03 June 2009
‘Discovering photography’ is a project composed of different activities and aimed at various publics. Its main goal is to promote photography both as an art and as a way of expression, a language.
In a time when everyone owns a camera and can easily take hundreds of pictures per hour, the importance of photography is often not considered. ‘Discovering photography’ tries to raise awareness of the possibilities of an everyday media to a large number of users.
The different activities of this project are not all at the same state of achievement. Some are finished when others will only be started in September. All projects are run independently. However they do all follow the main idea of ‘Discovering photography’ and some focus on the same public.
-Discovering photography: workshops. The students present at the workshops have been engaged in debates about different aspects of photography. The workshops were open to everyone, but only students attended due to the publicity of the event. However we might regret the absence of staff.
-memory cards game. We have designed three memory cards games for 2-3 year-old children. Each had a theme: animals, children, objects of everyday life. We printed the photographs in small format and laminated them. It is a simple game that enhances the children’s memory. We also hope, through the photographs, to initiate the children to a photographic aesthetic different than the ones they always see, advertisement and family snapshots. Photography is something you can play with, something familiar, to be manipulated. If art never reaches young children, they will never reach it, but always consider it as something far and unattainable.
-photo books. This project will enable students to be creative and promote an original conception of photography as art and get the children used to looking at photographs with the same eye as they look at any other kind of art. It is also a challenge for the creators. They had to convey a narration through photographs (with or without the support of text) for children of nurseries or schools. We printed the books through an online publisher: ‘Blurb’, which made affordable good quality self-published books, and is specialized in photo books. We have already published one book for nurseries ‘By the window’. Three other books will soon be finished: one for secondary schools of poetry and another one about the theme of walking, and one of poetry for nurseries. There is also a bigger project of writing a history of photography as a comic, but illustrated mainly with photographs.
-my photo story. This workshop is organized around two activities that promote the link between narration and image and develop the children’s creativity in both writing and photographic skills. The children were divided in small groups; each one has a set of photographs. They first had to pick randomly one and start writing a story using the image. The photographs can give them a theme, or a setting, or a character... to help them build their own story through image analysis. The children have used their creativity to link very different pictures together in a single story, or have written a whole story around each picture.
The second activity was a reversal of the first one. We gave them a text and after analyzing the images present in the text, they imagined what picture they could take to illustrate the text.
We have been working with a class of year 8 during a Spanish lesson. For this reason we chose a text from a Spanish speaking writer Borges (we gave the children the original text and its translation). It was not a simple text, but the children understood the main images of the text and did their best to illustrate it. The ideas were really good, unfortunately, the results in the photographs were not always so!
-international exchange of photographs. This project concerns schools in England, Lebanon, Chile, Madagascar, Latvia and Spain. We sent to every class of year 7 disposable cameras as ask them to photograph their life in school and at home. Once we will receive the cameras back (the stage is not yet done), we will print the photographs and give every school a copy of each. This project’s goal is to encourage children from different countries to see the differences and resemblances between different countries. It is also an indirect way to suggest that photography is a form of visual language, as it gives information.
-magazines. We got subscriptions to four photography magazines, all very different. Some focus on techniques, others on art photography. The magazines are available in the Media Centre of the University for everyone to read. However we asked that they were not removed from there. Until now the number of magazines we had received didn’t allow us to organize the workshop with primary schools ‘How to read a photography magazine?’ we were planning to do. The children will first be free to read through them, while commenting them with the volunteers and other children. Then in groups they will be asked to look for pictures in the magazines around a specific theme, describe them, compare and justify their preference. They will learn to differentiate advertising photography from documentary, journalistic, art... Then, on the same theme, they will discuss how what picture they would have taken. We will take those pictures as they imagine it, and discuss the results. The children will that way get use to a very specific media, the magazine, and see how they show photographs. They will learn about the different kinds of photographs and their different ways of narrating. Finally they will use their artistic talents and imagination to create their own picture from the examples they have seen. We will encourage them to always argument their choices.
I hope someone else will organize the workshop next year after I left. This workshop might take place during a larger event with schools at University, as they are sometimes organized.
