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Photographic project with 12 year old pupils

Hi ! I'm a primary school teacher and my pupils who know that I'm passionate about photography want to start a project in class with me using cameras... Do you guys have any ideas of activities I could do with them. I know @jazzie does these kind of things. Thanks in advance !! I have two weeks to prepare the project while on holiday !! Kateli

9 comments

jazzie Hi Kateli! I already commented on your pic as you may have seen 😄 Some other Ideas you might like:

_Tiny people pics: There are tiny people who are a bit bigger than mine so you don't need macro lenses (I bought them here: shop.bahnorama.ch/de/12583/pre... ) as they are small they can be illuminated with any light source available, even small ones as the light of a smartphone, with bike lights or with a pocket lamp. With this special glue (shop.bahnorama.ch/de/45264/noc...) you can place them everywhere and remove and replace them several times. The pupils could also build a 'stage' for them, but as you want them to take pics primarily you might want them to work with the surroundings that are available.

_different frame, different message - discuss this famous pic with them ( vernetztebildmedien.wordpress.... - sorry, it's in german...) and let them find situations that look very different when you just show a detail or 'the complete'. Maybe they're a bit too young for this idea.

_basic composition and light experiences, such as arranging two white stripes of paper on a white 'studio', illuminating them with one or several little light sources and a reflector/diffusor and taking pics in different light situations and from different perspectives. It seems to be a very uninteresting setting, but that makes it creative! Such a small arrangement can become 'architecture' or 'sculpture' just by the choice of the perspective and illumination.

_go on a photo walk, especially in the evening during / after sunset. Encourage them to take pics of anything trying to make it look interesting. Use some light sources. Their preferred pics could then be used as the start of a little series.

_light painting. But they'll be so fond of doing it that they will always forget to look out for the background. So it is much about composition besides the technique. And I don't know what hardware you have, if no cameras are available it could become difficult. But some smartphones even do have the possibility to take long time exposure nowadays.

general: if no photographic equipment is available, use white paper or styropor as reflector and a cardboard frame with transparency paper (or baking paper) as a diffusor.
the smaller the subject is, the smaller the light source can be.

Hope that these ideas are inspiring -
I'll write more if something more will be crossing my mind. And of course if other users would share their ideas I'd be reading with huge interest always looking for new ideas :-)

Kateli Thank you so so much. I'll study your ideas during the holidays. 🙏🏻

Jean-Francois CARETTE Bonjour Kateli.L'actualité est beaucoup axée sur l'écologie et l'environnement.Vous pouvez peut-être les sensibiliser à ce sujet et organiser des sorties,des reportages,en associant certains parents ,en invitant des écolos..Hello Kateli. The news is very much focused on ecology and the environment. You can perhaps sensitize them on this subject and organize outings, reports, by associating certain parents, by inviting ecologists.

Kateli Good idea. 😊

Kazzi Hi there! From what I remember, Canon had a campaign called "take the leap" - canon.com.au/explore/challenge... - and I loved it, also @Kindzalka has done it. And for Your pupils it could give really creative results!

Kateli Thanks Kazziz. 😊 😊 😊
Hope you're doing OK?!

Kazzi Yes, I'm fine, thank You :) Missing You, missing Tooka - but I've just reinstalled my computer's system and I hope to finally properly use Lightroom :)

Kazzi Also: during my (sadly, short) period of attending photography classes on my first year of studies, we had a nice project: take 24 or 36 photos, black and white, no development or editing, that show Your day. 36 photos only, no more shutter button pressing. It requires of them to have their cameras, but it gave me quite a nice motivation to catch best moments of the day :)

Joanna I like this idea :) Especially since children are very creative and it's great to see the world from their perspective.