Selfie: A Low-Cut Blouse

2) Working from the descriptive and interpretive writing exercises we began in class on Tuesday, September 3, compose a two-to-three-page free-write about your selected photograph. As you analyze your photograph, examine and write about its elements—e.g., color, light, scale, shape, use of the frame, position of the subject, foreground/background elements, and so forth—and be sure to give background details about the photo: When and where is the photo from? What was happening at the time in history this photo was taken? Why was it taken? What might a viewer find out from this photo that you might not learn anywhere else?

Some other questions to write around as you project your brain onto paper: What do you notice? What confuses you? To what detail does your eye return? What questions does this photograph provoke? What feels at stake in this photograph? If you're feeling stuck, this list via the University of Oregon provides an excellent set of guiding questions and formal references points.

If the photograph about which you are writing is a selfie or self-portrait, study how you present yourself (clothing, makeup, facial expression, etc). As in the general photo analysis described above, so too should you consider the context of the selfie: where are you in the photograph (location, lighting, proximity to camera, etc), and where are you as you are looking at it? Finally, think about other elements of the photograph (animals, nature, objects, other people) and how those elements contribute to your performance of self. As you work on your first draft of this essay, consider how your performances of socioeconoic status, gender, sexuality, and race/ethnicity intersect with these elements, as well as the following questions, which are borrowed from my friend and collaborator Mark Marino:

What in your selfies is accurate?

What is obscured or ambiguous?

Does the image portray one identity trait more than others?

Where do the images place you in the spectrum of possibilities for each characteristic trait — for example, more or less feminine or masculine?

How might different audiences perceive the images differently?

How is the viewer addressed in the image?

How do your selfies play off other well-known images? How do they play off each other?

What is the apparent context of this image? How does that affect how it might be read?

Your final essay should incorporate at least one quotation from American Artist's "A Declaration of the Dignity Image," Rachel Syme's "Selfie," or Susan Sontag's "On Photography" attributed using Chicago citation format (see this link for formatting information (Links to an external site.)). Bring your essay to class (digital is ok, so long as you can share via Google Docs) for small group workshopping on Tuesday.

Note: This draft will not be graded -- rather, you will receive complete/incomplete credit for working on this assignment. I am much more interested in your engagement with the writing process via a polished product.