Michael-P3

Photo Assignment Name: Select an Assignment (Color to B&W)

Student Name: Michael Wallace

Group Name: The Snapshots



Title: Gardens in the Fall

Tags: garden, grass, fall

Original Color Photo

Self Evaluation (45-50 pts.) || 80 – 89% (40 - 44 pts.) || <80% (<40 pts.) || Critique Comments:
 * Category || Strong || Adequate || Weak ||
 * Concept || Does an outstanding job of communicating the concept. || Does an adequate job communicating the concept. || Does a poor job communicating the concept. ||
 * Composition || Photograph uses composition principles very effectively. || Photograph does a good job using composition principles. || Photograph does a poor job using composition principles. ||
 * Focus || Focus is a perfect match with the concept of the shot. || Focus is an adequate match with the concept of the shot. || Focus is a poor match with the concept of the shot. ||
 * Technical Aspects || Shutter speed and aperture were perfectly chosen to match concept. || Shutter speed and aperture were adequately chosen to match concept. || Shutter speed and aperture were poorly chosen and do not match the concept. ||
 * Depth of Field || Excellent use of depth-of-field. || Adequate use of depth-of-field. || Poor use of depth-of-field. ||
 * Title/tags || Title and tags were perfectly chosen and written to express the content and concept. Spelling and word choice are excellent with no mistakes. || Title and tags were adequately chosen and written to express the content and concept. Spelling and word choice are good with only minor errors. || Title and tags were poorly chosen and written to express the content and concept. Contains multiple spelling errors or wrong word choices. ||
 * ** Instructor evaluates this section ** ||
 * Self Critique || Excellent self-assessment. Written comments meet or exceed requirements. || Adequate self-assessment. Written comments meet requirements. || Poor self-assessment. Written comments do not meet requirements. ||
 * Peer Critique || Excellent peer assessment. Written comments meet or exceed requirements. || Adequate peer assessment. Written comments meet requirements. || Poor peer assessment. Written comments do not meet requirements. ||
 * Peer Comments || Peer comments exceed expectations. || Peer comments meet expectations. One or two comments might be missing. || Three or more peer comments were missing, incomplete or poorly written. ||
 * Total Points || >89%
 * Total Points || >89%

Gardens in the Fall is a photograph that I am going to use with my 8th grade students who are helping me with the yearbook. The photograph actually combines more than one of the “Select an Assignment” choices, but I am going to label it “Black and White photography”. It could be said that it is a close-up photograph of a scene that many of us see every fall of the year, and that is a scene of gardens that have become overgrown after producing vegetables all summer (in this case beans). Most of my middle school students are very self-centered. They see all photographs as something that they should be in, and not something that could be described as stimulating, thought inspiring, or beautiful. The photo that I took shows that beauty can be seen in something like an overgrown garden before the first frost. I adjusted my aperture and my shutter speed in an attempt to get the grass and the posts in the front in focus while making the posts and the trees further out slightly blurred. I want to show that the high grass that is in forefront will eventually consume the garden. The vines have withered and died on the posts after yielding their crop since June. I want my students to describe what they see, what they think will happen next, and then draw some similarities between the encroaching grass, fall, and aging. (I turned 50 this week and age is something I am thinking about). I plan on having them do a writing assignment using this photograph to fulfill one of our “Writing to Win” assignments that we are doing as a system to help students improve their writing, and therefore their writing scores on the 8th grade writing assessment in the spring.

Peer Critique Name: Jacki Blair (45-50 pts.) || 80 – 89% (40 - 44 pts.) || <80% (<40 pts.) || Critique Comments: Jacki - Michael, I really like your photograph. I can see that as a full page in your yearbook with some type of information over the picture. I like how your photo shows depth, from the base of the grass to the back of the picture where I can see trees in the background. I like the photo better in black and white because I can see all of the shades of grey. I believe that the focus could have more sharpness on the grass maybe by bringing out the shadows a bit more. I can see how that would be difficult, especially if there was wind when you took the picture.
 * Category || Strong || Adequate || Weak ||
 * Concept || Does an outstanding job of communicating the concept. || Does an adequate job communicating the concept. || Does a poor job communicating the concept. ||
 * Composition || Photograph uses composition principles very effectively. || Photograph does a good job using composition principles. || Photograph does a poor job using composition principles. ||
 * Focus || Focus is a perfect match with the concept of the shot. || Focus is an adequate match with the concept of the shot. || Focus is a poor match with the concept of the shot. ||
 * Technical Aspects || Shutter speed and aperture were perfectly chosen to match concept. || Shutter speed and aperture were adequately chosen to match concept. || Shutter speed and aperture were poorly chosen and do not match the concept. ||
 * Depth of Field || Excellent use of depth-of-field. || Adequate use of depth-of-field. || Poor use of depth-of-field. ||
 * Title/tags || Title and tags were perfectly chosen and written to express the content and concept. Spelling and word choice are excellent with no mistakes. || Title and tags were adequately chosen and written to express the content and concept. Spelling and word choice are good with only minor errors. || Title and tags were poorly chosen and written to express the content and concept. Contains multiple spelling errors or wrong word choices. ||
 * ** Instructor evaluates this section ** ||
 * Self Critique || Excellent self-assessment. Written comments meet or exceed requirements. || Adequate self-assessment. Written comments meet requirements. || Poor self-assessment. Written comments do not meet requirements. ||
 * Peer Critique || Excellent peer assessment. Written comments meet or exceed requirements. || Adequate peer assessment. Written comments meet requirements. || Poor peer assessment. Written comments do not meet requirements. ||
 * Peer Comments || Peer comments exceed expectations. || Peer comments meet expectations. One or two comments might be missing. || Three or more peer comments were missing, incomplete or poorly written. ||
 * Total Points || >89%
 * Total Points || >89%

Other Comments: Emily -Michael,I have to say that I like your color photo better than the black and white. You described the vines as whithered and dead on the post, but I cannot see the posts or vines. I can tell that you wanted to capture the overgrown grass encroaching the field, but I wish I could actually see the dead vines. I can understand that you want to use this as a writing activity; I use many photographs as writing prompts in my classroom as well. I would suggest that maybe you try this photo from a different angle to see if you can capture a vine or two. I can hear the 8th graders asking, "How am I supposed to write about that?" Besides that, this is a nice shot.

Kevin- Michael, I especially like the textures of this photo, and the B-W version is significantly different. At first glance, it appeared to me that the poles in the background were trees. But, I believe now that these are the bean poles. This photo reminds me of one in our text that shows a saturation of texture such as the long thin poles and grass. As an alternative, I suggest changing the amount of pole to grass. That is, let the grass be in the bottom third and the poles in the top 2/3rds. Perhaps this is not possible due to other factors. In addition, I would crop out (or show more of) the t-post to the right edge.

Donna - Michael, I like the way your photograph creates the illusion of movement. My eyes wander in the different directions in which the reeds/blades of grass travel. I think you illustrate the ROT principle well, too, as the texture of the growth changes in the upper third of the photo. I think your photo creates a mood that would be interesting to analyze in writing. If you were to layer a photo of the crop in June over the photo, I think that would add to your discussion about the passage of time. (I hope you had a nice birthday. I'm a year behind you.)