MS looks at the world through a new lens

September 27, 2023

Scott Miller of World Story Exchange has been working with The Sharon Academy Middle School as artist-in-residence since September 11, 2023, on a photography and writing project. Students are learning documentary photography using World Story Exchange camera kits. The project will culminate with an exhibit at the Middle School that will be available for viewing the week of October 16.

 

Scott is in the school twice a week teaching a series of lessons including:

  • Understanding the role and importance of visual arts and storytelling
  • Difference between documentary and other types of photography
  • Technical and creative methods in photography
  • Developing a visual story using bubble maps and shot lists
  • Reviewing and selecting photographs for story and print
  • Writing to accompany photographs

 

While 7th graders will focus on the art of photography, the 8th graders will create a story with photos and writing. The prompts will include

  • Who are you?
  • What is something you appreciate about your community, and why?
  • What is something you would like to change about your community, and why?
  • Do you have a message you’d like to share?
  • How does your environment influence your identity?

 

This is the 2nd year that Scott has been working with TSA Middle School. As part of the program, the students will take a culminating field trip to Saint-Gaudens National Historic Park, where they will have the opportunity to use their new photography skills to observe and interpret their surroundings.

 

Eventually, this will be a multi-year project that continues into high school, where the students will create documentary stories and add video to their storytelling toolkits. 

 

Director of the Middle School Andrew Lane found working with Scott at the World Story Exchange a delight. “[This is] an incredible opportunity for our students to see the world around them in a new light.  The final results of the partnership were absolutely gorgeous images that demonstrated how, in a short time, our students had grasped the basics of photographic composition and were able to view objects and scenes around the school with a new eye and present them in unique ways.”

 

Thanks to Green Mountain Foundation for its support of this project with World Story Exchange.