Shoot from the hip, the shoulder, your feet and the sky
Or.......stuff I have learned about photographic documentation.
I love taking photographs. I have no great skill and don't entirely understand how to use my camera (ok, don't understand at all once it's not on full auto) but some people tell me that I take good photos and I am always chuffed to see how many people have used shots I have taken of them as profile photos on facebook.
These photos were taken yesterday at a wonderful CPD session at Cedars Infants. Dominic Kelly, a storyteller from Lancaster, will be working with welfare staff, TAs, parents and teachers over the next two terms on a whole school storytelling project which we hope will inspire a love of story, a passion for language and will raise the confidence and self-esteem of both adults and children. Yesterday's 3hr session provided all the school staff with an opportunity to play with stories, learn a little about the techniques of storytelling and build their confidence in anticipation of the project.
I hope that the photos capture some of the fun and energy of the day and that they communicate the beginning of our storytelling adventure together. Someone said yesterday that they were an example of how easy it is to document activities, and they were right. If I can do it, anyone can.
So, here's what I know (inspired by the lists of @marcusromer) - please feel free to add to the list!
- Be clear about the purpose of the photos. Yesterday was just about capturing the spirit of the day. If we had been using it as a tool for measuring progression, capturing a starting point, I probably would have taken video or looked for a wider range of images linked to verbal/written documentation (just thinking, maybe I should have done that) - OK, be clear before you start and remember when you didn't do that last time to do it next time (Cath)
- Shoot from the hip, the shoulder, feet and the sky. I am quite a controlled person and recognised that lots of my photos ended up looking the same. Matt Gartside from Zumamedia told me to hold the camera in different places and not look through the viewfinder. It is more likely you will get an interesting shot and less likely that people will notice that you are taking photos and assume the 'cheese' position. He even recommended looking in the opposite direction to the one in which your camera is pointing (haven't quite got the hang of that yet)
- Take loads and loads of pictures. I took about 150 shots yesterday and will probably show about 15 to any other human being - if I was being really tough I would probably show about 3. The more photos you take, the more chance you have of getting some good images.
- Use what you've got - camera phones can be excellent and I am increasingly using the tools on my phone for documentation. Stills and video are pretty good and apps like hipstamatic and retro camera on smartphones can help make a quick shot into an engaging image (check out @documentally http://OurManInside.com for someone who makes great use of the tools on his phone for documenting.)
- Get help! It's hard to participate/facilitate and take loads of photos. I am full of good intentions then get to the end of the session and notice my camera, still in its bag, unused. The 'shooting from the hip' technique helps here - I just carry the camera round with me whilst doing other stuff, or I duck out of participating for short periods of time (which I had to do yesterday), or I ask someone else to document as well (either a volunteer, participant, TA, teacher). Children and young people take some excellent photos and it's always useful to see the activity from their perspective.
- Edit I'm not any better at taking pics than anyone else, I just don't show people the crap stuff. I was going to show you a collection of legs, noses and floor pics here, but there were deleted even before they left the camera. And there were a lot of them - an awful lot of them!
- Crop, adjust, fettle (hang on, that could be the sequel to 'Eat, Pray, Love') I still use photoshop when appropriate, but mostly use the really simple (and free) tools in Picassa to crop images. Most images can be improved by cropping, adjusting light etc. I turned some of the images into black and white - there was so much colour in the room and I hadn't got my lighting right so it was hard to see what was actually happening. Switching to black and white helped draw focus to the action.
- Share the pics and share them quick - Even if I haven't had chance to fettle them, I try to pick one or two out and get them sent to people - I'll either email them to teachers or participants, send links to picassa albums or get them on twitter/facebook/flickr (if I have permission) as soon as possible. Photos speak volumes, but they can't communicate if they sit in your camera or on your hard drive.
- Have fun! If you have a digital camera, 300 shots will cost you nothing to take and share. Experiment, learn, play (it will never replace crop, adjust fettle though). I find that people really value the effort you put in and it's just another way of contributing a bit of creativity and spirit to the world.
There must be loads more - please, please add bits!
Oh, and I'll keep you up to date with the Storytelling Project. It's going to be a goodun!
