To document a subject with your camera.

Read this about documentary photography.

Read this about photojournalism vs documentary photography.

Some important documentary photographers:
Dorothea Lange
Walker Evans
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Lewis Hine
William Eugene Smith

Check out this project by W.Eugine Smith titled, "The Jazz Loft Project". Click on the word "IMAGES" in the menu at the top left of the Web site. Notice that he took 40,000 pictures for the project. Be sure you look at his gallery.

Pick a topic or subject. Some ideas: school events, family events, sporting events, church events.

Some subjects lend themselves to being told with pictures more easily than others. Before you begin, make a short outline of shots you want to get. For example, if you were to use Drive-in Theatres as a subject the outline might look something like: pictures of the screen with a movie, pictures of the screen without a movie, shots at night, shots during the day, shots of the speaker, shots of the concession stand, shots of the projector, shots of the projector operator, etc.

These would be at least some of the shots you would try to get. Others will present themselves, but sometimes it is helpful to have at least a partial list of potential shots so you don't forget any important events.

Take a lot of pictures. I would think 100's. Use the vision, aesthetics and mechanics stuff you have learned in class. Look at samples of documentary photography online to get ideas. These should not only tell the story, but be good photographs. As a documentary photographer you shouldn't be posing the shots in any way. Just record things as they unfold.

After you are done edit the pictures down to an amount that tells the complete story. Prepare those files to turn in. Name them 1.jpg, 2.jpg, 3.jpg,etc.Put the files in a folder named:yourlastnamedoc. Put that folder on your server space.

At least 10 digital jpg files about your topic. Make each file 5x7 or 7x5 at native resolution (set the crop tool to 5x7 or 7x5, leave the resolution box blank). Make sure you have enough images to tell the complete story.

Your assignment will be graded using these criteria:

From Mr. P's Photo Rubric

Vision:
Is you image original, innovative and daring, or just another example of the same old thing? Does it fulfill the requirements for the assignment (see assignment sheet) ?.

Aesthetics:
Have you used the appropriate elements and principles of design that would enhance your photograph or did you just shoot what was in front of the camera? Have you used good composition or did you just place the center of interest in the center because it was easy?

Mechanics:
Camera Techniques: Is the image sharp/in focus? Is the exposure correct? Was the appropriate aperture/shutter speed used (if applicable for your camera), did you find the best angle?

Computer Techniques: Is the image sharp/in focus? Is it resized correctly? Is it color corrected and sharpened?

Presentation: Is the artwork presented in a professional manner as outlined in the assignment?

Good luck