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What’s a blurb?

A blurb is the short bit of writing that sets up the book. It isn’t a caption for the pictures, and it isn’t a full artist statement: it doesn’t explain every photograph or narrate your process. Instead, it says what this book is for, what holds the pictures together, and, just as important, what it’s deliberately not going to be about. Keep it short (a sentence or two to a short paragraph), specific to this project rather than grand, honest about what the pictures do and don’t do.

ART 376 Photobook: MW 13:10-16:00 [syllabus]
Week 1
8/31 (MON)
C
  • Portfolio and the application process [slides]
    • 5 photographs per day, 30 photographs per week, or 120 photographs per month.
      • You will be asked to share all of your photographs as JPEG files approximately once a month.
      • I suggest using a digital camera/smarphones, with occasional use of film if it serves a specific, well-defined purpose. Given the number of images we will be using, digital will generally be more practical. We will also use digital images when submitting work and assembling books.
    • You will produce 420 photographs/semester to choose from. In addition to this, you may use photographs you have taken in the past for the photobook if it is less than 1/3 of the photos you use in the final photobook via blurb.com

    • FYI: Printing in the DML. Submit digital files to be printed 24 hours in advance [here][instructions/information]. You may talk to Paul if you want to print on your own
  • Content warning
  • Monographs and photobooks (matter of itention, and who does the editing)
  • Watch Alec Soth Rambling through Eggleston's Democratic forest [video 43 mins]
L
  • Photobooks for this class (put bookmark on area of interest)
    • William Eggleston's Guide — William Eggleston (1976)
    • Advice for Young Artists — Alec Soth (2024)
    • Sleeping by the Mississippi — Alec Soth (2004)
    • Present Tense — JoAnn Verburg (2007)
    • I'm So Happy — Marvin Heiferman and Carole Kismaric (1990)
    • An Apartment House Close Up — Peter Schaaf (1980)
    • Now Again — Laura Letinsky (2005)
    • Landmark — J.W. Fisher + J.T. Leonard (2015)
    • How Terry Likes His Coffee — Florian van Roekel (2010)
S
9/2 (WED)
C
  • Choosing a topic, backing into a topic
  • Different photobooks and subject matter
  • Seriality
  • Individual meeting [Forrest]
R
  • Read by class
    • Susan Sontag On Photography (Plato's cave) [PDF]
L
  • Photobooks for this class (put bookmark on area of interest)
    • Ricas y Famosas — Daniela Rossell (2002)
    • Fresh Fruits — Shoichi Aoki (2005)
    • New and Used — Marc Joseph (2006)
    • One — Ken Ohara (1970)
    • Evidence — Mike Mandel and Larry Sultan (1977) (collection turning into poetry)
    • Women with Cameras (Anonymous) — Anne Collier (2017)
    • American Boys — Soraya Zaman (2019)
    • Dawoud Bey: Harlem, U.S.A. — Dawoud Bey (2012)
    • An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar — Taryn Simon (2007)
    • The Stage — Donigan Cumming (1991)
    • Ray's a Laugh — Richard Billingham (1996)
    • EndCommercial: Reading the City — Florian Böhm, Luca Pizzaroni, Wolfgang Scheppe (2002)
Week 2
9/7 (MON)
C
  • Labor Day, no class
9/9 (WED)
C
  • Making an argument with pictures (pictures with text)
  • Pictures and Words #1 [23mins] by Alec Soth
  • Assignment 1 handed out: 1 photo, 3 different texts (for the next few classes, pay attention to text usage)
  • Individual meeting [Damien]
L
  • Photobooks for this class (put bookmark on area of interest)
    • Photonovels
    • And 22 Million Very Tired and Very Angry People — Carrie Mae Weems (1990)
    • An Apartment House Close Up — Peter Schaaf (1980)
    • Exquisite Pain — Sophie Calle (2004)
    • Riding 1st Class on the Titanic! — Nathan Lyons (1999)
    • The Lonely Doll — Dare Wright (1957)
    • Humans and Other Animals — Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin (2015)
    • 1880 Crow Peace Delegation — Wendy Red Star (2014) (online not a photobook per se)
    • Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness (Vol. II) — Zanele Muholi (2024)
    • Another Way of Looking at Love — Janelle Lynch (2018)
    • The Table of Power 2 — Jacqueline Hassink (2012)
Week 3
9/14 (MON)
C
L
  • Photobooks for this class (put bookmark on area of interest)
    • Shashin yo Sayonara (Bye Bye Photography) — Daido Moriyama (1972)
    • Kissa by Kissa — Craig Mod (2020)
    • Illuminance — Rinko Kawauchi (2011)
    • Dein Kampf — Brad Feuerhelm (2019)
    • Restraint and Desire — Ken Graves and Eva Lipman (2021)
    • HOAX — Agnieszka Sejud (2020)
9/16 (WED)
C
  • Blue Sky Field Trip
Week 4
9/21 (MON)
C
  • View assignment 1 (text and image)
  • Diptych/triptych (what does it mean to put one photo next to another)?
  • Is Diptych a montage?
  • Jason Fulford Exercise [notes]
  • Hand out assigment 2: diptych or triptych
  • Individual meeting [Aine]
R
L
  • Photobooks for this class (put bookmark on area of interest)
    • One Wall a Web — Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa (2018)
    • Laurence Aëgerter, Photographic Treatment (Vol. 1, 3, 4) — (Dewi Lewis, 2018)
    • In Plain Air — Irina Rozovsky (2021)
    • Eve Sonneman — Nohra Haime Gallery
    • Kodachrome — Luigi Ghirri (1978)

