How can photographic methods be used to preserve an ever-changing place?
In this lesson, students will use photography to tell the story of the societal systems that maintain a local place (like a body of water).
What is a photo essay, and how can one be used to inspire civic action in a local place?
- Define “photo essay”
- Explore examples of photo essays related to conservation
- Study the photography of Ansel Adams and Platon
- Identify and distinguish between the theme, topic, and story of a photo essay
- Establish photography benchmarks to refer to later on in the lesson
What photography types and techniques can be used to tell a story?
- Research and practice street photography
- Research and practice portrait photography
- Research and practice instillation/site specific photography
- Research and practice composite photography
- Learn about the process of creating a conservation photo essay
- Discover how changes in frame, scale, and position can create and release energy in a photo series
- Practice posing subjects
- Conduct candid and posed photoshoots
What story will I tell about a local place, and how?
- Plan for a photo essay
- Create a shot list
- Create a photo essay about a place in the local community
Discipline: Art
Sub-discipline(s): Photography
Grade level: 9-12
Summative Performance Task
Description: The students will create a photo essay that tells a story about a place in their local community, with the intent of inspiring civic action and/or raising awareness about a community issue. They will collect peer review feedback before turning in their final draft.
Assessment method(s): Photo essay
Assessment criteria:
- Did the student give a clear description of the system that supports the local park or lake?
- Did the student consistently photographed in the style they chose?
- Does the student show strong compositional skills? (either using the basic 10 photographic compositions or the exercises from Framed Ink vol 2)
- Do the final photographs show a variety of angles and perspectives of how the system keeps the park or lake?
- Do the final images show a story of the system?
- Did the student write a 3-5 sentence paragraph explaining their photo’s purpose?
Taking Informed Action
Description: The students will share their photo essays with community members.
Assessment method(s): Physical photo gallery; digital story map (ArcGIS)
Assessment criteria:
- Do the order and orientation of the student’s photos enhance the story they are trying to tell?
- Did the student add any elements of creativity to their presentation?
- Did the student properly frame their photos (either by adding digital borders or using physical frames with mattes)?
- Did the student include relevant and well-written artist’s statements for their photos?
- Did the student use colors, lines, and shapes that complement their photos well (if applicable)?
- Did the student properly use digital photo tags (if applicable)?
- Did the students properly print their photos on photo paper (if applicable)?
Types of activities featured in this lesson plan...
Nebraska and C3 Standards
FA 12.2.1 Students will use the creative process to formulate a plan and implement aesthetic choices in artwork.
FA12.2.1a Analyze multiple ideas and materials to demonstrate planning and refining.
FA12.2.1.c Engage in making art to communicate and connect aesthetic theories, to self-expression (e.g., imitationalism, expressionism, institutionalism, instrumentalism, formalism, contextualism)
FA 12.2.2.b Create a portfolio, digital collection, or community display in a professional manner
FA 12.2.4.a Investigate how artists define, shape and empower their lives (e.g., personal life, lifelong opportunities, careers).
FA 12.2.4.d Connect images, objects, and a personal work of art to convey a story, familiar experience, or connection to the world
D1.3.9-12. Explain points of agreement and disagreement experts have about interpretations and applications of disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a supporting question.
D2.Civ.8.9-12. Evaluate social and political systems in different contexts, times, and places, that promote civic virtues and enact democratic principles.
D2.Geo.2.9-12. Use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships between the locations of places and regions and their political, cultural, and economic dynamics.
D3.2.9-12. Evaluate the credibility of a source by examining how experts value the source.
D4.3.9-12. Present adaptations of arguments and explanations that feature evocative ideas and perspectives on issues and topics to reach a range of audiences and venues outside the classroom using print and oral technologies (e.g., posters, essays, letters, debates, speeches, reports, and maps) and digital technologies (e.g., Internet, social media, and digital documentary).
Interdisciplinary Connections
Give your students a more integrated educational experience
Overlapping standards and skills
- English: In this lesson, students learn how to tell a story through a series of photographs. In an English class, students investigate the basic elements of a story: setting, characters, plot, and resolution. They also learn about the importance of, purpose, perspective, audience, and medium. Consider collaborating with an English teacher.
- English: Many of the activities in this lesson involve writing. These activities offer opportunities to assess the student’s writing skills. Language arts standards related to grade-level writing skills will be relevant. Consider collaborating with an English teacher.
- Fine Arts: Many of the same compositional skills apply to all forms of two-dimensional art. This means that much of what a student learns in a photography class will also apply to a painting/drawing class, and vice versa. Also, in this lesson, students will learn how to tell a story using a visual medium; many of the skills they learn would also apply to an art class. Consider collaborating with a fine arts teacher.
- Geography: In this lesson, students will use photography to tell a story about a local place. In a geography class, they could dive deeper into the concept of place as it relates to both natural features and human culture. Also, exploring the geography of their chosen place would help your students better understand the complexities of the stories they tell about it. Furthermore, if your students will be doing water testing at a local body of water and then creating maps based on their data (or helping other students do this), taking photos and recording the GPS locations of where they were taken could greatly enhance those maps. Consider collaborating with a geography teacher.
- Civics: In this lesson, students will use photography to investigate how (and how well) societal systems maintain a local place, and then share what they discover with their community. Besides learning about their community’s infrastructure, your students will also get a better sense of what it means to be a responsible, active citizen by using their photography to inspire civic action and/or raise awareness for an issue. Furthermore, they will have to identify relevant community stakeholders with which to share their work. Consider collaborating with a civics teacher.
- Science: If your students will be doing water testing at a local body of water (or helping other students do this), they may be able to enhance the data collected by taking photos of the testing site and/or the water testing process.
Relevant lessons from other disciplines
English Lesson: How do we write an effective paragraph using CREW?
Science Lesson:What can aquatic organisms tell us about the health of a body of water?
Science Lesson:How does nutrient pollution affect the water in my community?
Science Lesson: How vulnerable is my community to the threat of an algal bloom?
Geography Lesson: How can maps contribute to our understanding of local water quality issues?
Geoscience Lesson: How do longitude and latitude help us analyze data and solve problems?