DRAWING WITH LIGHT
The following plan represents an outline of the activities on both cross-curricular days for the 'Drawing with Light' groups.
Thursday 15th July
Group 1
Students were equipped in pairs with an iPod Touch. Their task was to take a series of imaginative, creative and abstract photographs of details of the school building and grounds, inspired by the photographs of Aaron Siskind, making sure that the image filled the screen, was in focus and drew attention to textures and patterns.
Students then reconvened to share their images on the Tallis Perspectives website.
Group 2
Students used a combination of cyanotype (sun print) paper and work in the darkroom to create a series of paper negatives of a range of objects associated with school. These included: paper clips, drawing pins, leaves, fabric, the content of their pockets and pencil cases, scraps of wood and metal from DT etc.
The finished images were scanned/photographed and uploaded to the Tallis Photography Flickr page as a slideshow which could then be shared on the Tallis Perspectives site.
Tuesday 19th July
Group 1
Students created and documented the making of two camera obscura in classrooms. We showed the Abelardo Morell film and explored the science involved. We used heavy black fabric to cover all of the windows. We covered the opposite wall with white sheets. We opened a small hole in the black material and waited for the upside down image to emerge on the opposite wall. We captured the whole process on iPod Touches and made a stop motion film using iStopMotion.
Thursday 15th July
Group 1
Students were equipped in pairs with an iPod Touch. Their task was to take a series of imaginative, creative and abstract photographs of details of the school building and grounds, inspired by the photographs of Aaron Siskind, making sure that the image filled the screen, was in focus and drew attention to textures and patterns.
Students then reconvened to share their images on the Tallis Perspectives website.
Group 2
Students used a combination of cyanotype (sun print) paper and work in the darkroom to create a series of paper negatives of a range of objects associated with school. These included: paper clips, drawing pins, leaves, fabric, the content of their pockets and pencil cases, scraps of wood and metal from DT etc.
The finished images were scanned/photographed and uploaded to the Tallis Photography Flickr page as a slideshow which could then be shared on the Tallis Perspectives site.
Tuesday 19th July
Group 1
Students created and documented the making of two camera obscura in classrooms. We showed the Abelardo Morell film and explored the science involved. We used heavy black fabric to cover all of the windows. We covered the opposite wall with white sheets. We opened a small hole in the black material and waited for the upside down image to emerge on the opposite wall. We captured the whole process on iPod Touches and made a stop motion film using iStopMotion.
Group 2
Students make and use their own pinhole cameras using a variety of materials e.g. biscuit tins, pringle boxes etc. They also use the school’s wooden pinhole camera. Begin the day with a demo of how a pinhole camera works and famous artists who have used them e.g. Steven Pippin. Photographs are made of various aspects of the school building focusing on unusual perspectives. Students can experiment with long exposures and ghostly presences. Negative images are scanned and reversed in Photoshop (later) or reversed by hand in the darkroom. Final images (negative and positive) are scanned and uploaded to the Tallis Photography Flickr site for sharing as a slideshow on the Tallis Perspectives site.
Students make and use their own pinhole cameras using a variety of materials e.g. biscuit tins, pringle boxes etc. They also use the school’s wooden pinhole camera. Begin the day with a demo of how a pinhole camera works and famous artists who have used them e.g. Steven Pippin. Photographs are made of various aspects of the school building focusing on unusual perspectives. Students can experiment with long exposures and ghostly presences. Negative images are scanned and reversed in Photoshop (later) or reversed by hand in the darkroom. Final images (negative and positive) are scanned and uploaded to the Tallis Photography Flickr site for sharing as a slideshow on the Tallis Perspectives site.
This is what our Camera Obscura revealed, an upside down image of the school building projected on the facing wall.
Check out this slideshow of a sample of the hundreds of Hipstamatic images created by students on Day One using iPod Touches and inspired by the photographs of Aaron Siskind:
We made the following film with one of the new iPads:
Check out these interviews with some of the students evaluating their Hipstamatic images:
Here are students making photograms in the darkroom and cyanotypes.
Here's how we made the camera obscura.
Group 3
Students curated an exhibition of all the images and films created over the two days using a variety of presentation strategies. Images were suspended from the ceiling, fixed to the walls in particular arrangements and objects (like the pinhole cameras) were displayed for visitors. Students were encouraged to think about any accompanying text that visitors might need to make sense of the exhibition and the impact of dramatic lighting.
Students curated an exhibition of all the images and films created over the two days using a variety of presentation strategies. Images were suspended from the ceiling, fixed to the walls in particular arrangements and objects (like the pinhole cameras) were displayed for visitors. Students were encouraged to think about any accompanying text that visitors might need to make sense of the exhibition and the impact of dramatic lighting.
Here are some images of the exhibition we created.
On the final morning we took advantage of having two completely dark rooms to experiment with some light paintings. The students used their mobile phones and we opened the camera shutter for 20 second exposures.
It was a real pleasure working with our teams to create an amazing series of images. It would have been almost impossible to create these images without the extended learning time offered by the cross-curricular learning days.