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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Seeing Through Photographs by The Museum of Modern Art

4.8
stars
4,302 ratings

About the Course

Taking, sharing, and viewing photographs has become second nature for many of us. This course aims to address the gap between seeing and truly understanding photographs by introducing a diversity of ideas, approaches, and technologies that inform their making. You’ll explore the meaning of pictures and reconsider photography’s role in our visual culture. Look closely at 100 photographs from MoMA’s collection, going behind the scenes of the Museum and into artists’ studios through videos and audio interviews. Gain new perspectives on the ways photography has been used throughout the medium’s history: as a means of artistic expression, a tool for science and exploration, an instrument of documentation, a way to tell stories and record histories, and a mode of communication and critique....

Top reviews

AQ

Mar 8, 2016

Seeing Through Photographs has given me a whole new way of looking at my own and other peoples' work. So many aspects, details and points of view, the world of photography now seems even more amazing.

AD

Dec 25, 2019

This is a really great way to get a beginners academic insight into photography, really interesting video and written content. I learned a lot and enjoyed studying again, thank you MoMA and Coursera!

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1076 - 1100 of 1,112 Reviews for Seeing Through Photographs

By Huascar A T B

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Jun 28, 2021

Very good course!

By Iliana A C N

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May 17, 2018

es muy chevere

By Natasha R R

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Apr 13, 2016

I love it!

By Tiago C

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Mar 27, 2016

Very nice.

By NANCY R S

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Apr 22, 2016

MUY BUENO

By catalina c

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Dec 12, 2016

AWESOME

By Aarul V

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Oct 16, 2020

Good

By Martin F

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Jun 24, 2021

By Melinda G

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Jun 20, 2020

I received only one peer review and that merely ticked the boxes on the required questions with no feedback. If this review is the only assessment we get beyond the quiz scores, my experience with it was not useful.

I also would have appreciated knowing why Heinecken is considered "legendary" and why so much of the required reading in that lesson was devoted to his essays. I found his style to be overly academic (plowing through many, many words to try to find a point) and I almost gave up. I'm sure he must have done something beyond the clever "Are You Rea"; some biographical information and other examples of his work would have given me a better understanding of his importance.

I have been working full time during the weeks of the course so was not able to take part in most of the online lectures, office hours and other daytime activities. I understand that this restricted my ability to fully participate and I'm sure I would have benefited from more involvement.

I did appreciate the first few weeks, especially the documentary and people modules. I'm glad I took the course and am going to pursue a number of the readings on my own. I also was motivated to buy Berenice Abbott's "Changing New York," which is inspiring.

By roxanne w

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Jan 9, 2017

I found the course interesting, however I had trouble finding all of the written materials to read. Some were available online, but none were in our library system. I think it would be better if more of the reading was available to people. I also thought that the final assignment instructions were a bit confusing. As it is I never did get to upload the photographs for the final prompt. I asked for help on the forum, but no one responded.

By Jeanette F

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May 30, 2016

It was short and interesting... and that is good. In the first week the readings were overwhelming and I was disappointed - but the other 5 weeks had short videos of interviews with photographers to go along with the concepts presented. Some of the quiz questions were looking for details that I felt were not important for the learner. Final assignment was good.

By Sara J

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Feb 27, 2021

Claims to be beginner friendly and expects people to not know what an eclipse is, yet know how non-digital photographs are developed. Does however contain interesting topics and insights.

By Troy M

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Jun 8, 2020

An interesting topic and materials covered but sadly an unresolved technical glitch prevented the completion of the final task and thus lower rating for a good course.

By Konstantinos X

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Mar 11, 2020

The course is interesting but beware ! It has peer reviewed assignments which means you will never get your grade !

By michael m

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Dec 14, 2016

i enjoyed the interviews -- hearing and seeing many different artists using the same medium in very different ways

By bao l

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May 14, 2020

The course is helpful to learn the stories behind photographs, but kind of monotonous.

By B S

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Apr 22, 2020

Some of the teaching materials could have been chosen with a little more taste.

By César C

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Feb 27, 2016

falta opciones en español, los textos por ejemplo o los videos subtitulados.

By Amaya T

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Oct 16, 2020

I liked the course but was not a fan of the final assignment

By Sheila m

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Aug 19, 2020

TODO ES EN INGLES, Y NO TENGO CONOCIMIENTO DEL INGLES

By Priscila C d O

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Sep 2, 2016

Nice, but I expected more (or something else).

By Peter P

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Jul 3, 2020

great course, thoroughly enjoyed it

By Diandra P P

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Apr 23, 2023

fue interesante!

By Emil

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Nov 3, 2020

Peculiar course.

By Cathy E

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Jul 22, 2020

I felt like this course was kind of disjointed. As an educator with some experience in museum education, I wonder whether this was created by the curatorial department with minimal or no guidance from education. Some of the required readings were lengthy and bombastic. It's almost as if course creators said, let's see what we have to work with, and try to find some relationships between the hodgepodge. I understand the importance of sometimes having to use readings from the specific time period of an artwork to put it in context, but again, I feel like there could have been better exemplars of both photographs and readings. The module where photographs of the moon were the "theme" just seemed like it didn't belong. I did acquire new knowledge through this course, but the format was just not for me.