-photography exhibition. We worked with children of year 7 to 9 to reflect around the theme ‘Who am I?’ We did the workshops in three steps. They first reflect about what kind of picture they could take that would really reflect who they are. We all agree that a self portrait might not be the most appropriate way to do it, or at least not the most creative way. Then, they did first tries with SRL cameras during a workshop with their teachers and volunteers. After that we gave them disposable cameras, to further explore the idea without the pressure of friends and adults looking at them. The cameras have been handed back to us, we are now printing them. We are also negotiating to exhibit the pictures in an art gallery.
‘Discovering photography’ has been aimed at different ages, from 2 years old to adults. We think that it is important to start from a young age to create an interest in photography and art in general. This is why we choose to organize activities in nurseries, schools and at university.
It seems important that young children are put in contact with art forms, that those might be available to them. For this reason we worked with supports they often use: books and games. The impossibility to organize sessions to work directly with the children may have reduced the impact of the activities. However, we have reached our goal: put photography to their reach and hope they’ll enjoy it. Young children who have never seen images of quality would not be responsive to it when they will later see some. We do not presume that our photographs are of quality; but they are art photographs. They escape the conventions of the photographs young children are used to seeing: family snapshots and advertisements. Did those projects make a difference for those children? This is something we might never be able to ascertain. However I do believe in it. And we can also hope that we raise awareness in the nursery staff, who could consider introducing more photography in the classroom.
In schools, we had to work on another level. So we did explain them what we were expecting from them: working on the language of photography.
Children are already using cameras, and have developed an aesthetic, usually the one of snapshots. We have to help them get rid of the habits they developed, especially concerning the digital cameras. Working with film cameras, they have to think of the composition of the photographs prior to the shot, and they cannot control it (erase it or modify it). Most children have been taking the projects very seriously. We noticed, and so did most children, that they do not act the same, either in front or behind the camera, when they are surrounded by other people or alone. They agreed that photographs are usually posed and not expressing the true self. They are stereotypes. Some children overcame their shyness when taking and posing for photographs. We really appreciated the efforts put in by some, especially children usually causing troubles. A photograph published in the university newspaper was noticed by the head master of the school, and admiring the photograph taken by the two girls and their seriousness about the project (when they often to fail to engage with academic work), he decided to print the photograph and exhibit it in the school to reward them. This simple achievement is a big reward for our work.
All the school projects were group based. They develop their capacity to interact with each other in the class and develop ideas in common. They also used their skills in creativity, especially with the activity ‘My photo story’. Their stories are full of ideas, and explored in different ways the pictures we gave them. Some used several pictures to build a short novel. Some made a different text for each picture. Those skills they developed during the workshops are not exclusive to photography. They are transferable to other domains.
The ‘international exchange of photographs’ is not yet finished. We do put a lot of hope in this project. English children are nowadays travelling a lot. They go on holidays everywhere on the planet. But have they discovered yet the world hiding behind tourism? Observing the photographs of children’s lives from other countries: Chile, Madagascar, Lebanon, Spain, and Latvia, will raise their awareness of the similarities and differences that exist. The children from England would benefit more from this exchange because the other projects we did with them encourage them to consider photography as a language, to see the stories told by the image. We invited them to observe with attention, and analyse what they saw. We hope our projects will contribute to their curiosity and interest in knowing about others.
In the workshops the students learned about photographic techniques and history of photography. As the workshops were organised by other students, we all learned from each other.
They also had the opportunity to express their views about different aspects of photography, which is something rare for those not studying a photography course. Most people who came out of curiosity joined later some of the other ‘Discovering photography’ activities.
‘Discovering photography’ is until now the biggest volunteering project I ever did. I always had the ideas but never before I have been given such an opportunity to realize them with both support and funding. It was an amazing opportunity.
During this project I learned a lot about England, life at university with the system of the Student Union, the organization of schools. I improved my language skills in English, both written and verbal, for colloquial emails or official correspondence. Time management skills were really important to realize all the different activities. I did improve them during the running of the project. Team group skills were also valuable to improve the quality of the project. Coordinating the project allowed me to meet a lot of motivated and enthusiastic people, ready to help and change the world.
In a time when everyone owns a camera and can easily take hundreds of pictures per hour, the importance of photography is often not considered. ‘Discovering photography’ tries to raise awareness of the possibilities of an everyday media to a large number of users.
The different activities of this project are not all at the same state of achievement. Some are finished when others will only be started in September. All projects are run independently. However they do all follow the main idea of ‘Discovering photography’ and some focus on the same public.
