For this week's photography class, we tried a different approach. Instead of picking a core project theme like "expression" or "religion" as we’ve done every week before, the American students looked at some of the photographs the students in Afghanistan posted, and discussed how we could capture similar images, of similar subjects, and expressing similar themes, in their communities.
A photograph of adobe-style mud brick houses on a hill in Afghanistan with an industrial development inspired discussion of "old meets new" and some of the students decided that to capture the same theme here in Philadelphia, they would go to housing projects, where new construction often stands in stark contrast to the older buildings next door. A panoramic view of the City of Kabul drew a suggested photo with a similar view of Philadelphia. (Insert comparison photos if possible)
When reviewing Afghan student photos and suggesting a title, American students were asked how they’d take a picture to fit the same title. And every time a student suggested how she might take a picture to express the same theme, she was asked to articulate that theme; to suggest a title. In this way, the students have begun thinking critically about not just the composition but the context of the photographs, and as importantly the similarities and differences that exist between their peers in Afghanistan.
For the next week they will shoot only subjects that could fit an existing title, but within that interpretive space, gave them the freedom to do so however they choose. We’ll see the immediate results next week in the photographs they return with and their explanations of which shot from Afghanistan inspired them. But the ultimate result of conveying the differences between two societies while searching for the similarities is a skill that can be cultivated and serve a critical thinker well for the rest of their life both academically and socially.
