This is the syllabus for another seminar held in 2008 by paula roush, who can be considered a forerunner in combining print-on-demand with teaching and still regularly offers seminars on self-publishing photobooks. In this seminar, “Photographic Cultures,” the task was to produce a photobook on youth culture(s). This was supplemented by several “e-tivities” to strengthen competence in critical thinking, analyzing, and reviewing photobooks. The announcement read:

“This unit is designed to introduce you to a set of photographic cultures identified as self-publishing, amongst which the photobook occupies a central stage. The photobook has been developing since the conception of photography, and has been strongly associated with the artist’s book. It is characterised by an ‘authorial’ attitude and an independent mode of production and distribution. […] In this unit, you will be encouraged to examine the concepts of artist’s book and photobook and its relation to printing technologies, through theoretical texts, case studies and presentations” (paula roush, “Introduction”).

One result of this course is Christopher Kramer’s photobook In Real Life, which we have also added to our collection.