shokoofeh posted a link on facebook to this series of photographs of bloggers by gabriela herman. i find it quite fascinating. and a bit lonely. it captures some of the nature of blogging as a solitary activity. a nocturnal one. i, of course, love the preponderance of macs. bloggers, even if mostly alone in the act of blogging, are part of a community. the glow of that community is reflected in the bloggers' concentrated faces as they sit solitary at their computers in the darkness. alone but not alone at all.
be sure to check out gabriela herman's blog while you're there. especially the post about how she came to do photo essays for martha stewart living. she says to just shoot what you love. inspiring.
* * *
next week, i'll do a little photo "class" for children at our local library. it's part of the community project i started back in february - to encourage anyone who wants to participate to photograph life in our little town. mainly, i want to give the kids (who are probably around sabin's age) some inspiration and then send them out to photograph things around town. all that sculpture is a given, but i want to give them some small assignments to make them think differently about photography and the subjects for photography. i want to encourage them to shoot what they love, already now - whether that's flowers and bees or their own shoes or clouds in the sky or the local church or bakery or their friends.
the photos they produce will be part of the photo project documenting a year in the life of our town.
if you were going to send kids out running around with cameras in hand, what would you tell them to photograph?
9 comments:
as much fun as they can.
objects that tell something about themselves
the feeling they have with a certain object
hope this helps.
each other.
i got cameras for my kids last year and since then i have been encouraging them to shoot whatever catches their eyes. i tell them to look for what they really love about something and focus on that.
While I think blogging is a solitary activity, the blogging community is one of the most generous and insightful group I have ever "known."
That said, I think your class with the children is absolutely the best type of summer camp! Photo's reveal a world and a life as seen through another eye. Should be great fun.
I would tell them to look up and look down.
Explain to them photography is painting with light. Suggest early morning and late afternoons - when shadows are part of the scene.
Give then a piece of cardboard which has a rectangle cutout in it and explain that a photograph has edges and to look at things through the cutout as a viewing port.
Suggest themes: animals, bicycles, etc. or something more challenging: friendship, mystery, conflict or an ugly landscape.
I like Bill's ideas...friendship, mystery...especially an ugly landscape. Humans have altered the landscape, sometimes in a thoughtful appealing way, sometimes in a completely ignorant thoughtless way. Photos do a great job of highlighting the intentions or the behind or the blindspots of manmade structures or landscapes.
The basics of how to take a good photo such as 'don't cut of their heads' unless that is what they intend for the shot. Other than that I think they will surprise you. At that age children still have such a creative eye and they aren't afraid. Look forward to seeing the project!
Show me: What makes Give, Give for you? Don't give any examples or examples from your own childhood town which they can't find in Give.
Post a Comment