Monday / Tuesday April 24 and 25 selection and deflection

Learning targets:

I can respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives; synthesize comments, claims, and evidence made on all sides of an issue;

I can propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that probe reasoning and evidence.

I can integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media .

I can present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective.

I can analyze nuances in the meaning of words (images) with similar denotations. 

I can make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest. 

I can adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks.

Important information: I will come around to check on missing material. If you have it NOW, you will receive full credit; otherwise, even with legal absences, the material is late; so is worth 50 points. Do get it in to erase any zeros.

To begin, take a look at this 4 minute video that looks at the purpose behind photography

Note that on Wednesday, everyone will choose a photojournalist to reseach and share. Details to come. 

ways to see

You have already practiced identifying types of shots: close up, medium and establishing. As well, you have practiced applying photographic techniques to an image and how it helps to convey the meaning behind a photo through organization-phi grid and rule of thirds- patterns, symmetry, texture, depth of field and line organization (creating movement on a flat surface through triangular organization.)  These words should be a part of your photojournalist vocabulary. Make sure you are comfortable using these terms.

 

Today we are adding in two more terms:

Deflection and Selection

There is a long and dignified tradition of documentary work

 in which writers, photographers, filmmakers, and journalists 

set out to create records or accounts of events, people, and 

places that might otherwise go unnoticed or misunderstood. 

These records are meant to raise questions and to function 

as calls to action.

Photographers and filmmakers have contributed to this tradition as

well. In New York at the turn of the century, photographers like Jacob

Riis and Lewis Hine exposed how poor families and their children were

crowded into tenements. Throughout the depression, photographers

like Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange made vivid images of the lives of

the people who were living under harsh and difficult conditions. A

relatively recent example of filmmakers who work in this tradition are

the records – made by both amateurs and professional (e.g. Spike Lee) –

who captured the devastation that Hurricane Katrina wrought on the

lives of ordinary people living in the lower Ninth Ward.

Familiarize yourself with  the terns SELECTION and DEFLECTION and their meaning. You will be revisiting them often these next few weeks. They too should become part of your vocabulary.

Think of selection and deflection as major creative

and ethical issues that authors and image-makers face when

doing documentary work on behalf of others.

Selection: What an author (photographer, 

filmmaker) chooses to draw a reader’s 

/ viewer’s attention to.

Deflection: What an author (photographer, 

filmmaker) chooses to push into the 

background downplay, or leave

out entirely. (This concept is more difficult and requires lateral thought and immagination on the viewer's part.)

Assignment:

Look carefully at the images and read the accompanying text. Take your time and associate the text and images in your mind. (photograpy and journalism)

In a well-written couple of paragraphs of approximate 250-300 words, discuss how the contributing photographer and journalist told this story in a way that was respectful of the young man, his family, and community.

In other words, what was said and how it was said? What

choices did the journalists make about what they included and how they discussed what

they saw and heard? (selection and deflection). 

Make sure to use specific evidence from the story.

A Young Father's Balancing Act