(Person) Percentage - Sabanci University Research Database

The Asian Media & Mass Communication Conference 2010 Osaka, Japan
portion of the texts consisted exclusively of images of the Olympics and the City of Vancouver
from international press agencies. Some of these photographs took a promotional tone, while
others aimed to reveal a darker and more controversial side of the global media event. We
discussed photojournalism as a genre, with its standard codes and conventions, narrative and
storytelling functions, as well as agendas and motivations. Using a selection of examples that I
collected from various sources online, students considered basic photo theories – such as
framing, angle, colour, lighting, depth, and perspective – to negotiate meanings in other people’s
productions and to begin to imagine the possibilities for their own. After several periods of
media analysis, students were eager to engage in production to explore their own interests and
concerns about the Olympics. By this point, we were right in the middle of the event, with
related discourse and commentary barely contained across global media outlets, the local
community, and the classroom.
The next stage required students to apply the techniques of photojournalism, documenting their
realities as local residents experiencing a global media event. Students were asked to focus on a
debate or issue of their choice related to the Olympics, and to produce two photographs that
would represent their point of view on different aspects of that theme – including
environmentalism/sustainability vs. waste/overconsumption; security restrictions/protections vs.
freedom of speech/movement; cultural inclusion vs. cultural exclusion, and so forth. My decision
to focus on photography, rather than attempt video or other more complex mediums, had to do
with the limited access to technology, resources, and funding within the school district.
Furthermore, as Buckingham (2003) argues, “it is important to keep production activities smallscale
and manageable, particularly in the early stages. Students will avoid disappointment if they
understand the limitations of the available technology and adjust their ambitions accordingly” (p.
83). The logistics of the production process are not simple; it requires a lot of planning,
organization, and collaboration. The school could only provide enough digital cameras for half
the students; fortunately, with today’s prevalence of mobile electronic devices for personal use,
the rest of the students were able to use their own equipment. We discussed issues of
responsibility, safety, and respect in photographing around the community. Students helped each
other with technical questions about camera functions before setting out to take pictures, and
afterward, they consulted each other in choosing between their ‘best’ shots and writing effective
captions. Below are some of the results. *Names have been changed in order to protect student
confidentiality.
Example #1
“I’m inspired by environmentalism, and my topic is about the Canada Line and the Cauldron for
the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. The photo of the Canada Line shows an efficient and
clean transportation system, while the photo of the Cauldron shows waste of energy. I blurred
my first photo to show motion, and I organized the shot for my second photo using a variety of
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