Photography Dérive High School - Photography Class
Derive- A spontaneous performance where "one or more persons during a certain period drop their usual motives for movement, actions, their relations, their work, their leisure activities and let themsleves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there"
This lesson is inspired by the situationists, a personal geographies lesson I wrote for Freshkills Park and Juan Carlos Castro's research work with photography and high school students.
Guy Debord, a member of the situationist art movement in France wrote about Dérives in the 1950s. "ONE OF THE BASIC situationist practices is the dérive [literally: “drifting”], a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiances" - Debord
Title: Dèrive/Derive
Activity: Students will go on a dérive (sophisticated scavenger hunt) where they will be asked to take photographs based on prompts that ask students to engage in new/random/unexpected motives for taking photographs and will result in students taking an unexpected journey through their school. The dérive motivations may include:
Photograph your mood
Photograph something living
Photograph light
Photograph shadow
Photograph the tension between nature and man
Photograph something that reminds you of something else
Photograph play
Photograph something non-living
Photograph something that interests you
Ask a stranger a question and photograph their answer
Photograph something safe
Photograph something uneasy
Photograph something you never noticed before
Students will receive the prompts randomly and in random orders. They can choose to follow the prompts in whatever order they wish.
This lesson would be good for the beginning of the semester when students are learning to use the cameras and are beginning to notice interesting compositions in the world around them.
Number in Group and Age: 15-18 students in a high School Photography 1 class
Materials: Digital Cameras, film cameras, phones (whatever is available).
Time Allotted: One double period class session This lesson is inspired by the situationists, a personal geographies lesson I wrote for Freshkills Park and Juan Carlos Castro's research work with photography and high school students.
This is a fabulous idea. The prompts are simple and intriguing. They are easy to understand and vague enough to create diversity of responses. I agree, this will really help the students see things or environments in a different light. This is an excellent was of melding different ideas to create a new lesson. Great job! If I were a student and even if I am not, these prompts really engage the photographer and audience. I would love to do this project.
ReplyDeleteWould they do all of the prompts in the end or a select few? What would you do after to push the student's knowledge. This is a great beginning for a class. It would be interesting if they were given this as homework also to see their community in a different light also.