Proposal for Final Project

Photography on Location

By Thos Preston

            I would like to use portraiture in my final project.  Students on Location could perhaps be one idea for a title.  Not sure.  I got this idea from Ivette, our teacher, who made some interesting suggestions on how I could accomplish this, as well as links and examples from other photographers. 

The main one she suggested is Dawoud Bey: Class Pictures.  I am extremely inspired by him and have read his book from cover to cover.   He takes photographs of students in a school setting, just like I’ve been doing for over twenty or more years; i.e. individual portraits with the subjects not smiling at all.  Just looking normal, exactly the way I like to take pictures.  I’ve only become aware of Dawoud in the last year.

Interestingly enough, I was looking through the photography articles on FLIP, an app for news, and discovered another photographer, Julian Germain.  His book is titled Classroom Portraits, where he photographs an entire classroom of students all together in various countries.  I ordered the book immediately, and it should be here by tomorrow.

I personally used Piccaboo to publish a book of student portraits about a year ago.  It shows my style of the connection I have with my students.  As mentioned before, I don’t like smiley pictures, just that normal expression on the subject’s face.  I titled it “Don’t Say Cheese”, which now seems a bit corny.   But the pictures express what I mean.

How will I go about doing this project?  Well, there’s a lot to think about.  Since I teach almost every period of the day, it will be very difficult to set up posed photographs, which I am much better at than candid, on the spot exposures, especially with low natural light sources.  I must somehow connect the subjects to the location (school building) that they are in, in order to show how these two entities are connected.  Usually I am good at taking photos when students are doing independent work, such as labs and manipulating materials, but posed portraits cannot be done while I’m teaching.

If I do decide to include posed portraits, I will have to probably have to do it during the times the kids are at recess.  On the other hand, taking pictures of the location, Carmalt School, will be easy.  They can be done anytime; but the question is, what about the school should I photograph?  Should a subject be included in each shot of the structure?

Another possible title might be, “A Serious Moment in the Life of a Student”, a title I’ve wanted to use for years for a picture book portfolio.  But that depends on the type of photos I end up taking.  I really do not know at this time.

Below is an example of one of Dawoud Bey’s photos, and then an older example of one of my photos that is similar in nature.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Tschüss!

        

photograph by Dawoud Bey

photograph by me