    • Jason Fulford
    • Nathan Lyons
    • The Map and The Territory — Luigi Ghirri (2018)
    • Some Kinda Vocation — Cheryl Dunn (2007)
    • Jan Groover, Photographer: Laboratory of Forms — ed. Tatyana Franck (2020)
D
  • Assignment 1 due before class starts: 1 photo 3 diffent texts:
    Choose 1 photo you took of your choice. In Google slides, repeat the slide with the photo three times. Assign 3 different texts that work differently with the image. Submit [here]
9/23 (WED)
C
  • Real-time, on looking
  • Individual meeting [Thu]
R
L
  • Photobooks for this class (put bookmark on area of interest)
    • Prairie — Robert Adams (1978)
    • What Can We Believe Where? — Robert Adams (2010)
    • Time Passes — Robert Adams (2007)
    • This Day — Robert Adams (2011)
    • Asunder — S. Billie Mandle (2025)
    • The Pond — John Gossage (1985)
    • An Afternoon in Astoria — Rudy Burckhardt (2003)
    • RFK — Paul Fusco (2000)
    • nowhere near — Uta Barth (1999)
Week 5
9/28 (MON)
C
  • Time, story time, constructed time
  • Individual meeting [Eli]
L
  • Photobooks for this class (put bookmark on area of interest)
    • Journey to the Center — Cristina de Middel (2024)
    • A Shimmer of Possibility — Paul Graham (2007)
    • The Notion of Family — LaToya Ruby Frazier (2014)
    • Eros & Thanatos — Duane Michals (1993)

