In-class activity with discussion.

Spalter did this as a student at RISD in Al DeCredico’s RISD Freshman Foundation 2D Design course (1982).

• Stephen Palmer answers Spalter's question "Why do Photographs Seem so Real?" on "Google Answers".
• Excerpt from Roland Barthes, Camera lucida: Reflections on photography; 1st American edition, Hill and Wang, 1981, ISBN: 0809033402.
• Sinead O'Connor ripping up a picture of the Pope on Saturday Night Live in 1992. OK, you can't find this picture anywhere. But here is a very interesting write-up of the event (for which NBC was fined 2.5 million dollars.)
• Masaccio, Trinity, 1427-28. Fresco, 21' 10 1/2" x 10' 4 7/8" (6.67 x 3.17 m), Santa Maria Novella, Florence.
  The first painting to use accurate linear perspective. Linear perspective applied to painting gave viewers a startling sense of "reality" and made these early perspective painting seem magical.

• Awareness of the nature of visual perception and the power of photographic images.
• Respect for the power of images.

• Same-size photographs of each student's head. These may be produced with a digital camera and printer, a Polaroid camera, or by students at kiosks offering identity and passport-sized photos.
• Thumbtacks (push pins are best)
• Cork board or other surface that tacks can be pressed into

• Properly assessing the impact of photographic-looking material in venues from the arts to media images to courtrooms, and beyond.
• Making choices about when to use photographs vs. other types of representation

1. Photo Eye Puncture: Student take photographs of themselves and hang them on the wall. Students then approach with a push pin, one at a time, and put the pin through one of their photo's eyes. Students take now of how this makes them feel.

• Why did this feel the way it did?
• Do you think this would be different with a drawing (vs. a photograph)? (What if Sinead had ripped up a drawing of the Pope, vs. a photograph?)
• Should NBC have been fined for the Sinead incident? Is there an equivalent to "freedom of speech" with images?
• Does this exercises shed any light on why we don't have professional drawings of ourselves on our drivers’ licenses? Even if an artist might be able to accentuate features that would make it easier for police to identify you?
• What changes would make a photograph NOT seem so realistic (color, scale, etc.)?
• How can we reconcile the visceral reaction with our intellectual knowledge that photographs are not reality?
• Do these topics extend beyond photography to virtual reality? If so, how?