Masterpiece Monday: The Photography of Ansel Adams

I seem to have my days all mixed up this week!  I know it isn't Monday, but I had an idea for Masterpiece Monday (on Thursday)!  I love the photography of Ansel Adams (if you aren't familiar with his work, you can check out his biography and photographs here.  Your library probably has several photobooks as well).  I wanted to introduce my girls to his work, and I thought our shadow theme would be a perfect time to look through his photographs and focus on the light and shadows in his work.  I set out the book and allowed the girls to look through it themselves.  Later, we went back together and talked about the light source, directionality, and shadows.

(Photos taken by the girls)

1)  Indoors, we set up a few homemade towers, etc. and explored the shadows cast by a lamp at various angles and locations.

2)  I reviewed some photography basics with the girls (see article links below).  Then, I had the girls (carefully) take photographs with my point and shoot digital camera to capture their "artwork".

(More photos taken by the girls)

3)  We went outside, looked for shadows, and composed photographs around the shadows we found.

PBS has a good article about introducing your child to photography here.

Darren Rowse of Digital Photography School has an article entitled 13 Lessons to Teach Your Child About Digital Photography.  It is aimed at school-aged children, but there are some good ideas even for your little ones.