The Hastings and St Leonards project decided to develop the use of photography so that it enhances and simplifies the documentation process.
Starting points
Although we have had some fantastic and ambitious ideas about digital documentation including websites, blogs and the use of interactive computer screens, these ideas depend on having a lot of extra time, training and money to initiate. Also they are not suitable for each different setting. However, we realise that one of our most useful tools for documentation is the digital camera, which all of the settings have access to and are already using in some way or another.
Unfortunately the photos we are currently taking don’t always say enough about what is happening in the picture, what the child is doing. We want the photos to tell a clear story of events and offer information about the processes the children are using in their play which are evidence of their learning.
We would like the children to be able to say more through the use of these tough cameras about the environment they are in and how they use it.
We have decided to compile a list of key points to think about when using the digital camera so that our photos have more content and are more useful in our documentation.