A Day in the Life of You! Extended Version! Documentary Photography With iPhones

Pretend you've been hired by a magazine to create a photo story that documents a day in the life of someone your age. (You!) Morning to night. A day in your life might be very different than another student's and in some ways, it might be very similar. As a documentary photographer, what will you choose to photograph and how will you make viewers want to look longer at your photo story? In this extended 12 class version of the original 3-day course, we'll have more time to dig into practicing our observation skills and taking pictures with new eyes. You'll use leading lines, color, shapes, contrast and textures to help you improve the quality of your photographic eye. 

Who this class is for and preferred camera device: 
Since this class is teaching you how to see, observe and compose photos - an iPhone is perfectly fine. These skills will improve your ability to take better photos with your DSLR after the course. If you already know how to use your digital SLR camera AND you know how to get your digital files onto your computer - that's excellent. We will quickly share our photos in Padlet during class so students need to have the capability to take a picture, edit and post to Padlet during class. The iPhones have been a useful and efficient camera for this reason. 

If the student meets the above criteria (proper camera choice) they can be at any level as a photographer. The outline below can be adjusted to their skill level. If students need more of a challenge or if they need to concentrate on less of the elements and principles, I can adjust for their needs. 

Class 1
- Intros, course goals, tech talk
- View and discuss professional photos from a magazine story
- View, discuss and practice element of art: Line 
- Homework: Create 3 photos showing: 1) Leading Lines  2) Explicit Line  3) Implicit Line

Class 2
- Share homework photos
- Editing exercise with the homework photos (Exposure, contrast, saturation, crop)
- View, discuss and practice element of art: Shape
- Homework: Create 3  photos showing how you use Shape to create visual interest. 1 image should include triangles (as seen in today's slideshow examples), the other two photos show your ability to see shapes and arrange them in your frame in a way that is visually interesting.

Class 3
- Share homework
- View, discuss and practice 2 elements: Color 
- Homework: Create 2 photos. Complementary or analogous? One showing an emphasis with Color creating contrast between subject and background, the second showing similar Colors between subject and background. 

Class 4
- Share homework
- View, discuss and practice the element: Texture (also the use of light and shadow)
- Homework: create 3 images. 1) Close up of something rough and smooth in the same photo 2) Interesting Texture of your choice, accentuated in some way - so we FEEL it. 3) human interaction with a Texture 

Class 5
- Share homework
- View, discuss and practice the elements:  Space
- Homework: create 3 images. 1) Clearly show negative Space  2) Clearly show crowded Space.  3) Create an image that shows the way Saturday morning feels - by the way you use Space in your photo.

Class 6
- Share homework
- View, discuss and practice the PRINCIPLE of design: Balance and its connection to Composition rules (+ Rule of Thirds, Fibonacci Sequence and the Phi Grid)
- Homework: create 3 images. 1) Show centered balance 2) Show imbalance (in a beautiful way) 3) Show radial balance or a horizontal composition with the Fibonacci Sequence (Golden Spiral)

Class 7
- Share homework
- View, discuss and practice the principle of design: Contrast ( ? + ? = Contrast)
- Homework: create 3 images. 1) Use color as contrast  2) Create a black and white image with objects/people showing contrast 3) Use your choice of 2 other elements to show Contrast

Class 8
- Share homework
- View, discuss and practice the principles of design: Repetition
- Homework: create 3 images. 1) Use Line to show Repetition  2) Find your choice of Shapes to show Repetition 3) Create Movement with the way you compose the pieces in your photo

Class 9
- Share homework
- View, discuss and practice applying Elements and Principles to documentary photos for your final project
- Homework: create an idea list for morning, noon and night - potential shot list. Create one photo that documents something you and your family do in the evening. Name the elements you noticed while creating the photo you like best.

Class 10
- Share homework
- View, discuss and practice editing images with phone camera basic editing and/or Snapseed (preferable)
- Prep for your shoot day - discuss questions and strategies. Similar to writing an essay, a photo essay needs a beginning, middle and end with close-ups and pulled back shots. Camera angles and shot types will be practiced in class today.
- Homework: Choose one day before the next class as your Day in the Life day. Create the images and edit down to your best 15 photos. Upload to Padlet before Class 12.

Class 11
- Share your final 15 Day in the Life photos!
- Discuss the images using photography vocabulary, including the elements of art and principles of design.
CONGRATS!