Web Wednesday
Web Wednesday is a feature of the online “Big Deal Book”.
This Wednesday’s theme is Visual Literacy
Check out the book for more online deals. You’ll find everything from grant opportunities to free and inexpensive finds
Picture This!
Visual literacy is the ability to understand communications composed of visual images as well as the ability to use visual imagery to communicate to others. Encourage your students to view the photographs on the Kodak ”Stories Featuring Photography” Web page. Then discuss these questions with your
students:• Which picture tells the best story?
• What message or messages does it contain?
• How does it communicate them?
• What techniques does the photographer use to get his/her message across?
See below for more ideas on how to integrate media literacy into your curriculum.
Does the Camera Ever Lie?
Photographers often want to communicate a thought or emotion with their work. Although the camera lens views the world impartially, the photographer constantly judges, deciding what to photograph and how to photograph it—focusing on creating a strong image that will communicate the desired message. The words that accompany a photograph may also influence the way we “read” the picture.
The examples in Does the Camera Ever Lie? have been drawn from Alexander Gardner’s 1865
Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of the War. They reveal that in order to achieve a more striking effect or to cater to the interest of the public, Gardner sometimes rearranged the elements in his photographs or departed from the facts in his writing. Have your students compare the photographer’s 1865 narratives with a contemporary analysis.
Through the Photographer’s Eye
Armed with cameras, seventh-grade students from Mark Twain Middle School in Los Angeles, California ventured out into their communities and came back to school with creative compositions. The
Community PhotoWorks online gallery displays the students’ photographic and literary compositions and offers a thorough method of analyzing photography that can be applied virtually in any classroom. Encourage your students to create and analyze their own photographic compositions.
