Image and text

Since 2009, the Seine-Saint-Denis County Council has been backing “la Culture et l’Art au Collège (CAC)”. This project is based to a large extent on the presence in class for several weeks (40 hours) of an artist or scientist whose mission is to engage the students in a process of research and creation.

Contributors: photographers

Objectives:
To show what cannot always be described in words, to enhance an article or suggest a discrepancy - these are the main objectives of an initiative devised to explore photography and images. A local newspaper (preferably in Seine-Saint-Denis) allows students to produce pictures to accompany some of its articles. This involves a process in which the dialogue between the class and the editorial team is of the utmost importance.

Workshops:
Meaning Through Pictures
Discussing their own work, the contributors present the main issues involved in their profession:  where do press photos come from, how does the relationship with the written word function, how do professionals work? The workshop involves immersing oneself in a “culture” of information that each time attempts to construct an original relationship between image and text. 

Seeing and Reviewing
The class analyses the local newspaper: What role do pictures play? What purpose do they serve? Which styles are used? The newspaper places an order with the group – the students are asked to provide new pictures for articles that have already been published. The selected articles are sent to the students (what are the articles about? To whom are they addressed?) The students pick out the key facts and then combine these with the principle for a picture. A photo session is organised and a series of pictures is taken. The pictures are then collated, commented on and prepared as a well-founded and detailed proposal.  

The Order(s)
A meeting is set up with the newspaper’s editorial team and the students present their work. This is followed by advice, analysis and critiques. The journalists present draft articles and the students are invited to work on them. A discussion is held to understand the editorial team’s objectives. In the classroom, the students discuss the various projects and each suggests a choice of illustrations. Three series per topic are produced in order to multiply the hypotheses. The journalists send the students the finalised written versions of each topic. The students then match them with the most relevant pictures from among all those they have taken.