Photography and Visual Narration

Instructor

Şehlem Kaçar (PhD)
 

Course Schedule

Fridays, 10:00–13:00

 

Course Description

This course explores photography as a visual language and a narrative tool. Through historical, theoretical, and practice-based approaches, students examine how photographs construct meaning, tell stories, and engage with issues of memory, identity, power, and representation. The course combines lectures, visual analysis, hands-on photographic exercises, critical discussions, and project-based learning. Students are encouraged to develop both technical skills and a personal visual voice while critically reflecting on the ethics and politics of looking.

 

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

Understand photography as a narrative and cultural practice.

Analyze photographs using visual, historical, and theoretical frameworks.

Explore the relationship between image, memory, identity, and emotion.

Apply basic photographic techniques intentionally to support storytelling.

Critically reflect on ethics, representation, and power in photography.

Develop and articulate a coherent photographic project with a narrative structure.

Present and discuss photographic work verbally and in written form.

 

Learning Outcomes

Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:

Produce photographs that communicate conceptual and emotional narratives.

Distinguish between documentary, conceptual, and staged photographic approaches.

Connect photographic practices to broader social, cultural, and political contexts.

Conduct visual research and analyze the work of established photographers.

Create a final photographic project supported by a narrative and reflective essay.

 

Teaching Methods

Lectures and visual presentations

Group discussions and critiques

Hands-on photography exercises

In-class workshops and field activities

Student presentations and peer feedback

 

Experiential learning techniques, including practice-based exploration, embodied exercises, and reflective production processes.