A Lens On Design
Investigating Where We Live
by Jamee Telford
Blueprints Fall 2008
Volume XXVI, No. 4
“The virtue of the camera is not the power it has to transform the photographer into an artist, but the impulse it gives him to keep on looking.” —Brooks Atkinson, Once Around the Sun
Teaching young people about photography and exhibition design at the National Building Museum is an active process in which students focus on the proper ways to use digital cameras, explore various photographic techniques, and communicate by presenting their photographs in a Museum exhibition. Each piece of the puzzle is a critical step in a process by which students realize their potential as young photographers and designers.
Focus
“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” —Dorothea Lange
“Has anyone used a digital camera?” Ask that question in a room full of middle school students and more than likely all hands will be raised high. Given the technology-based society in which we live, many students are already familiar with the basic operation of a digital camera, but few fully understand its capabilities and potential.
In the classroom, students are encouraged to play with these options through a self-portrait activity. They are challenged to take five photos of themselves in any way they choose, but they must first consider some of the following questions: How can changing the color setting of a photo affect how we interpret it? When is it important to use flash? How can taking a picture on the “portrait” setting differ from using the “sport” setting?
The program allows them to find answers to these questions themselves. Using flash, of course, will affect the lighting in a photograph. A black-and-white photo or sepia-toned photo appears to have an antique or oldfashioned appearance and may evoke a different emotion than a color photo. If you want to capture an image on a “portrait” setting, the subject must be still and in close proximity to the camera. You can capture fast-moving images using the “sport” setting.
These preliminary steps lay the foundation for these young photographers to explore and implement various photographic techniques during the investigation of neighborhoods in Washington.
Explore
“To me, the word design means to be creative and to create unique and special things.”—IWWL 2007 participant
There are many ways to approach the teaching of photographic techniques. If there is an overriding idea that the program tries to impart to the students, however, it is that composition can make or break a photo. Viewing angles, emotionally charged subjects, and dark/light contrast all contribute to good photography, but it is the quality of the composition that weaves these separate pieces into a whole.
Importantly, IWWL students are not allowed to delete their photos; instead, they keep them so that they can evaluate differences in composition and possible interpretation among the various photos they take as they move through the program. In so doing, they learn that each photograph should have a carefully considered point to communicate to the viewer.
Communicate
“I liked the challenge of taking photos that really reflected Stanton Park and the people who live there.” —IWWL 2008 participant.
With a massive volume of photos accumulated the students then use the lens of photography to interpret each neighborhood and select a unifying theme for the student-designed exhibition.
Students answer basic questions about both their own photographs and those of their peers, such as “what do you see in the photo?” and “why do you think this photo was taken?” The answers help students begin to understand that by arranging photos in a group they can communicate a specific message. A collection of well-kept homes and beautiful gardens represents a nice community that evokes pride on the part of its residents and possibly those who view the photos. Photos of construction can represent both positive and negative changes for a community. Photos of commercial signs and other details of the built environment can convey a great deal about the unique culture of a particular neighborhood.
As students work in teams to assemble groups of photos, they look closely at the colors prominent in the photographs, select images with a variety of subject matter, and decide on the message to be communicated through the photographs. The students play an integral role in determining how their photographs will be interpreted by the public. Not only were they the photographers, but the students also frame what the viewer sees in the exhibition. They learn that they can control, to a certain extent, the meaning and tone of the exhibition.
As students examine their photographs, they discover new information and possibly hidden treasures. Some students find that a particular neighborhood is not as littered or dangerous as they once thought. In one instance, a neighborhood team was shocked to find green space as the subject in so many of their photographs and they used this discovery as the theme of their exhibit wall, communicating a new image of Congress Heights, in Southeast D.C. During the 2007 program, students from the Navy Yard team noticed that almost all of their photographs contained construction fences. Even though they encountered the fences during their site visit, they did not truly acknowledge them until they were sifting through the photographs. One student commented, “Look at all this construction in our pictures. The Navy Yard in our photos will not be around when IWWL starts next year.”
Jamee Telford is the outreach programs coordinator at the National Building Museum and has extensive experience working with young people. She has a B.A. in humanities and an M.A.T. in teaching from the George Washington University.
