Learning & Development: Photography - Picture this!
Annette Rawstrone
Monday, June 27, 2011
Children viewed the world from some interesting angles when taking part in a photography project in a local theatre garden. Annette Rawstrone went for a look.
Nursery children brought a fresh perspective to their local theatre's outdoor area when they used it as a location for a photography project.
The three- and four-year-olds from Eastwood Nursery School in Roehampton, west London, explored the Polka Theatre's garden, inspired by the forthcoming Archaeology - A Worm's Story production (see box), and took digital photographs of objects and areas that particularly fascinated them. What resulted was an array of interesting images and camera angles as the children experimented with what to photograph and how to take the pictures. For example, one child took photographs of a door from different angles before finally declaring, 'It's upside down.'
The school's artist-in-residence Cath Rive says the children are incredibly curious. 'The garden is quite a small space but the children brought magic into it with their photography, such as photographing inside a bird house, or one child arranged treasures that she'd found in the garden and took a photo of them - a frog, a friend and a wheelbarrow man,' she explains.
'They naturally use cameras to look from different viewpoints and are not restricted by the conventional ideas of what makes a good photograph. Photography gives the children an additional way of expressing and making their ideas visible. It is a language all of its own.'
MAGIC MOMENTS
The children worked independently on their first visit to the Polka Theatre, discovering the different spaces and places that particularly interested them. The various textures of the garden's natural materials fascinated one boy, who chose to take photographs of a stone wall and tree bark. Another child photographed a gnome, both from a distance and close up, because it reminded him of Father Christmas.
The 'magical' powers of photography gripped one child as he photographed a windmill moving in the breeze and then, looking at his image, exclaimed, 'Look, I stopped it!' A girl kept photographing a door and knocking on it. It's thought that it reminded her of fairytales that she'd heard. She said, 'Knocking on the door. You need a key. Open the door and see a troll and I think he's going to eat you up.'
The children then returned with their parents and carers to show them what they had discovered individually and to explore and capture the experience together. Their moments of discovery have been documented in an exhibition in the Polka Theatre's foyer entitled 'Look At This!', to be on shown throughout the summer.
Jo Belloli, the theatre's early years associate producer, comments, 'The exhibition looks so beautiful and has given a lot of people a lot of pleasure. The staff at Polka use the garden often and the children have shown us through photos things that we've never seen. It has made us open our eyes.'
Alongside photographs of trees and clouds - 'I take the sky' - are flowers, fish in the ornamental pond, a shiny disc 'like a bubble' and even an en-ticing hole.
A THIRD EYE
The nursery school children attended the exhibition's official opening with their parents, with one parent commenting how special it was to see the work of children being displayed.
'It is fantastic for the children to have their work displayed in a public theatre,' says Eastwood 
Nursery School deputy head teacher Karen Pearson. 'The children are used to taking photographs and seeing them up around the nursery, but this is really special. The pictures show how confident they are with cameras. Parents have told us that their children insist on going out with a camera because they want to photograph things all the time. They use them as a third eye to explore their world.
'Several of the children have English as an additional language, with one child in particular having very limited spoken language, and taking photos helps them to express themselves. The beauty of photography is that it is a language of its own and everyone can use it as a medium of communication, irrespective of gender or culture.'
MORE INFORMATION
All about ... photography by Pat Brunton and Linda Thornton (Nursery World, 1 March 2001), see 'Snap happy', 'Focal points', 'Case study: clear evidence', 'Case study: picture perfect', 'Get the picture' and 'Focal points'.
JUST THE TICKET!
A trip to the theatre can be a magical experience for the very young, often offering a blend of storytelling, music and audience participation, and theatre companies are gearing up for their summer productions and tours around the country.
POLKA THEATRE
Join a wiggly worm as he digs deep underground in Archaeology - A Worm's Story. Aimed at one- to three-year-olds, the production is showing from 6 July to 20 August 2011.
OILY CART
Oily Cart's production of DRUM will be appearing as part of Music Boxes, a children's commission for Manchester International Festival in July 2011. For more information, visit www.mif.co.uk/event/music-boxes/
The company is also working on Ring a Ding, a new production aimed at children aged three to six years and their families. It will tour nationally from December 2011 to mid-February 2012.
TALL STORIES THEATRE COMPANY
Tall Stories is touring in August with Mr Benn, a new production celebrating 40 years of David McKee's much-loved TV character and aimed at children aged four and up.
Other companies
- Catherine Wheels, www.catherinewheels.co.uk
- Chelsea Theatre, London, www.chelseatheatre.org.uk
- M6 Theatre Company, www.m6theatre.co.uk
- The Singing Kettle Theatre Company, www.singingkettle.com
- Unicorn Theatre, London, www.unicorntheatre.com
- Wee Stories Theatre Company, www.weestoriestheatre.org
Learning & Development: Theatre - Curtain up! Nursery World (12 November 2009) looks at the benefits of theatre to young children.
