The Impact of an Image

Whether they are part of advertisements, on the Internet, in a magazine, or in a newspaper, most of our pupils see photographs every day. But what goes into these publications before the images are ready to be viewed by the public? Inform your class about technology and visual representation with a unit on photojournalism; the end goal being the creation of a newspaper that includes images along with text.

Expose Your Class to Photojournalism

Start with introducing your class to a variety of images; bring in newspapers and magazines to look through. I’ve always found beautiful and moving images in issues of National Geographic, and Life magazine. While these two publications are now out of circulation, they were originally conceived as photojournalistic publications. Libraries often have copies of these magazines. You might also find some images and do a photojournalism slide show. Some class members might already know of some famous images. If they do, look them up on the spot or ask these individuals to bring in a copy for the class to see.

Ask class members to write a few notes while they are viewing the pictures. Once they have seen a variety of photographs, conduct a brief class brainstorm. Which photos stood out the most? Why?

Select Topics and Images for the Newspaper Project

Topic choice is one way you can really personalize the newspaper for your unique group. Keep in mind, your students need to be able to come up with photographs that are appropriate for the topic. Asking your class to take photos for a newspaper on World War II, for example, might be next to impossible. They might be able to stage a scenario, but the truth behind journalism is lost when the photo is overly posed and/or out of context.

You might have class members conduct interviews and create biographical publications on their classmates. Or, you might consider allowing small groups to come up with their own topics. Student choice could be the key to making this project relevant.

Frame, Focus, Capture

While your access to cameras may depend greatly on what your school can provide for you, there are some options. Depending on the grade you teach, some of your students might own their own cameras, and many have surprisingly effective cameras on their cell phones. Allow class members to take photos outside of class, so that they can use a family camera or borrow one from a friend. Your school might also have cameras or iPads that you can borrow. If none of these options are available, there are always disposable cameras. When developed, many disposable cameras now come with a disc, so learners will still be able to interact with the images in a digital environment.

Before sending fresh photographers out to snap some shots, come up with some basic rules for photography. Looking at famous images, ask class members to point out what they notice about the pictures:

• How are they framed?
• What angle are they taken from?
• What are the subjects doing in each image?

Then, demonstrate how to take a photograph. You don’t have to be a master photographer to teach your class how to take photos! If your images have flaws, treat it as a learning experience and have class members point out how you could improve your photograph.

Once everyone has a basic idea of how to compose a photograph, have them practice in class and at home. The location where you want them to take their photos might depend on the topic of their upcoming newspaper.

Creating Appropriate Written Content

To make this a cross-curricular assignment, require photographers to create written content for their newspapers. In the publishing world, these tasks are often separate. And yet, as we head toward more exclusive online publications, fewer people are on staff and these staff members are required to cover multiple tasks.

Question your class about real publications. What usually accompanies images in a newspaper or magazine? You will most likely hear: captions, stories, and/or headlines. Look at some examples and require class members to include a caption with each photograph and to make sure their images correspond with a story and a headline.

Technology and the Common Core

The Common Core Standards emphasize the use of technology and the ability to create multi-media products. Prime your pupils for the type of assessments they might expect by incorporating technology into this project in whatever way you can.

Here are a few ideas of ways to use technology:

• Create a newspaper template on Google Docs that individuals or groups can copy and alter to their needs while they are in the computer lab. This will provide a basic framework for their work as well as a scaffold to help learners work with technology and formatting.
• If your class is more advanced with technology, have individuals or groups compose their own newspaper layout. Plan mini-lessons on cropping, formatting, and layout design to help them through the process.
• Lead pupils to helpful layout resources, like templates in Pages and Microsoft Word.

Resources

Photojournalistic Techniques

Here is a plan that teaches specific photography techniques. Photographers focus in particular on four concepts: disturbance, proximity, vantage point, and place. This resource also provides images that you can use as examples.

Civil War Photography

Demonstrate history and powerful images through war photography. Photojournalism is common in war reporting. For this unit, class members study and analyze the influential Civil War photography of Matthew B. Brady.

Layout and Reporting Practice

A plan that outlines a unit on journalism and photojournalism. After viewing models, learners practice with Pagemaker and make their out layouts. Journalists can find out what impact their photographs and layouts have on their audience when they publish their work.