"Portrait Lession"

October 22, 2008
In today's class, Miriam and I taught all about "portraits". We used National Geographic examples and two L-shaped pieces of cardboard, illustrating what constitutes a portrait. We explained that there are oftentimes stories behind a portraits, so this week our "Explorers" will be photojournalists. Their assignment is to take portraits, using a roll of 18 exposures, as they carry with them a journal to record information along the way about people's stories.

Each student shared his or her written homework assignment from last week, which was to write about one thing you learned in photography class, and one thing you hope or wish to learn. The answers were very interesting! It was great to hear the children talk about what they've learned so far, as each child wrote something that was unique to what he or she remembered from previous classes. One girl said (something to the extent of)--"I learned that each picture is special and valuable, so I must take my time and really look through the viewfinder, before taking a picture." I was so impressed! Other students mentioned lessons learned about angles, "what-not-to-dos", etc. The "what I wish or hope for or to learn in the future" was much less related to photography and much more related to what they hope to learn in life--which was really cute--such a playing football, going to the USA, learning how to use a computer, learning videography, etc.

This week, Miriam and I returned the first batch of developed photos to our Explorers. They squirmed with excitement, as they showed off their favorite photos to their classmates. We walked through some of their shots, talking about why the student chose to take a particular picture, what made it "good", visually-appealing, etc. I can't wait to see how the next (portrait) assignment turns out!