Learning captured at Holy Trinity

 





These are some of the pictures we took on Wednesday- all groups tried to capture learning of various types during the afternoon.  There was lots going on outside so one group chose photos of the allotments.  Art projects have been important in school recently, so another group took pictures of displays.  Generally, capturing learning in classes seemed to be more successful this week, as we got more confident about saying what we wanted!  We thought it was funny when we took a picture of Miss McKeown critiquing art work and then we critiqued the photo of her critiquing!

What do you think Graham?  We have saved more pictures for you to see when you come in after the holiday.

Also teachers know that they can phone us anytime they have something that they want us to have photos of.  Mrs Wilkinson says she'll be doing some work on i pads after half term, so we can go in then to take pictures.

Famous photographers

Last Friday we did some research about photographers who were famous for making different types of photos.

Each challenge group then decided on one photographer and this name will become their group name.

We decided on:

Team Bailey, after DAVID BAILEY the British fashion photographer, who was famous in the 1960's for photographing famous women.  He's been married 4 times and he also loves Picasso art works!

Team Samaras, after NICHOLAS SAMARAS a Greek photographer, who takes underwater photos.  He takes pictures of fish, divers and shipwrecks.

Team Bellavia, after CARLO BELLAVIA, a photographer who took strange pictures that looked surreal.  E.g. Body parts!

Team Ritter, after the German photographer who takes landscape photographs.

Outside Photography

This week we went outside to take pictures of nature.  Even though the weather was cold , it HAD been warm in the previous few days, so we wanted to capture what Spring is like in Holy Trinity's school grounds.

We split into 4 groups this week and we went to different places around school to look for signs of Spring.  Below are some of the pictures we took.  please feel free to comment on what you think...

We've made a critique on each of the pictures we chose.  Mrs Hollows says she'd like to frame some of them for her house!!

We liked the way the photo showed a mixture of town and country.

This picture was chosen because it showed different stages of growth.

This picture showed some pretty flowers, but we didn't realise that it was blurry until it was on the big screen.  however we still liked the foliage it showed.

The daisy in this picture was one of many shots we took, but we felt that the angle it was taken at showed it off well.

Loved this rhubarb- it looked like a jungle, as the photographer got right down into it.

Photography Assignment: Nature

Last week, when we talked about what your next assignment should be, several children said that they would like to go outside and photograph nature.

Today, the weather isn't so nice as it has been over the past few days.  All that sunshine and warmth has made a big difference to the plants and animals, though.  It really feels like spring now!

So, your assignment this week is to use your photography skills to try and capture signs of spring in the outside spaces around your school.

I would like you to experiment with getting close up to your subject and try some interesting angles.  Look at the daffodils above.  Where did the photographer put the camera to get this image?

In the picture below, how close is the camera to the frogspawn?

In this one, see how having the sun coming from behind makes the petals glow.  (Or are they leaves, actually?)

If you are going to take close up pictures, you will need to find and press a special button on your camera called the "macro" button, which looks something like the one in this picture, otherwise your pictures may be out of focus:

Good luck on your assignment.  Remember to critique your pictures as you go along in your challenge group.  When you have finished, each challenge group can choose their best picture to upload to the blog.  I look forward to seeing them!

Making a Class Portrait

This afternoon we created a portrait of Leven class.

We started by talking about the last assignment and looking at the photos of the other classes.  We critiqued these together and used this to help us create a more creative version of the usual school photo.  Instead of lining up at the front, we were going to try and show all the different types of learning that go on in the classroom - all at once.

We decided on seven different types of activities: topic research, maths, reading, drama, science, art and Activote.  We split into small groups - one for each activity.  The groups decided how they would pose themselves and practiced free-frames.

When it was time to take the photo, I stood on a stool in the corner of the room to try and get as wide a view as possible.  This is one of the first lot of photos:

We looked at this together.  I wasn't happy with it and asked for a critique to help me work out why.  We saw that there was a lot of empty space and that everyone was too spaced out.  The angle of the frame wasn't working and we thought that it would be better if the camera was straight.  Also, we noticed that the activities didn't look very active - some children looked like the were falling asleep nearly!

So we rearranged the room slightly so that everyone would be closer together.  We also decided I should move so that the camera could see the topic display board at the back of the classroom.  (In the picture above it is hidden by the learning line.)

Then it was time to take the picture!  Here are two photos from this second go:

I felt much happier with these ones.  There is less empty space, you can see what everyone is doing (mostly!) and it is more active.  We couldn't decide which was better - looking at the camera and smiling or not.  

I like the top one where everyone looks like they are concentrating on their activity.  Some look like they are working together and comparing their work.  Others are on their own and absorbed in what they are doing.  I wonder if someone who saw this would know that it was all just pretend!  But I also like the bottom one too: it's such a nice friendly image of the class.  

It took us all afternoon to create these portraits.  This was because we spent time thinking carefully about what we wanted to show and how to arrange the room and the people in it.  There were lots of decisions to make along the way.

What do you think?