-Discovering photography: workshops. The students present at the workshops have been engaged in debates about different aspects of photography. The workshops were open to everyone, but only students attended due to the publicity of the event. However we might regret the absence of staff.
-memory cards game. We have designed three memory cards games for 2-3 year-old children. Each had a theme: animals, children, objects of everyday life. We printed the photographs in small format and laminated them. It is a simple game that enhances the children’s memory. We also hope, through the photographs, to initiate the children to a photographic aesthetic different than the ones they always see, advertisement and family snapshots. Photography is something you can play with, something familiar, to be manipulated. If art never reaches young children, they will never reach it, but always consider it as something far and unattainable.
-photo books. This project will enable students to be creative and promote an original conception of photography as art and get the children used to looking at photographs with the same eye as they look at any other kind of art. It is also a challenge for the creators. They had to convey a narration through photographs (with or without the support of text) for children of nurseries or schools. We printed the books through an online publisher: ‘Blurb’, which made affordable good quality self-published books, and is specialized in photo books. We have already published one book for nurseries ‘By the window’. Three other books will soon be finished: one for secondary schools of poetry and another one about the theme of walking, and one of poetry for nurseries. There is also a bigger project of writing a history of photography as a comic, but illustrated mainly with photographs.
-my photo story. This workshop is organized around two activities that promote the link between narration and image and develop the children’s creativity in both writing and photographic skills. The children were divided in small groups; each one has a set of photographs. They first had to pick randomly one and start writing a story using the image. The photographs can give them a theme, or a setting, or a character... to help them build their own story through image analysis. The children have used their creativity to link very different pictures together in a single story, or have written a whole story around each picture.
The second activity was a reversal of the first one. We gave them a text and after analyzing the images present in the text, they imagined what picture they could take to illustrate the text.
We have been working with a class of year 8 during a Spanish lesson. For this reason we chose a text from a Spanish speaking writer Borges (we gave the children the original text and its translation). It was not a simple text, but the children understood the main images of the text and did their best to illustrate it. The ideas were really good, unfortunately, the results in the photographs were not always so!
-international exchange of photographs. This project concerns schools in England, Lebanon, Chile, Madagascar, Latvia and Spain. We sent to every class of year 7 disposable cameras as ask them to photograph their life in school and at home. Once we will receive the cameras back (the stage is not yet done), we will print the photographs and give every school a copy of each. This project’s goal is to encourage children from different countries to see the differences and resemblances between different countries. It is also an indirect way to suggest that photography is a form of visual language, as it gives information.
-magazines. We got subscriptions to four photography magazines, all very different. Some focus on techniques, others on art photography. The magazines are available in the Media Centre of the University for everyone to read. However we asked that they were not removed from there. Until now the number of magazines we had received didn’t allow us to organize the workshop with primary schools ‘How to read a photography magazine?’ we were planning to do. The children will first be free to read through them, while commenting them with the volunteers and other children. Then in groups they will be asked to look for pictures in the magazines around a specific theme, describe them, compare and justify their preference. They will learn to differentiate advertising photography from documentary, journalistic, art... Then, on the same theme, they will discuss how what picture they would have taken. We will take those pictures as they imagine it, and discuss the results. The children will that way get use to a very specific media, the magazine, and see how they show photographs. They will learn about the different kinds of photographs and their different ways of narrating. Finally they will use their artistic talents and imagination to create their own picture from the examples they have seen. We will encourage them to always argument their choices.
I hope someone else will organize the workshop next year after I left. This workshop might take place during a larger event with schools at University, as they are sometimes organized.
-photography exhibition. We worked with children of year 7 to 9 to reflect around the theme ‘Who am I?’ We did the workshops in three steps. They first reflect about what kind of picture they could take that would really reflect who they are. We all agree that a self portrait might not be the most appropriate way to do it, or at least not the most creative way. Then, they did first tries with SRL cameras during a workshop with their teachers and volunteers. After that we gave them disposable cameras, to further explore the idea without the pressure of friends and adults looking at them. The cameras have been handed back to us, we are now printing them. We are also negotiating to exhibit the pictures in an art gallery.
‘Discovering photography’ has been aimed at different ages, from 2 years old to adults. We think that it is important to start from a young age to create an interest in photography and art in general. This is why we choose to organize activities in nurseries, schools and at university.
