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

“The Round House (10th Street NE)”

Cheyenne Dohawk

Investigating Where We Live (IWWL) is a four-week summer program developed by the National Building Museum in which students interpret Washington, D.C., neighborhoods through photography and creative writing. Each summer, students spend their Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays exploring selected areas of the city and developing an exhibition of their findings for display at the Museum. Since its inception in 1996, IWWL has encouraged more than 190 students to critically examine the built environment in their communities and to express themselves through creative activities.

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.

One of the earliest steps of the IWWL program teaches students how to use the functions of the digital camera correctly. With many students relying on the simple “point and shoot” technique, it is important to allow them to explore the camera in more detail. By zooming in close on a subject, changing the color options, selecting when to use flash, and adjusting the scene options, they begin to better understand the many choices they will have as photographers out in the field.

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.

Composition refers to the placement of elements in the frame of the photo. We are fortunate nowadays in that once we capture a photo on a digital camera the image automatically appears on screen and we can immediately judge its quality. Students can quickly see if they captured their subject in the way they intended. One way to help the students understand composition is the “Rule of Thirds,” which divides a photo into three parts horizontally and vertically. Where the dividing lines intersect are ideal spots for the subject of a photo. Students get a better grasp on this concept by viewing photos that have been composed using this method as well as setting their camera to a “grid” option which divides the camera screen for them and allows them to decide where the focal point of their photo will be each time. When taking photos during the neighborhood explorations, students are now better able to determine not only the photo’s subject matter, but also where the subject should be located within the photograph.

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. 

IWWL students spend a good portion of the program investigating neighborhoods in Washington. They implement the photography skills learned during the first part of the program as they begin to take photos in their assigned neighborhood. They are challenged to take photographs that best interpret the neighborhood they see.

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.”

Teaching middle school students the importance of visual communication and creative expression is a rewarding experience that demands a wide range of instructional techniques. It is important to introduce a variety of photography tools, explain key digital camera techniques, and most importantly, encourage the students to explore the myriad possibilities for capturing high-quality, intriguing images. From this perspective, students are now equipped to communicate their feelings and observations through their photos and to express themselves in new ways. Ultimately, IWWL enables students to see a new world with or without a camera. •

 

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.
 

 

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