Watch a video of 3EyesOn at work in Gateshead here:
http://www.files.modefy.com/bensham/BENSHAM_PROCESS_web.mov
We have found that if a school is willing to give us a class of pupils for one week, where they can be exclusively focussed on our project, we can give them an exhibition.
We start with an intensive day of viewing photography and imaginative training exercises.
The children are quickly involved in a series of creative exercises using a set of ten cameras.
During the week each child has the opportunity to go out in a group with one of us to have a guided photographic experience in the locality of the school. Then that evening they get to take the camera home. We suggest themes and ideas but they are encouraged to use the camera to speak visually in whatever way that they choose. In our experience the pupils respond with great enthusiasm and truly value their opportunity to express themselves with the camera.
We have found that once pupils have been inspired and enthused they show a remarkable learning curve. Each child progresses from one to one support to independent and self-directed work at home. Significantly it is often children who struggle academically who flower when using a camera.
Crucial to our method is our editing process. We involve children in the editing at all stages from an initial one to one session where we go through their images with them, to a final group edit with the whole class. This develops their critical skills and self-esteem while promoting understanding of different lives and cultures within the class.
At the end of the week we have a final session in which we resolve a ‘signature image’ for each child plus a wider set of their best photographs.
The resulting body of work takes on a life within the school as a multi-disciplinary teaching resource and a way of drawing potentially diverse local communities together. We also involve poets in getting children to write about their photographs.
The images and poems can be used and displayed in a variety of ways: exhibited in galleries, in multimedia videos, in curriculum development and in print.