John Thomson's China – Lesson 01, part one
Using the Five C's to Analyze Photography
Introduction
Students will work with the Five C's method for critical reading of visual sources. They are first introduced to the Five C's with a photo analysis. Later, in part two, they will focus on the fifth “C,” “Construction,” for a reading of how the photographer's choices reflect a point-of-view and message in his work.
Teacher preparation
Read the entire essay by Alan Hockley before undertaking this lesson, with particular attention given to chapter one, “An Imagined Travelogue.” To conduct this lesson successfully, teachers should have a basic knowledge of China in the late 1800s.
Objectives
At the conclusion of this activity, students will be better able to:
Understand photography as a constructed means of communication.
Apply an image analysis tool, the Five C’s, to read and interpret visual texts—in this case, photographs.
Understand photography as an important medium for communicating information about cultures and countries of the 19th century, and for developing cross-cultural knowledge and relations.
Time Required
One class period.
Materials and preparation
Monitor/projector
“How to Read a Photograph” PDF (optional)
Image 01-Sample (optional)
Image 01
Handout 01-A: “The Five C’s”
Procedure
1. Ask students if they have traveled to other countries or areas of the United States. Do they take pictures? Other than themselves, friends, or family, what do they try to capture and why?
Ask students to think about people who take pictures as part of their profession, such as anthropologists, sociologists, travel photographers, photojournalists, and news reporters.
Why would these people want to take pictures? What would they take pictures of? How are their goals the same, or different? Who are their audiences?
For the most part, they all try to capture places and events as they exist, and to convey information to audiences that are not present. Typically, many professionals try not to insert themselves obviously into their pictures. But all photographs are constructed; all have an “author” who makes choices about what will go into—and what will be left out of—the photograph. Thus all photographs, like writing, have a message or story, and a point-of-view.
Note that we, as amateur photographers, do this. For even a casual photo, we make a quick decision about framing—what falls outside the rectangle of the viewfinder, what will be at the center, what is in focus, what is in the distance. If this point needs clarification, ask students to think about how they would record one image of their classroom. Would they take a “candid” while students were working? Would they have the class pose? If so, where in the room? Would the teacher be included? Would all students be included? Which wall would they choose as a background? Ask why for all responses. How would these different choices change the imparted message about your classroom? Optional: show students “How to Read a Photograph.”
2. Set the stage for the lesson with essential background information. You might want to ask students what they know about mid-19th-century photography. Explain to them that the technological breakthroughs that made outdoor photography possible had only taken place in the mid-19th century. The process remained cumbersome and time consuming through the 1860s and 1870s. Subjects had to remain still, as exposure times were long. Candid photography was not possible, as many pieces of equipment had to be set up, the light checked, and so on. So, all photography designed to capture individuals as subjects had to be posed.
Explain that John Thomson was a Scottish photographer who established a successful commercial photography studio in Hong Kong in 1868. Provide students with some background on Thomson’s travels in China, and his purpose in creating photographs.
3. Optional: if the class has not yet worked with the Five C's method, you may want to briefly introduce it using Handout 01-A and Image 01-Sample, “The Government of China”
(Illustrations of China and Its People, plate I, volume 1).
4. Distribute copies of Image 01, “A Mandarin's House, Peking,” to all students, or project it for the class. This photo will be the subject for a focus on the fifth C, “Construction,” as a mechanism of inserting point-of-view and narrative into photography. Ask several questions to engage students with the photograph. Do they think Thomson was trying to take a family portrait, or something more? What did he capture? Do students think this photo would be useful to an anthropologist or sociologist at the time? Now? Would it be an effective travel photo? Who would be the audience(s) for this photo?
4. Distribute the Five C's handout to all students and, as a class, apply the first four of the Five C's to the photo. Help students draw out information for each of the C’s. The fifth C, “Construction,” will be the focus of part two of this lesson. Notes (below) can guide discussion.
Teacher Discussion Notes
1. Context. Students will need some time context for the photo. Offer students historical context by explaining that by the 1860s, treaty ports had been established by Western powers in China as a result of China’s defeat in the Opium Wars. However, China was still largely unknown to Westerners and few Westerners had been to China. Thomson was one of the first photographers to go into the interior of China. Given this information, students can be presented with several questions:
Why would this historical context be important in viewing this photograph today?
What could this context tell viewers today about the point-of-view or purpose of the photographer?
Knowing what you know about how photographs were taken in the mid-19th century, what does this context tell you about this particular photo?
2. Characters. Discuss who and what is presented in the photo.
What clues tell something about who these people are?
Their economic position? Customs?
What might be the relationship among the people?
What is the overall subject or topic?
What other information is captured by the photo?
3. Color. Although it's a black-and-white photo, its tonal qualities may have significance.
Are there shades and variations of black and white?
Are some things in shadow and others in light?
Do these shading techniques have any influence on where the viewer’s eye goes, or what the photographer may be trying to draw attention to?
4. Composition. Composition includes the use of space and the arrangement of visual elements.
Where are people/things located? Is this natural or placed?
Does placement indicate any relationship among people or objects? Does placement indicate any levels of importance within the family?
What is in the foreground? The background?
Where is the focus? Where does your eye go first?
What is the angle of view?
How does composition contribute to the meaning the photo has?
5. Pause here to discuss what the class now knows and thinks about the photo. Conclude this portion of the lesson by asking students to consider another C—conclusion. How do the context, characters, color, and composition contribute to the meaning of the photo? What do viewers take away from this photo? Specifically, what knowledge, ideas, and attitudes do viewers attach to this photo?
Massachusetts Institute of Technology © 2012 Visualizing Cultures