Lesson 2

How did new photographic methods change photojournalism in the mid-19th century by allowing images of war to be seen in magazines and newspapers? We will examine a famous photo from the Crimean War and examples of Civil War photography from Mathew Brady and Alexander Gardner to learn about the origins of photojournalism. We will consider how new camera equipment influenced photography, photojournalism, and the depiction of wartime images.

Lesson Goals

Can I use connections among details, elements, and effects to make logical deductions about a photojournalist’s perspective, purpose, and meaning in a photographic image?
Can I recognize points of connection among photographic images, visual elements, and perspectives to make logical, objective comparisons?

Texts

Core

- Completely Silenced. Dead Confederate Artillerymen, as They Lay Around Their Battery after the Battle of Antietam, Alexander Gardner, J. Paul Getty Museum, 1862
- Fort Totten Defenses of Washington, Mathew Brady, J. Paul Getty Museum, 1862
- Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter, Gettysburg, Alexander Gardner, J. Paul Getty Museum, 1863
- “Origins of Photojournalism,” American Battlefield Trust, 2020
- “Photography and the Civil War,” Garry Adelman, American Battlefield Trust, 2015
- Valley of the Shadow of Death, Roger Fenton, J. Paul Getty Museum, 1855

Optional

- “The History of Photojournalism. How Photography Changed the Way We Receive News,” Jessica Stewart, My Modern Met, 2017

- “Alexander Gardner Saw Himself as an Artist, Crafting the Image of War in All Its Brutality,” Ernest B. Furgurson, Smithsonian Magazine, 2015

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Photojournalism: Section 1 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: View – Write

We will examine an early war photograph from 1855 titled Valley of the Shadow of Death and learn to use a Visual Analysis Tool to guide and record our observations.

Step 1

Access the J. Paul Getty Museum website to examine an 1855 photograph of the Crimean War shot by British photographer Roger Fenton. This photograph is one of the earliest recorded on a wartime battlefield and is among the most well-known images of war.

You can use the information in the Civil War and Edward S. Curtis Photographs Handout to find this and other images in Section 1 of the unit.

As a class, examine the photograph closely and make a list of visual details that you observe.

Step 2

Follow along as your teacher introduces or reviews the Visual Analysis Tool, which you can use to record and analyze visual details in a photograph, painting, or other visual medium.

As a class, practice using the tool with the Fenton photograph to note, think about, and connect key details in relationship to these text-specific questions:

What details of the depicted landscape suggest desolation and even death?
What details suggest why the photographer might have titled the photograph Valley of the Shadow of Death?

Use the following process with the tool:

Write down the guiding question in the space provided at the top. This question can give you a lens through which you can view the image, or it might ask you to look at something very specific in the image.
As you examine the image, pay attention to details that evoke feelings or relate to the guiding question. When you are looking at details of an image, it may be helpful to notice common symbols, the foreground and background, expressions, and the positioning of people. You can use the Attend to Details row to write down the details that most strongly support the guiding question.
Writers use words intentionally to set moods and create tone. Artists are also intentional when it comes to their subject matter. The Think About the Details section provides space for you to make a clear statement about how the details you wrote down impact you as a viewer, and why.
You can use the Make Connections row to explain how the details in the image connect to each other. For example, taken together, the details may tell a story, evoke an emotion, or reveal a perspective.
The final section of this tool can be used as a place to synthesize and explain how the details, techniques, and connections that the photographer uses come together for you. Review the guiding question before you fill this section in because you might be able to respond directly to the guiding question through what you write in this section. This is also a place to ask new questions based on emerging understandings that you have about the image.

Record the class’s thinking on a projected Visual Analysis Tool, noting key details that relate to the questions, thinking about the meaning of the details, and making connections.

Step 3

Individually, express your understanding of what you see in the photograph and record the observations or questions you generate in your Learning Log under the title of the photo.

Compare and share your understanding with other students in the class.

Scroll down to the “Object Details” section of the webpage and read the information provided for this photo. What new information do you learn about the photo, the photojournalist, and the context in which it was taken? Add additional information you learn to your Learning Log entry for the photo.

Activity 2: Read – Discuss

We will learn about the ways in which wet-plate photography changed wartime photojournalism and allowed audiences to see the realities of the American Civil War for the first time.

Access an informational article titled “Origins of Photojournalism” on the American Battlefield Trust website.

Read the first five paragraphs of the article, noting key details about the technique of wet-plate photography in response to these questions:

In what ways was wet-plate photography an “exacting, cumbersome, and time-consuming process”?
How did the advent of wet-plate photography allow photojournalists to capture vivid wartime images and share them with the general public?

