In this prompt-driven class, we’ll study what makes the images of exceptional photographers “exceptional,” by analyzing their use of light, framing, distance, and what they leave unsaid. Each week we’ll examine the work of a significant photographer in depth, dissecting the formal decisions that give their images their particular power and presence, and we’ll engage with these images from the perspective of the poetry of the everyday, the landscape as witness, photography’s relationship to time, and more.

You won’t copy these photographers — you’ll respond to them. Using their methods as entry points, you’ll bring your own eye and experience into dialogue with theirs, exploring questions like: how does the ordinary become extraordinary? How do you make time visible in a still image? How can you show human presence even in its absence? Equal parts looking, making, and critical conversation, this course will permanently change how you see and interpret not only other people’s photographs, but also your own.