Advanced Digital Photography

This course explores long-form storytelling through the genres of photojournalism, documentary and art photography – visual storytelling with stills photography. The goal of the course is for each student to produce a body of work or a photographic essay. We conduct an in-depth study of photographic books. The art of editing your own work is a key learning goal. The course is currently offered at the Harvard Extension School and as a 3-week or 7-week Summer School course at Harvard.

Below are representative images from some student essays.

A book’s content is a lens revealing things unknown - a vehicle of knowledge transporting us to different realms, sharing narratives of different experiences and arming us with knowledge. What if we turn the lens on the books's covers as if they are objects?

- Joanna Do

Boston Harbour has a boating community of sailors, fishermen, pleasure boaters and liveaboards. Some of the liveaboard community do it for a love of boats and the sea; others out of necessity. 

- Erik Lindahl

The city of Boston disposes of about 188,000 tons of garbage a year. Trash is brought to transfer stations then consolidated into larger trucks before traveling to a waste-to-energy facility in Saugus.  

- Cortney Leigh Cox

Shots from the road. Following an ill fated decision to stop along the roadside in rural Indiana, the Bat House band van gets stuck deep in the mud on multi stop tour.

- Kit Castagne

Smoking area, Court Street. Arlington, MA. These images explore what happens beyond the main street, away from the cared for facades – the places that lie behind the main street and off-the-beaten path.

- John Adams-Wade

Pablo the exterminator and the superintendent prepare to conduct a monthly pest control at an apartment block infected with cockroaches.

- Johnathan Ferrer

On a blizzard day in the 70s Kate Smith was exposed to gorgeous yarns, Swedish looms, and the clatter of the harnesses and heddles. She utilizes antique looms and naturally-dyed hand-spun yarn to recreate traditional weaves that are sought after by museums and collectors.  
 
- Emily Coles

Baltimore is segregated along racial lines. African-Americans mostly live in the inner city while  whites occupy self-contained suburbs & neighborhoods. Following the white supremacists rally in Charlottesville, VA, Baltimore removed Confederate monuments. Nearby, Baltimore’s “Squeegee Kids” earn an honest buck. 

- Joseph Depasquale

I’ve always dreamed about having kids. Three years ago, I miscarried our first baby at 14-weeks, which was devastating to us. I examine my new life with Noah, almost a year old, mostly spent in our one-bedroom apartment.

- Veronica Saratani Huang

Eating in public can be rough. As a parent it is difficult to manage a child with autism. His dad tries his best to keep him occupied with coloring, with not much luck.

- Iona Alvarez

One word can bring the spinning, distracted lives we live to a screeching halt. This is the journey of Dr. Christine McLemore and her family through breast cancer treatment and recovery.

- Reem Abousaif

“I just got back from a trip to visit my family in Taiwan. I still need to unpack, I have so much trash and random paper in my purse. I want to say that I have a bunch of trash in my purse because I was traveling. But that's a lie.” Fis, 28. Boston.

- Lucia Bettinger

SPRING 2020