A pastiche is an artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work, artist, or period. For this paper you will be creating a pastiche of Geoff Dyer and Teju Cole’s reflective writing in their On Photography essays for the New York Times.
In the introduction to his book on photography The Ongoing Moment, Dyer states:
I wanted, among other things, to look at photographs to see what new knowledge I could derive from them- though I couldn’t do this without bringing a certain amount of old knowledge to bear on them. I also wanted to learn more about— or at least become more sensitive to—the differences between certain photographers, to get more of an idea of their styles. To see if style could be identified in and by – if it inhered in – content. The only way to do this was to see how different people photographed the same thing. (7)
Task
For this paper, connect 3 different photographers from different centuries through their photographs of the same thing. Use this connection between the three photographs to make a larger point about the nature of photography, representation, and/or looking.
First, read the writing examples by Geoff Dyer and Teju Cole. Then, attempt to mimic Dyer and Cole’s narrative writing style, which includes a mixture of historical fact, description and personal reflection. You will be the one to connect these images, and your connections must be grounded in historical accuracy.
Sample Solution