Friday, December 4, 2009

Jessica, 8th Grade, RYSS


I took a picture of the sky because it looked bright and pretty. When I was taking the picture, I accidentally put my finger over the lens, and it came out in the picture. I was going to delete the picture because of the finger, but I liked it so I kept it. The sky is light blue with some white fluffy clouds, and in the left top corner, you can see my finger. It looks interesting because it looks like a shadow. This picture makes me feel happy and creative.

Jessica, 8th Grade, Junior Academy, Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS], Houston, Texas.

Areli, 6th Grade, RYSS


This picture is really interesting. The grass is long, and it is really green. There are also five mushrooms that are white. Some of them have circles and dots that are light brown. The one in the middle is the biggest. And the two in front of it are small. In the back, there is a black line. I think this is a really weird and one of the best pictures I have taken.

Areli, 6th Grade, Junior Academy, Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS], Houston, Texas.

Jackie, 7th Grade, RYSS


I like this picture because you can see as the sun sets, the small building's shadow makes an angle. If you look on the left side, you can see our teacher, Mr.Chambers. It looks like he is pointing at the shadow, and also see how one building's shadow is on the side of the other building. If you look at the top of the second building, you can see some plants sticking out. Look on both sides and you can see what is on either side of the building. You can see the clear glass on the right and cars on the left. The picture seems to look side ways, but that is the shadow and how the sun is facing the clear building. It makes me feel like Mr. Chambers is part of this shadow. I picked this picture because its not just a building, it's a building, shadow, and Mr. Chambers.

Jackie, 7th Grade, Junior Academy, Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS], Houston, Texas.

Ana, 6th Grade, RYSS


I think this picture is interesting because the cone in front looks bigger than the others, and the lines that are yellow look bigger too. The sky has a lot of shapes because of the clouds.

Ana, 6th Grade, Junior Academy, Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS], Houston, Texas.

Maritza, 8th Grade, RYSS


When I look at this picture, I feel like everything is dead. We don't have a good life, and Earth does not have color ... only black and white. I think, ''What would it be like if our planet was just black and white? People would not have a better life. They would be sad and angry with each other." In real life, there is color. That's why God brings us all the beautiful flowers we see. We love Earth and we will until God gets tired of us.

Maritza, 8th Grade, Junior Academy, Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS], Houston, Texas.

Maria, 7th Grade, RYSS


The reason I like this picture is because you can actually see our 7th and 8th grade girls playing volleyball. You can see how they are concentrating on the game. I guess the volleyball is up in the air because you can't see it in the picture. Everyone is looking at the ball except for Rosario who's biting her nails. So, it's a cool picture and at the same time, I think it's funny because some girls' positions are different. And you can actually see their faces.

Maria, 7th Grade, Junior Academy, Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS], Houston, Texas.

Cynthia, 8th Grade, RYSS


I like this picture because, I love nature, and the way this picture was taken makes it look very cool. I think this picture shows Mother Nature and what it can express. I also like the colors, and the angle it was taken. I like how the trees look tilted with the broken pieces of wood. it looks so realistic.

Cynthia, 8th Grade, Junior Academy, Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS], Houston, Texas.

Aide, 6th Grade, RYSS


I like this picture because of all the texture it has, the clouds, the person running, the cones, all the cars, the big arrows, the sun that's not shown there, but makes the clouds so bright. I also love this picture because the person running looks like if he's floating, which makes the picture really funny. When I see this picture, it makes me feel happy and bright because of all the light there is and the color like the yellow stripes on the ground. And the trees don't look green, they look black or dark green. You'll notice someone by a white car is opening the car door, which shows movement.

Aide, 6th Grade, Junior Academy, Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS], Houston, Texas.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Taylor, Grade 7, Eisenhower MS


This is my project the Autumn Tree; I used photo shop elements to edit my photo. I named my project the autumn tree because it shows how the leaves on trees change different colors and how beautiful the colors are and how the change before falling off the trees before the cold snowy winter starts. I used the contrast and made the picture darker and clearer to see. I thought this photo was really cool and interesting to do.

Dionna, Grade 7, Eisenhower MS

I chose this photo, because I thought the picture was pretty and had good lighting. I thought it was a good one, because It showed a nature side, and it wasn’t in the building. I Like how the leaves are on the bench and on the around the bench. It shows how we are in November, and leafs are falling off the trees. I also like the lighting, because it was a sunny day, so it had sunlight in it.

