11.309J | Spring 2024 | Graduate

Sensing Place: Photography as Inquiry

Course Description

This course explores photography as a disciplined way of seeing, as a research method, and as a medium of inquiry and of expressing ideas. Readings, observations, and photographs form the basis of discussions on landscape, light, significant detail, place, narrative, and how photography can inform research, design, and …
This course explores photography as a disciplined way of seeing, as a research method, and as a medium of inquiry and of expressing ideas. Readings, observations, and photographs form the basis of discussions on landscape, light, significant detail, place, narrative, and how photography can inform research, design, and planning, among other issues. The class is highly recommended for students who want to employ visual methods in their thesis or dissertation.
Learning Resource Types
Media Assignments with Examples
A view of patterned bricks, with the lower legs of a passerby in the background.
Post Office Square in Boston, which served as the site of a student’s project in the 2012 iteration of the course. (Photo courtesy of Francisca Rojas. Used with permission.)