Michelle Bogre is Professor Emerita at Parsons School of Design and The New School, after a 25-year career that included being chair of the Photography Department at Parsons and teaching almost every type of photography class. She also is a documentary photographer, writer, and intellectual property lawyer. She co-founded the CRUX Photography Research Network (at Arts University Bournemouth), an international research network of photographic artists, researchers, educators, and theorists. She has written hundreds of articles and book chapters about photography and law, as well as three books: Photography 4.0: A Teaching Guide for the 21st Century (Routledge 2014), Documentary Photography Reconsidered (2019), and The Routledge Companion to Copyright and Creativity in the 21st Century (2021).
Photography as Activism is a vital read for students, issue-based photographers, picture editors, educators, and curators. It critically examines photography as a tool for activism. It delves deeply into the aims and motivations of the practitioners, their desire to effect meaningful change, and the ethical quandaries they face. Paul Wenham-Clarke, Professor of Photography and Course Leader, MA Photography, Arts University Bournemouth Photography as Activism moved me to create a class based on its inspiring contents! Before reading it, I felt my impulse to make change through images was a futile effort. The in-depth interviews along with Bogre's articulate delivery of the history and philosophy guiding the work plot our path forward. Judy Walgren, Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist and faculty at Foothill College, San Francisco Informative! Enriching! Engrossing! In Photography as Activism, Bogre draws on her 30 years of cross-practice experience to produce this Must-Read guide for documentary practitioners, and a Really-Should-Read for everyone studying the processes of social reform in North America, mid-19th century to now, with insights and inspirations for the future. Stephen Mayes, Executive Director, Tim Hetherington Trust