Day One

Today was day one of Afuera de la Lente.  It started off with an icebreaker to get the kids excited, moving, and comfortable in their new surroundings.  The children then created a list of rules to follow throughout the ongoing club.  You know, the usual – be on time, be responsible, be respectful, have a positive attitude, etc.  Then we moved on to photography.

I asked each of the children to write down why they wanted to learn and explore photography.  I was so impressed with their answers.  Beyond the common answers of ‘to take pictures of nature,’ ‘to take pictures of my family and friends,’ many of the children wrote that they wanted to know their community better through photography.  I loved this!  That’s exactly what photography is for – to explore and know your world better through photography.  In addition to the writing we will be doing, I think/hope the children will find this program very beneficial to understand who they are, what is their role in their community, and even broader, in their planet.

After we talked about why we wanted to learn photography, we talked about why we take photos.  The kids mentioned things such as to have memories, to tell a story, to make a point, to know something better.  Again, I was quite impressed with their answers.  To get them to begin understanding photography and what makes a good photo, we began looking through photo magazines I had on hand.  Each child had to pick a photo that called their attention and present it to the class, explaining why they were drawn to that photo.  As they spoke, I jotted down words they mentioned that relate to photography, such as light, color, subject, etc.

Then we moved on to the Visual Thinking Strategies methodology, a research-based teaching method that improves critical thinking and language skills through discussions of visual images.  Their website states that, “by using VTS, students learn to make meaning from the world around them, to gain confidence in their own ideas while respecting those of others, and to contribute to a thoughtful debate amongst a group of peers“.  And this is where we really began to talk about elements of design in photography, such as light, point of view, shapes, textures, lines, repetition, and so on.  We looked at many different examples of photos exhibiting these types of elements.  The children enjoyed seeing all the different photos, and I never ceased to be surprised by any of their comments.

That was it for day one.  Of course, on our way out of class, the children couldn’t help but goof off with their cameras.

Photo taken by Katherin:

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