This morning, Alan Weintraut started his review of our photos from the Dylan Smith session by asking for a list of shared terminology: subject, noise, rule of thirds, etc. If we want to share ideas, it helps to be speaking the same language.
Duh. But it's so easy to forget to do what is so obvious.
I followed a student around one recent Saturday as she followed the Youth Energy Squad (YES) for her first try at a photo story. (It might have been her first try at taking photos.) It was important to get a shot of the YES students on the porch. They were asking a homeowner if they could do an analysis of her home that would help her to save on energy costs. I doubted that the photographer was getting what she needed from the safety of the sidewalk, so I encouraged her to get the shot from different angles. Thus, the Batman photo.
I advise a student newspaper without having a journalism class, and I draw staff for the paper from three separate schools in one building. The biggest challenge is figuring out how to gather them in one spot to do some teaching. I end up teaching the same things one-on-one, over and over.
And quite often, I miss the obvious.
Sara Hennes
Cody High School
Detroit, Michigan
Holy shot, Batman is right! I think this brings up a discussion on assumption and reliance. I think we cross into dangerous territory when we assume our students can take pictures. We have to teach photography - what makes a good picture, what makes a bad picture etc., - just like Dave Seibert spoke to us but on a scaled-down "here's our equipment and this is how you should use it" level. I liked Alan's suggestion of having the reporter responsible for the photo, too, and I have used that in the past and intend to implement it again. Can I still have a chief photographer or should that position be more like an editor, someone who looks at the photo and approves or disapproves?
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