Фотография в медиаобразовании

Фотография в медиаобразовании

Фотография стала первым средством массовой информации, которое

могло показать людям «реальное» изображение других людей, знакомых и

географически отдаленных мест и событий. Сегодня, фотография

продолжает оставаться неотъемлемым компонентом новостей, любых

печатных медиа от газет и журналов до книг. Глядя на фотоизображение,

мы можем улыбнуться, нахмуриться или задуматься. Как в детстве мы

пролистывали книгу в поиске картинок, так часто просматривая газетные

заголовки, мы останавливаем взгляд на фотографиях. Фотоальбомы с

запечатленными радостными или торжественными моментами оживляют

наши воспоминания... Может ли фотография считаться объективным

отражением реальности? Как фотография отображает замысел автора?

Какие средства используются для достижения желаемого эффекта?

Учитель может помочь своим ученикам интерпретировать

фотоизображения, способствуя тем самым развитию навыков критического

мышления.

“Photography is a system of visual editing. At bottom, it is a matter of

surrounding with a frame a portion of one's cone of vision, while standing in the

right place at the right time. Like chess, or writing, it is a matter of choosing

from among given possibilities, but in the case of photography the number of

possibilities is not finite but infinite.”

John Szarkowski ( director emeritus of the Department of Photography at The

Museum of Modern Art, New York, the author of The Photographer's Eye,

Photography Until Now, and many other works on photography)

Useful sites: http://photographymuseum.com, www.cnn.com (a year in pictures),

http://www.time.com/time/yip/2003.

Technology and materials: photo cameras, photographs.

Unit objectives:

students will:

- describe the photo in English;

- identify and describe the basic composition terms (framing, arrangement,

placement, lighting, color);

- discuss photo images;

- take photos, display them for the class and explain their intentions as

photographers.

Activity1. Family Album.

Media concepts: representation

Language skills: speaking, listening.

For this activity ask your students to bring their baby pictures to class.. First

have them put all their pictures on one table, shuffle them and ask the students to

choose one picture (but not their own). Each student is to describe the child in

the picture and, together with class, guess who is depicted in the picture. Talk to

the students about photography in our lives. For example, family albums are, in

a way, a family’s history, written not in words, but in images. Usually these are

the images of happy moments in life, like a birthday celebration, vacation,

friends’ party, a new baby in the family, etc. Even after many years, the

photographs have a power to trigger emotions and memories connected to the

moment when they were taken. What are characteristics of family pictures? (E.g.

people usually pose standing or sitting in a row, smiling, holding each other,

etc.) How many of you have ever taken a picture of family or friends? What are

some other objects that you photographed (pets, landscape, historical sights,

etc.)? How many of you have your own camera? Photography was invented in

1827, and the word comes from 2 Greek words: photo (light) and graph (to

write). What does the word “photography” literally mean in this case? (Writing

with light). Cameras have changed greatly during their relatively short history.

What types of cameras are familiar to you? What are recent types of cameras

that have appeared on the market? (Digital camera) How are they different from

others?

Activity 2 Who am I?

Media concepts: representation, language, audience

Language skills: speaking, listening.

In case digital cameras are available, for the home assignment, ask your students

to form teams of 3-4 people, and take picture of someone they know well. Try

to have the photograph tell us something about the personality of a person in the

picture (using props, body language, gestures, facial expression, background). In

the next lesson, students exchange photos with another group (e.g. there are 3

groups in your class, each consisting of 4 students, so there are 3 pictures. Group

A gives their picture to Group B, Group B- to Group C, Group C- to Group A.

Each group tries to decide who the person is, what he/she is like, what is his/hers

occupation, mood at the time when the photo is taken, his/her personality,

hobbies and importantly, what made them think so). After each group presents

their findings to the class, the authors of the photograph tell their version. This is

a good exercise for realizing how different people looking at the same photo see

different things.

Another option:

In preparation for this lesson, find a photo of a man or a woman and bring it to

class. Show the photo to your students and ask them to write down what they

think of this person. How old is he/she? What is he/she? (What does she/he do

for a living?) What kind of person do you think he/she is? Why do you think so?

(What elements of the photo made you think so?)

Activity 3 Reading a photograph

Media concepts: representative, language

Language skills: reading, speaking, listening

This activity will introduce the students to some basics of composition. You can

write them on the blackboard or provide photocopies of this page for your

students. (Adapted from Seeing and Believing by Ellen Krueger and Mary

T.Christel)

FRAME

PLACEMENT

ARRANGEMENT

LIGHTING

COLOR

Prepare and show to the students some photographs from the book, slides or

single copies. A good source is the web site of Pulitzer-winning photographs at

www.pulitzer.org . Sample questions to ask at this stage:

• What is the first thing that you notice? Why? What attracts your attention

to it?

• When you continue to look at the photograph, what else do you see?

• What is in the foreground, middle ground and background of the picture?

• How does the photographer use color and lighting?

• What is the camera position? From where could this picture be taken, e.g.

was the photographer sitting on the ground, or standing on hill, or stairs, or

from a helicopter? How would the main subject of the picture look if it

was taken from another angle? Why do you think the photographer chose

this angle?

• What is the message of this photograph? Do you agree with the proverb

“A picture is worth a thousand words”? What did the photographer want

to say with this picture?

Activity 4 In Focus

Media concepts: technology, language, representation.

Language skills: writing

Ask the students to produce a photo, paying attention to the choice of objects,

camera angle, lighting, and so on. Encourage them to be creative and come up

with interesting images of a subject they choose. They can gain some

professional advice by visiting www.kodak.com , a useful site that gives tips for

taking better pictures and shows examples. Students bring their photos into the

classroom, and on a separate sheet of paper, write the text (3-5 sentences

explaining their idea, the meaning of the photograph). Photos and written texts

are displayed on the table randomly; students match pictures with texts, then the

photographs with the written text can be displayed on a bulletin board or other

surface.

Activity 5 Story Time

Media concepts: representation, audiences.

Language skills: writing, speaking

For this activity you can use original photos or make photocopies of pictures

from different sources or if the computer lab is available, you can use Power

Point. Divide the class into groups of 4-5. Give each group a set of the same 5-7

photographs. Each group should then put the photos in order that, in their

opinion, could tell a story. Students in groups should develop the story and in

the end of the class present it for their classmates.