    • Chance Meeting / Things Are Queer — Duane Michals (1970/1973)
    • Frozen or condensed time: Jeff Wall, Gregory Crewdson
    • Pictures from Home — Larry Sultan (1992)
    • Is This Place Great or What — Brian Ulrich (2011)
9/30 (WED)
C
  • Studio work time
  • Individual meeting [Ye Guo] 1:10pm
  • Individual meeting [Ian] 1:50pm
  • Individual meeting [Sisy] 2:30pm
  • Individual meeting [??] 3:10pm
D
  • One month mark. Submit 240 photos (jpgs) [here]
  • Scan your classmate's photos
Week 6
10/5 (MON)
C
  • Progress report: [instructions] [Forrest, Ian, Sisy] Which photos of yours stand out to you and why?
  • View assignment 2
D
  • Assignment 2 due: diptych or triptych: On Google slides or using BookWright create an intentional/experimental diptych. If you use BookWright, submit the PDF proof/export from the .blurb project.
    Submit [here].
10/7 (WED)
C
  • Progress report: [instructions] [Thu, Aine] Which photos of yours stand out to you and why?
  • The photo album and scrapbooks
L
  • Photobooks for this class (put bookmark on area of interest)
    • Deanna Templeton, "What She Said" (CW: suicide, self-harm, body dysmorphia) [video]
    • Sorry I Gave Birth I Disappeared But Now I'm Back — Andi Gáldi Vinkó (2022)
Week 7
10/12 (MON)
C
A
  • After your first progress report, choose 60 photos that might go into the book. Print a smaller version of the photo using the script below.
  • [Photo Card Maker]
  • Submit PDF to be printed at least 24 hours before during DML business hours [here][instructions/information].
  • Print them by 11/2.
L
  • Photobooks for this class (put bookmark on area of interest)
    • Larry Sultan, Pictures from Home
    • Mitch Epstein, Family Business
    • Widline Cadet, Ritual [Dis]Appearance / Seremoni Disparisyon (2025)
10/14 (WED)
C
  • Progress report: [instructions] [Eliza, Ye Guo] Which photos of yours stand out to you and why?
L
  • Photobooks for this class (put bookmark on area of interest)
    • Is This Place Great or What — Brian Ulrich (2011)
    • Glass Life — Sara Cwynar (2021)
Fall Break 10/17-25
Week 8
10/26 (MON)
C
10/28 (WED)
C
  • Progress report: [instructions] [Eliza, Ye Guo] Which photos of yours stand out to you and why?
Week 9
11/2 (MON)
C
  • Cristina de Middel (Ch14, 14:00- 20:48)
  • To prepare for card games: choose your 60 photos, make and print your cards [Photo Card Maker]
  • Card games [instructions] [Forrest, Ian, Sisy]
    • What is the 'blurb' for your photobook?
    • What anchors the book? Show your anchoring sequence, diptychs/pairs, or sequence.
    • Bring your cards. Spread them on the table
D
  • Print playing cards
  • Two month mark. Submit 240 photos (jpgs) [here] (You can overwrite/update exisiting folder from last month)
11/4 (WED)
C
  • Alec Soth (Ch16 33mins part 1)
  • Card games [instructions] [Thu, Aine, Damien]
Week 10
11/9 (MON)
C
  • Alec Soth (Ch16 33mins part 2)
  • Card games [instructions] [Eli, Eliza, Ye Guo]
11/11 (WED)
C
  • Blurb workshop
Week 11
11/16 (MON)
C
  • Blurb session
11/18 (WED)
C
  • Blurb prototype
Week 12
11/23 (MON)
C
  • Blurb submission
11/25 (WED)
C
  • Blurb submission (final day to submit to blurb)
Thanksgiving Holiday 11/26-29
Week 13
11/30 (MON)
C
  • Special Collections
12/2 (WED)
C
R
  • Read before class
    • Tina Campt, Listening to Images "introduction" [PDF]
L
  • Photobooks for this class (put bookmark on area of interest)
    • I Can't Stand to See You Cry — Rahim Fortune (2021)
    • The Forgotten — Rosalind Fox Solomon (2021)
    • Ravens — Masahisa Fukase (1986)
    • Pharmakon — Teju Cole (2024)
    • Deana Lawson: An Aperture Monograph — Deana Lawson (2018)
    • Cloud Physics — Terri Weifenbach (2021)
    • Yoko — Masahisa Fukase (1978)
    • Hoax — Agnieszka Sejud (2020)
    • I'm Looking Through You — Tim Davis (2021)
Week 14
12/7 (MON)
C
12/9 (WED)
C
  • Last day of classes; Wed evening classes meet if they did not meet 11/25
Final Exam
12/14-17 (MON-THR)
D
  • Final Exam




C Class............plans for class..subject to change
L Lab............darkroom/lab session
A Assignments......what you should be doing outside of class among other things.
R Readings.........finish reading by.
D Due.............yes, due date.
S Supplementary.....further reading/references/artists discussed in class