Mission Local teaches a seminar during the fall at one of the neighborhood schools, Buena Vista Horace Mann. The seminar, titled “Reporting in the Mission,” is an opportunity for students and our volunteers to learn from each other and the neighborhood. The students are given a digital camera, and every week for six months we head out into the neighborhood to practice taking pictures and shooting video.
After downloading the photos and critiquing them in class, the students and I select those we like and decide on a headline. You might have seen their pictures last fall in our daily photo column, SNAPS.
In the photo gallery above, you’ll see a portrait of each student from the class. We asked them to answer some questions before heading out into the Mission. We did this for three reasons: to give them a chance to tell us about themselves, as suggestions for questions they can ask of people they photograph or film, and because it’s an exercise for them to speak in full sentences — something they need to do on camera.
In this case, we discussed four questions: the things they enjoy about the Mission, the kind of sports they practice, what they like about themselves, and what their favorite ice cream shop is.
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