Liam Grade 7 Eisenhower MS


Liam Grade 7 Eisenhower M.S
I chose this picture of one of my fellow students. We were taking random pictures and I laid on the ground and told him to sit on the bench and to pretend to take a picture of me. I had to crop out a school bus. This picture is interesting to me because the angle of the camera.

Aly, Grade 7, Eisenhower MS


My picture is called An Autumn Day. I named it this because the way the leaves on the tree stood out and made me think of the leaves changing colors. This picture is outside in the courtyard. I picked this tree because it was the biggest one and it has the prettiest leaves. On photo shop elements I brightened the picture so it will so all the colors. I liked this picture because I like how the leaves are different colors and it stood out on the brown tree bark. Also it stood out because it looks like a bright fall day.

Dylan, Grade 7, Eisenhower MS


I chose this picture because I thought it was a cool perspective of the stairway in my school. I like how you can see the upstairs and downstairs, and the rust on the corner of the handrail. Also, I like how the angle of the camera makes the picture look unusual, in an artistic way. Lastly, I like how you can look at this picture in various ways.

Sara, Grade 7, Eisenhower MS


My photo is called The Shadowy Staircase. I chose this photo because I liked the dark staircase leading up to the window then how the window had light coming from it. The light coming out of the window made a nice shadow on the wall. I also chose this photo because the image was very sharp. On photoshop elements I brightened the photo so the stairs were more visible then resized and named it. The point of this picture is how a space can be lit up by just a little light.

Matt, Grade 7, Eisenhower MS


I chose this photo because I thought that the angle of this picture was very interesting. When I looked at this picture I felt like I was forced to look again that’s what made me chose this photo. The way the photo captured the library was in this angle was breathe taking.

Instructors and LTP

Instructors:

Harold Olejarz is Art and Technology teacher at Eisenhower Middle School, Wyckoff, New Jersey, U.S.A. He began his career as a sculptor and exhibited in Soho, NYC, in the early 1980s. His work evolved into Performance Art and his living sculptures installed themselves in museums and public spaces in the US and Europe from 1985 to the early 1990s. He has been exploring digital media as both an artist and an educator since 1997. “Capturing the Moving Present,” an essay by Harold Olejarz, is included in Video Art for the Classroom, a National Art Education Association publication. Olejarz has made presentations on the use of digital media at state and national educational conferences.

Tom Chambers is Technology Applications teacher at Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [Junior Academy], Houston, Texas, U.S.A. He was Visiting Lecturer in Digital/New Media Art for the Fine Arts Department at Zhaoqing University, Zhaoqing, China, 2005-2007. He was Executive Committee Member and Juror (2003 - 2005) for the International Digital Art Awards (IDAA), and was instrumental in expanding the content of the IDAA to include New Media Art, and served as on-line New Media Director (2004 - 2005). Chambers has been a documentary photographer and visual artist for over thirty years, and he is currently working with the pixel as Minimal Art (Pixelscapes) which begins to approach a true, abstract, visual language in Digital Art.

Tanya Heard is Art/Photo teacher at T. H. Rogers School, Houston, Texas.

2007 - 2008 school year participant:

Dorian Gillespie is Art teacher at Southmore Intermediate School in Pasadena Texas. Prior to coming to Southmore, he taught at Bailey Elementary. He decided to teach and mentor students in the arts in order to give them an opportunity to learn and advise them of the many career choices an artist has. Although he did not teach art at Bailey, he was able to incorporate many art lessons into the curriculum. He has taught after school art classes for the University of Houston Clear Lake as well. Rather than become a professional artist, he decided to mentor as a teacher.

This blog was a part of the FotoFest LTP process:

2007 - 2008
2008 - 2009
2009 - 2010

Literacy Through Photography (LTP), the educational component of FotoFest International (Houston, Texas), is a writing program designed to help classroom students achieve better communication skills through the use of digital or film-based photography.

FotoFest has combined with the instructors and schools to pursue a pilot program ... blog approach ... for LTP.

Students increase visual and verbal literacy while building cognitive thinking skills, self-esteem, and awareness of each other. The LTP curriculum provides students with meaningful subject matter to help them write about their own photographs, their own lives, with confidence.

This blog, founded by Harold Olejarz and Tom R. Chambers continues to be a significant tool to help students with their written expression.