

A writer I've found helpful on social landscape (although perhaps in an oblique way) is Barry Lopez. There's a wonderful essay in 'About this life - journey's on the threshold of memory' about the relationship between place, and photographs.

Cheers,
Gavin