Lesson #5: Including neighborhood / community photographs in the digital images

Part of the unit: Digital Storyboarding |
Download PDF of Lesson
Download PDF of Lesson

Goals

Aim: 
HOW CAN YOU INSPIRE EACH OTHER AND COMBINE PRE-EXISITING PHOTOGRAPHS WITH ORIGINAL ELEMENTS IN YOUR ARTWORK?
Students will be able to:
combine various media and materials within their digital compositions
examine the reasons behind an artist's choices
compare straightforward photojournalism with photomontage and collage
select and incorporate elements of their own photographs from the community (taken during an earlier unit) into their collages
manipulate and crop the images and save these as copies
continue working on their digital collages, incorporating and manipulating photographs into them
use cropping, layering, scale, and color in their own work
Materials
computers, laptop, projector, scanner, sketches, storyboards
Resources
Kara Walker, Harper's pictorial; Berenice Abbott; Lewis Hine; Man Ray, Les Amoureux

Motivation & Demonstration

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Motivation: 
Students will examine the title in Kara Walker's "Bank's Army Leaving Simmsport, Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War" and discuss why Kara Walker might have used Harper's image of the Civil War in her work. Let us look at this image before us. You have seen this image before. What did we talk about when we last looked at this image? Today, we are going to focus on something new, something about this image we have not discussed before. I need a volunteer to read the title of this image aloud. What does the title tell us? What is the image about? Who do we think Harper is? Why does it say 'Harper's Pictorial History' when we know that the artist's name is Kara Walker? What part of the image do you think was created by Harper? By Kara Walker? Why do you think Kara Walker used Harper's image? How does this knowledge affect the meaning of the image? Would the image be as important if we did not know its history from the title? Why? Would this image be different if there were more than one cutout in it? If you were the artist, what might you add to this image? Why? If you were the artist, would you move the cutout to a different location in the image? Why and how would this change the meaning of the image?
Demonstration: 
Students will view projected photographs of New York by Lewis Hine and Berenice Abbott: What do you see in these photographs? Where do you think these were taken? When do you think these were taken? What is the artist trying to show us? Does New York City still look exactly the same? Why are these images important for us? Do you notice any images from your neighborhood? How has it changed over the years? Look at this image by Man Ray (A l'heure de l'observatoire - Les Amoureux). How can I select and separate the lips from the rest of the image? What happens when I add these lips to a photograph by Lewis Hine? What happens when I add multiple lips? How is the mood of the image different when the lips are floating in the sky, or below the ground? What happens to the relationship between the image by Lewis Hine and one by Berenice Abbott when I add the same lips to both images? How does the meaning of these images change?" The teacher will explain how artists have influenced and borrowed from each other across time and geographical location, in order to communicate an idea or belief.
Worktime
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You remember when we studied photojournalism last month and documented this neighborhood and school using the digital cameras? The photographs from that unit have been saved on your computers in a folder titled "Photojournalism". If you would like to add parts of these photographs into your digital collages, select a few and copy them into your folder. Once you have them, you can change, crop, and select them any way you like, and add them to your collages. This is your time to work. Settle down at your computers and begin. You should try to finish two out of your three collages today. Remember to use your central character to link the images. Have fun, experiment with the placement, layering, scale, and color, before you make your final decisions.
Reflection & Assessment
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Turn to the person working at the computer next to you and share your decisions for selecting the photographs in your images. Examine how this choice affects the meaning of the image. Refer to the following questions on the board: Which image from the community did you choose to add to your collage? Why did you choose this? How does this change the meaning of the image? Do you know who took this image? Are you thinking about adding their name to the title of your image, just like Kara Walker did? This could also be a written assignment with students individually answering these questions either at the end of the class or as a homework assignment.
Homework/Extension
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At an earlier time, the teacher should crop, select, and save a copy of the lips from Man Ray's "Les Amoureux" so it can be imported into the photographs and moved around at will.