Placed Based Photo Story
Your task is to use photos to create a story that has a relationship to a place that is important to you.
The photos are best if recent and your own, though you can supplement from your past photos and photos you find (labelled so). Plan a fun trip to a cool place to capture scenes & people!!
The form will be a story (fiction or non-fiction) driven by your captured photos. NB Shorthand stories has NO featured images, and NO comments, so you ‘ll be adding a regular post each week.
Crafting Place Based Story With Photos Guide
Week 1: Assignment 1a: Explore & Photograph
- Watch: Maine Public Lands, Stop Wasting Your Time, and You’re Taking Photos Wrong.
- Take a few photo walks with observation sketch, or audio notes and a few photos from each location.
(one might be a favorite walk/hike) - Decide which location will be your focus & explain why
- Login to Shorthand & begin exploration of Shorthand format
OR use Canva Webpage format - Post Project 1a:
- Gather 4-6 images from 2-3 story locations
- Duplicate any images you want to use & Optimize for upload to class wordpress
- Update image files names to “yourname-project1-01” then -02, etc, then upload to Media Library
- Add captions, alt text for each
- From your post, create a gallery for each location and add all images to the gallery.
- Using notes, add descriptive short paragraph for each location and reason it matters to you
- Repeat Gallery + Paragraphh description for each location
- Title: “Project 1a-yourname”
- Use you favorite image as featured image & add short excerpt and category “Project 1a”
Week 2: Assignment 1b: Update Photos
- Watch class videos & do readings.
- Based on feedback, photo tips & class discussion, explore the same and/or different places and take a new/revised set of photos. You could also crop or adjust older photos to frame your story better. Even if using a few older photos, try to add some new ones to explore more camera techniques. Also focus phots to your main location/place.
- Begin adraft in Shorthand. Use the Stories tab in the WordPress Dashboard (login) to go directly to your story.
OR use Canva Webpage format - Post Project 1b:
- Focus your topic/subject–where is the great place-based story?
- Gather dozens of photos & pick the best 5-10
- Duplicate & optimize images, use clear files names “yourname-project1-01” then -02, etc, then upload <500kb
- Add captions & alt text for each image
- In you post:, add 3-5 paragraph description for your location(s) and reason it matters to you; use this to further develop your story idea
- Title: “Project 1b-yourname”
- Use featured image & add short excerpt and category “Project 1b”
- Shorthand Story draft:
- Using the Stories tab, add a new draft of your story in Shorthand & publish it with a short excerpt and Shorthand tag. NO featured image.
- Title: “Project 1b-yourname-SH”
- Review & add comments for 2 other student stories before class next week
Week 3: Assignment 1c: Design & Layout
- Read/view materials
- Refine & expand your Shorthand story draft, adding design, images, short video if you want, and text. Vary the text so it fits your story.
- Update your Shorthand post–same post as in 1b
- Develop shorthand story more deeply, probing for unusual. quirky, unexpected angles or perspectives.
- add/update any media.
- refine the layout/design
- Post Project 1c:
- Add a post listing all major changes and or challenges
- Use Title: “Project 1c-yourname”
- Use featured image & add short excerpt and category “Project 1c”
- Review & add comments for 1 other student stories before class next week
Week 4: Assignment 1d : Final Story
- Read/view materials
- Shorthand post:
- revise & update your Shorthand story
- Post Project 1 final:
- Add any other explanation of description for your story.
- Title: “Project 1c-yourname”
- Add a 2-3 paragraph text reflection in the post (not in the story) :
- What I Saw and What I Missed: reflect on both story and camera techniques that you could develop even further.
- What do you like best?
- What would you revise if you have more photos/time etc?
- What was the most important skill or technique you learned?
- Include at least one tip from two student projects that you thought made the projects strong, and that you could use in your current or future projects.