“We Are Being Taught How to See”: Interpretations and Enskillment of Photographic Vision in Educational Context
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21814/vista.7052Keywords:
photographic seeing, photography education, practical knowledge, professionalism, skilled visionAbstract
This article explores how “skilled vision” is interpreted and cultivated in professional photography education. Drawing on interviews with teachers, focus group discussions with students, and analysis of curricula from three photography schools in Russia and Sweden, it explores how photographic seeing is conceptualised, trained and learned across distinct institutional and cultural contexts. Combining frameworks of professionalism and practical knowledge, the article examines enskillment of vision through three analytically distinguishable dimensions emphasised in the programmes: “knowledgeable vision”, “ethical and critical vision”, and “creative vision”. Broad cultural knowledge and visual erudition (nasmotrennost’ in Russian) form the foundation, while a critically and ethically attuned worldview further shapes professional seeing. Together, these dimensions enable rapid, context-sensitive “seeing-in-action” during image production, developed through practice that replicates the pressures of real-world photographic work.
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