Using Photography to Inspire Writing 10

By Hank Kellner

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Signs Can Be Confusing

As you stroll Houston Street in the East Village of New York City, you find yourself approaching Sex Street. Only in New York you think as you continue on your way. But after you take a few more steps, you see that you’re really approaching Essex Street.

“If that’s true,” you ask, “why did the sign seem to read SEX ST?” Then you realize that the DON’T HONK sign blocks the first two letters of the ESSEX ST sign.

If you show this photo to a group of students, you’re sure to initiate more than a few chuckles. At the same time, however, you can point out that one can find literally thousands of misleading, confusing, humorous, quirky, and even ominous signs almost anywhere.

Another good example of an interesting sign is the one that appears outside the San Francisco Giants baseball stadium. “Watch Out For All Flying Objects Not Limited To Baseball Bats” it proclaims. Using this statement as a springboard, you could initiate class discussion based on violence as it occurs in hockey, football, soccer, and other sports before you assign written compositions.

Images Can Create Powerful Responses

Each of the images shown here has the ability to initiate powerful responses in the minds of viewers. In the first image, for example, a viewer might sense apprehension. In the image that shows the old lady with flowers, loneliness might come to mind. The third photo might generate feelings of mystery or danger.

You can capitalize on this ability by showing your students three or more carefully selected photos and asking them to record, in one word, the first thought or emotion that comes to mind when they view each photo.

After they’ve recorded their impressions, you can ask the students to share them with their classmates, while at the same time telling what there is about the photos that made them feel as they do.

Finally, you can direct the students to write stories or poems based on one or more of the ideas they’ve shared.

Student Photos and Campus Marathons

“Now that we’re in the digital age,” writes Pat West, an instructor at Savannah Technical College, “I have my students in my college freshman composition class take photographs to support an observational writing exercise. Then we conduct campus writing marathons to get the students familiar with the process.” West also uses family photos to help generate writings about heritage. In another exercise, she sparks critical thinking by showing students Henry O. Tanner’s painting The Banjo Lesson and asking the question, “Who is teaching whom?” •

Copyright © Hank Kellner 2009. Photos by the author.

About the Author | More by Hank Kellner
Write What You See: 99 Photos To Inspire Writing by Hank Kellner available from Amazon. Original Edition. Cottonwood Press. I-800-864-4297. Cottonwood Press is distributed by Independent Publishers Group. Includes supplementary CD with photos. 8 ½ x11, 120 pages, perfect binding, ISBN 978-1-877-673-83-2, LCCN 2008938630. Visit the author’s blog at hank-englisheducation.blogspot.com. The author will contribute a portion of the royalties earned from the sale of this book to The Wounded Warriors Project.

05/27/09