A Modern FSA?

Los Angeles, April 2009 - It would be easy to dismiss the latest group of efforts by various organizations and enterprising individuals to organize a modern day Farm Securities Administration (FSA) documentary project. For all the good intentions that lay behind its creation, many have come to believe that the FSA was essentially a propaganda arm of the New Deal, simultaneously raising awareness about the plight of fellow Americans, but also persuading us to believe in the social policies of the Roosevelt Administration. Read more

Does Pluralist Photography Obscure or Illuminate?

USC student Kristina Lee explores the controversies surrounding participant–photography: Pluralist photography intends to give a voice to would-be subjects of documentation. Opposing the more traditional forms of photography – naturalist, which, through photos, portrays a seemingly neutral and value-free world, and humanist, which asserts that images of suffering can be a mode for social change, pluralist photography Read more

The World Through Different Lenses

USC student Amanda Fallon explores how the “insiders” view is changing the paradigm in photographic storytelling: Technological advances are constantly changing and reshaping the ways in which photography is used. New concepts like participatory photography and citizen photojournalism have changed the dynamics of photography. First, technology has enabled many people to own individual digital cameras, which is what led to the emergence of citizen photojournalism. Read more