http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/my-hometown-teenagers-document-america/
Thank you
for inquiring about The New York Times Lens Blog project, "My
Hometown."
We intend it
to be a document of 21st century America, as seen through the eyes of high
school students. We are asking high school and community-based photography
programs to have their students photograph their community. The images will
appear in an interactive web feature on the Lens Blog and will be archived in
the Library of Congress. You can find more details at the initial Lens post on
“My Hometown.”
The project
was inspired by our belief in the power of photography as an educational tool,
and by a desire to help young people communicate the way they see their lives
and their communities.
While each
class, and each student, will only be photographing their respective
communities, together we can create an important and lasting document of America
today as seen by teenagers.
For this to
work, we need photography students who represent a cross-section of America —
we need to include every region and
young people from every economic and cultural background. Every student
will have a meaningful role. Most importantly, we need teachers who will
challenge and motivate their students to
seriously document their communities.
We're
betting that your students will be able to teach us something about the world
they live in.
What do you
need to do to participate in “My Hometown?” It's pretty simple:
1) Notify us
by email that you wish for your class or program to participate. It's informal,
but we'd like to know where we will be getting photos from. Write a few sentences describing your school
and program and your community.
2) Have your
students document the community they live in. The more time they spend, the
more successful the resulting document will be.
3) Assist
them in editing, captioning and uploading — no more than four images from each
student. Please upload to our submission site before May 1st.
We will send
more submission details once you’ve confirmed your participation. Adequate
captioning is especially important because the photos, when published, will be
sortable by location and by subject matter.
Please keep
digital post-processing to a minimum.
Students may use any kind of camera they please, but the images will
need to be submitted as jpegs.
What types
of photos are we looking for? Documentary images, portraits, details and
landscapes — everything. We want to see what
your students want to show us about where they are growing up.
We are
purposely making a broad request because you — and your students — are the best
judges of how to portray your community.
We hope that
your students look carefully at their community, thinking about who, and what,
is most important to them.
Our rights
request is minimal. We want to be able to post the photographs on the Lens blog
and on nytimes.com, and possibly use them in the newspaper. The only other
request is to allow the photographs to be archived under an arrangement with
the Library of Congress.
I hope you
can join us in creating this portrait of America as seen by teenagers.
Best,
James Estrin
Lens Blog
co-editor
Senior Staff
Photographer
New York
Times
