Cart Search
submit Remember my login

Looking for a chapter event?

Past SPE Annual Conferences

West Chapter Conference Schedule

print this page

Exploring Society through Photography

Renee Billingslea

Saturday, November 15 - 2:00PM to 3:00PM
NYFA: 3300 Riverside Drive, Burbank, CA, 91505

Historically, the camera has been used as a tool to capture and inform others about the world and communities we live in. However, the camera can also be used to enlighten the photographer and provide an opportunity for us to connect with people in our own environments; breaking down stereotypes and creating new personal connections.

As a Return Peace Corps volunteer and educator, social justice is an important aspect of my teaching. Teaching photography in a Jesuit liberal arts college has afforded me the opportunity to develop a course that integrates issues of social justice and community building alongside teaching technical and compositional aspects of photography. Using portraiture as a main genre to connect students
with individuals in the community beyond campus, I have developed two distinct models for my class, Exploring Society through Photography.

The first incarnation of Exploring Society through Photography began with connecting students with a community center for those experiencing homelessness. The students were asked to leave their cameras at home while they focused on developing relationships with residents. After eight weeks, the project culminated in Portrait Day, with students taking headshots, family, and personal portraits. The presentation will include examples from Portrait Days, as well example from a traveling exhibit and a book that were developed and published as a continuation of the goal to break down stereotypes surrounding homelessness.

As a way to expand the course and help students develop deeper one-on-one relationships, I shifted the focus to working with seniors at our local senior center. Similar to the model of the previous class, students met weekly with the same senior listening to stories of life and experience, specifically as life as a young adult in decades past. From the content of conversations, and with seniors' support, student wrote three minute monologues in the voice of the senior. Students then shot portraits of their seniors, combining the two elements to create an iMovie presented at a reception for the seniors and their families. For the presentation I will show students' iMovie examples and discuss a future expansion of the project, titled A Century Between Us.

I find reflection to be an important aspect of teaching a community based learning course, as it gives the students an opportunity to examine his or her values and discover how their gifts can contribute to the common good of the world. For this presentation, I will share how I incorporate modern uses of technology for individual reflection though video journal assignments.

speaker

Renee Billingslea
Renee Billingslea

Email Sign Up

SPE email updates contain resources, news, and more!

About this piece

Comments about this piece

Dialogue and critique are important to the SPE mission.
Please join the conversation.

Exit Full Screen Mode