A photograph can convey information about a particular object, place, or social issue. With so many different approaches to photography, the following resources offer an overview of different styles, as well as brief history of photography.
For a deeper engagement, take our course, Communicating with Photography, from KQED Teach, an online professional learning platform for educators to level up their digital media skills.
Collecting Life’s Remnants with Nigel Poor
Bay Area-based Nigel Poor is an artist who encourages the use of photography as a way to closely examine our daily activities and interactions with commonplace objects, in order to gain a deeper understanding of who we are. In this video, Nigel offers three fun photography projects that explore this idea of documenting our personal lives.
Documentary Photography with Paccarik Orue
Learn about the work of Paccarik Orue, a Peruvian documentary photographer currently residing in San Francisco. Paccarik is interested in using his camera to connect with ordinary people, usually residents of low-income neighborhoods. In this video, Digitizing Film Negatives with Paccarik Orue, he guides you through the process of making digital prints from film negatives.
Sixth Street Photography: Visual Arts
Tom Ferentz is the artistic director and founder of the Sixth Street Photography Workshop, which he started in 1991 to make photography accessible to low-income and homeless people in San Francisco. With the help of volunteers, participants can take classes of various skill-level on a weekly basis. In this video, testimonials from students illustrate how photography has changed their lives for the better, thanks to the efforts of the workshop. For more information on the workshop, use this comprehensive educator guide.