2. Documenting
Good Practices in School
Parts of this Seminar-Workshop:
Part I. What to Document?
Part II. Why Document?
Part III. How to Document?
Part IV. Ready to Document?
4. Documenting
Good Practices in School
-Karyn Novakowski
About 12 hours after my son was born, my daughter came to the
hospital to meet him. For nine months, I had been envisioning a sweet
moment where Sylvie held Fenn in her lap, gently stroking his head,
giving him a little kiss and saying, “I love you.” Instead, she ignored him
and played behind the curtain. To be fair, she was only 3 years old and
my expectations might have been a little high. I blame it on the
pregnancy hormones. When this scene played out before me, I only
had my phone next to me. There was no way I could run across the
room, grab my camera, adjust the settings and return to this spot right
after I just birthed a baby. And I didn’t need to. This image isn’t about
tack sharp focus or beautiful bokeh, it’s about the moment. When I look
at this image, I’m immediately transported back to those hours just after
my son was born.
Documenting Moments
6. Documenting
Good Practices in School
-Karyn Novakowski
This past summer we moved from just outside of Boston, MA to
Charlottesville, VA. We didn’t know we would be leaving our apartment
when I took this sink bath image of my son. I had taken a similar picture
a few weeks before but I had cleared the counter thinking he would
grab everything in sight. This time I didn’t touch a thing: the pile of
dishes, the formula can, the bottle drying rack, sage from a friend’s
garden. I left it all and I’m so glad I did because each element of the
photo serves as a jumping off point to an even larger memory. Our sink
is never clear of dishes. Ever. We cook a lot and that is the evidence.
The formula and bottles take me back to the struggles I had with
breastfeeding. The sage from my friend reminds me of the conversation
we had about how to cook with sage. Let’s just say, we didn’t get very
far. But it looks pretty in a vase!
Documenting Moments
8. Documenting
Good Practices in School
-Karyn Novakowski
This image perfectly summed up our 2017 and was featured on the
front of our holiday card (I know it's March, bear with me). For the back
we chose images that show our family's personality, our values, our
challenges and our triumphs. Together we celebrated countless big
moments (birthdays and moves) and the small ones too (playgrounds
and dance parties). Those are the images I choose to share on my
Facebook page, my Instagram account and my holidays cards. And in
case you're wondering why I'm talking about holiday cards in March, it's
because it took me a whole year to LIVE these moments with my
family!
Documenting Moments
10. Documenting
Good Practices in School
-Karyn Novakowski
It's only March, you have 9 more months to document your family's
moments. Make a folder on your computer. Call it "2018 Favorites."
From time to time, drop your favorite pictures into that folder. At the end
of the year you'll have tons of images that are more than holiday card
worthy. I can't wait to see what 2018 brings for you and your family!
Documenting Moments
12. Documenting
Good Practices in School
You document with words…
You create a memory!
You document with photos…
You create an album!
You document with videos…
You create a vlog!
You document with heart…
You create a moment!
13. Documenting
Good Practices in School
Activity 4:
Produce
a slideshow
of your
“Class Moments” in SY 2019-2020!
(Watch sample slideshow…)
