Photo History

We were studying history and began talking about the evolution of photography; specifically, it's place in historical record-keeping.  We looked at the first deguerreotypes and photos of stiff people--stiff because they had to hold perfectly still for the twenty minute exposure.  We watched the pictures change with the clothing and height of the buildings.  We saw the quality improve to the point of photographers capturing fast-moving battle scenes and tennis players.  We saw moments in time during the Civil War, World Expos, day-in-the-life of average people and more.  It was fun and interesting to a group of people who are so used to the commonness of pictures.  We are even spoiled to the point of knowing almost instantly whether we captured the desired shot.

I made an assignment to the children.  I asked them to take five photographs.  These five should be things that help define their lives in November 2010.  Anyone should be able to get a glimpse of their lives just by looking at the shots they choose.  They then learned how to edit the pictures and make a simple collage from my photo editing software.  The result is almost like a time capsule.  It was interesting to me to see what they think defines them right now.  

Here are their results, created, edited and captioned entirely on their own.

 (Daughter, age 9)

(Son, age 11)

What would your collage look like?  What would your children's show?  Are you sure?