Discuss what you learn about wet-plate photography with the class.

Activity 3: Read

We will begin working with vocabulary and adding words to our Vocabulary Journals.

For this activity, you will use a Vocabulary Journal, which you will maintain for the entire unit. You might use a Vocabulary in Context Tool for words you can decipher from the text; for others, you might use morphology to decipher the meaning, or a reference resource to check if your meaning is accurate. For some words, your teacher might present you with definitions.

Record the words and definitions in your Vocabulary Journal. For each word, identify the vocabulary strategy (e.g., context, morphology, reference resource) you used to determine its meaning.

Activity 4: View – Discuss – Write

We will examine and compare Civil War photographs to learn more about how modern wartime photojournalism was “Born” during that war.

Step 1

Access the J. Paul Getty Museum website again to find and examine three Civil War photographs attributed to famous photographer Mathew Brady, two of which were actually taken by a photojournalist named Alexander Gardner. The titles of these photographs are provided below and in the Civil War and Edward S. Curtis Photographs Handout.

In succession, briefly view these three photos, noting and comparing key details about how they depict the war:

Fort Totten Defenses of Washington attributed to Mathew Brady (1862)
Completely Silenced by Alexander Gardner (1862)
Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter, Gettysburg by Alexander Gardner (1863)

As a class, discuss what you initially notice about the photos and how they compare.

Step 2

Individually, select one of the three photographs that interests you and complete a Visual Analysis Tool for it, considering this text-specific question:

What impression of war do key details from the photo convey to you?

Step 3

Partner with another student who has examined the same photograph as you and compare your Visual Analysis Tools and the understandings you have expressed in response to the question.

Then find another pair of students who have examined a different Civil War photograph. Again, compare your Visual Analysis Tools and the understandings you have expressed in response to the question.

Activity 5: View – Discuss

We will watch a short video narrated by a Civil War Historian to learn more about wet-plate photography and the photojournalists who used it.

Step 1

In the American Battlefield Trust article, access the embedded video titled “Photography and the Civil War.”

Watch the video, taking notes in response to the two questions about wet-plate photography you previously considered and this additional question:

How did the photos taken by Civil War photojournalists change following the Battle of Antietam, and how did their photographs shock the nation and change peoples’ perceptions of war?

Step 2

As a class, discuss what you have learned from the video and how its information relates to the photographs you examined in the previous activity.

Note the controversy about the Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter photo alluded to by the historian and narrator of the video. Discuss whether the allegation that Alexander Gardner may have moved the dead soldier to enhance the picture affects the truth about war it depicts.

Activity 6: Read – Write

We will return to a quote from John Morris and discuss how Civil War photojournalists depicted the truth of war while provoking emotional responses or conveying a somber kind of beauty.

Return to the quotation from John Morris that we studied in Lesson 1:

Truth is the objective of good journalism; beauty is secondary to the truth. But the great photographers usually manage to get pictures which are not only truthful but beautiful.

Reconsider the photograph you analyzed in Activity 4. In your Learning Log, write a short paragraph in which you take a stand on this issue:

To what degree has your photographer managed to take a picture that is not only truthful but beautiful? Evaluate how the photo conveys (or does not convey) truth and beauty, referring to specific details from the photo.

Activity 7: Read – Write

We will read an article to increase our understanding of the history of photojournalism.

Access and read the article "The History of Photojournalism. How Photography Changed the Way We Receive News" by Jessica Stewart, which can be found in the Unit Reader.

Consider how the article enhances what you have learned so far about the relationship between technological advances and the field of photojournalism.

Activity 8: Read

We will use Resources from the American battlefield trust Website or other web-based sources to do extended research about Civil War photography.

Step 1

Access the “Origins of Photojournalism” page on the American Battlefield Trust website and locate the “Related Area of Interest” link on the right side of the site titled “Photography in the Civil War.”

Use this link to access a set of linked resources that will allow you to further explore photography.

Select one of the links that interests you. For example, you might want to learn more about photographers Alexander Gardner or Mathew Brady, or learn more about wet-plate photography using the “Photography and the Civil War” article, or explore “10 Facts: Civil War Photography.”

Step 2

Conduct additional exploratory research as directed by your teacher, using additional web-based resources, such as the Smithsonian Magazine article “Alexander Gardner Saw himself as an Artist, Crafting the Image of War in All its Brutality.”

Come to the next class prepared to share what you learned through your extended research.