It seems important that young children are put in contact with art forms, that those might be available to them. For this reason we worked with supports they often use: books and games. The impossibility to organize sessions to work directly with the children may have reduced the impact of the activities. However, we have reached our goal: put photography to their reach and hope they’ll enjoy it. Young children who have never seen images of quality would not be responsive to it when they will later see some. We do not presume that our photographs are of quality; but they are art photographs. They escape the conventions of the photographs young children are used to seeing: family snapshots and advertisements. Did those projects make a difference for those children? This is something we might never be able to ascertain. However I do believe in it. And we can also hope that we raise awareness in the nursery staff, who could consider introducing more photography in the classroom.
In schools, we had to work on another level. So we did explain them what we were expecting from them: working on the language of photography.
Children are already using cameras, and have developed an aesthetic, usually the one of snapshots. We have to help them get rid of the habits they developed, especially concerning the digital cameras. Working with film cameras, they have to think of the composition of the photographs prior to the shot, and they cannot control it (erase it or modify it). Most children have been taking the projects very seriously. We noticed, and so did most children, that they do not act the same, either in front or behind the camera, when they are surrounded by other people or alone. They agreed that photographs are usually posed and not expressing the true self. They are stereotypes. Some children overcame their shyness when taking and posing for photographs. We really appreciated the efforts put in by some, especially children usually causing troubles. A photograph published in the university newspaper was noticed by the head master of the school, and admiring the photograph taken by the two girls and their seriousness about the project (when they often to fail to engage with academic work), he decided to print the photograph and exhibit it in the school to reward them. This simple achievement is a big reward for our work.
All the school projects were group based. They develop their capacity to interact with each other in the class and develop ideas in common. They also used their skills in creativity, especially with the activity ‘My photo story’. Their stories are full of ideas, and explored in different ways the pictures we gave them. Some used several pictures to build a short novel. Some made a different text for each picture. Those skills they developed during the workshops are not exclusive to photography. They are transferable to other domains.
The ‘international exchange of photographs’ is not yet finished. We do put a lot of hope in this project. English children are nowadays travelling a lot. They go on holidays everywhere on the planet. But have they discovered yet the world hiding behind tourism? Observing the photographs of children’s lives from other countries: Chile, Madagascar, Lebanon, Spain, and Latvia, will raise their awareness of the similarities and differences that exist. The children from England would benefit more from this exchange because the other projects we did with them encourage them to consider photography as a language, to see the stories told by the image. We invited them to observe with attention, and analyse what they saw. We hope our projects will contribute to their curiosity and interest in knowing about others.
In the workshops the students learned about photographic techniques and history of photography. As the workshops were organised by other students, we all learned from each other.
They also had the opportunity to express their views about different aspects of photography, which is something rare for those not studying a photography course. Most people who came out of curiosity joined later some of the other ‘Discovering photography’ activities.
‘Discovering photography’ is until now the biggest volunteering project I ever did. I always had the ideas but never before I have been given such an opportunity to realize them with both support and funding. It was an amazing opportunity.
During this project I learned a lot about England, life at university with the system of the Student Union, the organization of schools. I improved my language skills in English, both written and verbal, for colloquial emails or official correspondence. Time management skills were really important to realize all the different activities. I did improve them during the running of the project. Team group skills were also valuable to improve the quality of the project. Coordinating the project allowed me to meet a lot of motivated and enthusiastic people, ready to help and change the world.
01 June 2009
Fortunately the sessions all year long where more busy than the first ones. However attendance always lower when we get close to holiday time. The last two sessions have been cancelled on the spot for this reason.
The workshops have been attended by both beginners and confirmed photographers. this created very alive sessions. Even more than we hoped, debates took place during the sessions, and averyone exchanged their views and experiences. We even did a session showing the others some of our photographs.
The workshops have been attended by both beginners and confirmed photographers. this created very alive sessions. Even more than we hoped, debates took place during the sessions, and averyone exchanged their views and experiences. We even did a session showing the others some of our photographs.
23 December 2008
2nd session- Talk about working in photography. 3 persons attended.
We moved to OneZone Lounge (as the Red bar was closed).
We moved to OneZone Lounge (as the Red bar was closed).
23 December 2008
1st session- Debate about the influence of the generalisation of photography in our societies. 7 persons attended.
We had to move the location after an hour, because they were closing.
We had to move the location after an hour, because they were closing.