The fourth in a series of articles looking at the work of Creative Partnerships around the country, this issue looks at how the experience of professional photographers can bring a different way of learning into the classroom.
When a photojournalist takes digital cameras into schools, teachers and children begin learning to see the world with new eyes, writes Barry Lewis.
I have been a professional photographer for 30 years but I used to be a chemistry teacher before my photography hobby led me to the Royal College and then a career as a photojournalist. About three years ago, I began a personal project called Visual Noise. Using a ?digital camera? I walked the streets of London photographing the ?extraordinary in the ordinary? ? looking closely at the diverse juxtapositions of rubbish, graffiti, signage and messaging that form our street environments.
Using the digital camera as a way of working with groups to look at the world around us became increasingly interesting and I discussed the idea of working in this way with schools through Creative Partnerships London North. At the same time, Robert Jarvis, a sound artist had suggested a parallel sound project. We decided to work together with school communities and our project, ?Where do ideas come from,? thus emerged.
Fourteen schools, primary and secondary, are working with us. In each, we work with a group of ten, preferably five adults (a mix of teachers, parents, assistants, governors, and sometimes the head teacher) and five pupils, over three days. The two artists (four sound artists and two photojournalists work in pairs) first visit the school, explain the concept and sort out practical problems such as projecting images.
On day one, I hand out ten point-and-shoot digital cameras. We then play games to break down the teacher/pupil age and role divide, leading towards ways of seeing and listening. By noon we are talking about a sense of place and ways of photographing the area around the school. By about 12.30 we start photographing the area around the school, always in adult/child pairs for safety. The benefits of digital photography are that there is no film to pay for (each card has 100 pictures), no rules and no such thing as a good or bad photograph. I encourage everyone to take more than one picture of anything and emphasize getting closer ? ?you should be able to touch the object you are photographing with your other hand?. We return around 2.30, full of stories of photographic adventures, and have a debriefing while I download and prepare images for projection.
Day two starts with our room set up as a cinema and we look at the group?s photographs ? between 600 and 1,000 images. These are projected and individuals talk through their experiences as the images race by. The second stage, still screen-based, is one of the most challenging, to reduce the number of images by 90%, in a way that the group is comfortable with. We are also looking for strands in the work that can be developed later in the day. As individual themes emerge the cameras are re-allocated with a far more focused brief. Instead of 100 pictures, only three pictures are to be taken in the next hour, thus encouraging far more reflection and scrutiny. Of these we select just ten to be used for the final day when the sound artist and the group work together to create a soundtrack and final piece.
What has been the response from the groups? All the kids love it and gain in confidence as they choose their images.
There is an obvious excitement over the three days, time flies and no one wants it to finish. For myself, it is the resurgence of optimism and energy from the staff that is the most important aspect; they clearly want to pass on what they have done through the school. One secondary head who photographed the school?s locked doors, security cameras and barred windows said, ?I have never really seen the school this way before.? An art teacher talked about learning how to look again and a special needs teacher said that the children sustained a level of discussion when looking at their photographs that he had never seen before.
But my firm belief is that it is the process ? the journey ? that matters, more than the images. We could have chucked out all the photographs ? but we have started a process of individual creativity that is far more significant and exciting.
Using digital image and sound production in schools: some tips
? Choosing cameras: the cheapest camera is not necessarily the best buy. These cameras will be used by lots of different age groups and should be simple and strong. Shop around online for good prices ? try amazon.co.uk or sevendayshop.com or morgancomputers.co.uk for good value, refurbished cameras
? Good buys: The Konica Revio KD-5012 (5 mega pixel) can be found for around £120 and the Olympus C5050 (5 mega pixel) and very tough, can be found for around £230
? Cards: Each camera needs a 128 MB card which costs about £30 and you will need a card reader that will cost £15-£20
? Laptop and software: the laptop should preferably have an integrated DVD burner as this is the best way to store and file the images. The most useful software (PC and MAC) is I-view ? this has both a database storage system and a lightbox for instant sorting and a slide show and sound files can be attached ? costs about £60. PowerPoint is also useful for projection
? Projector: projecting the images at 6 feet x 4 feet makes all the difference to how the group views and selects the images. Digital projectors cost in the region of £1,200 but most schools will already have one
? Sound: a digital recorder and software should cost around £120. We used a variety of instruments that we found in the school music room.