From cell phones to computers, from busy intersections to ATMs, cameras have become an inescapable fact of life for most people.
A group of Ball State University students will spend the first summer session exploring issues of identity in an Honors College colloquium on American photography.
Assistant professor of history Timothy Berg said he began to think about photography as he prepared for his doctoral exams in United States history.
Instead of focusing on written historical scholarship, he said, he wanted to explore how people relate to the world through visual means, such as photographs.
Through investigating how images shape one's sense of identity and relationships to others, Berg said, he found a way he could interact with history on a more personal level.
Junior human resources management major Kathleen Newell said she enrolled in the course because she was not familiar with photography.
"I didn't consider photography an art form," she said. "I couldn't understand how someone could open a book of photographs and say why they liked or didn't like something. I didn't have a sense of what I appreciate."
The 10 students received a private viewing of part of the Ball State Museum of Art's photography collection and learned about the process of acquiring and maintaining the collection.
Each student also will shoot a series of portraits that deal with issues of identity: students will make a self-portrait, a portrait of themselves as someone else and a portrait of someone which reveals a characteristic of their subject.
Berg said discussion and grading would focus on the students' intentions with their photo, not a mastery of technical skills.
"It's not a beginning class; it's not a class on how to take pictures," Berg said. "It's an ideas course about making the leap between the idea and making an image. Everybody interacts with visual culture."
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