During the first few weeks in quarantine, we started our first project through online school. It started off a little rough, but once we got into a routine it started working out. Our job was to become photo journalists and compile and array of photos that accurately describe and convey our emotions and feelings towards the COVID-19 pandemic. It was our job to capture photos to show better awareness of how communities reacted to the hard time we are in as a whole.

To kick off the project we as always started with milestone 1. The start of this project was our NTKs (need to knows) and our launch activities. For this milestone we had to create a themed photo walk. This really helped us later on in the project with the final product as it gave us the gist of what we should look for and how to theme the photos we would take later on. The competency we were assessed on was “be an empowered learner” this meant that we had to use technology to help us in the project. I think I extended in this as I used not only the basic camera, but I used special software to edit and resize the photos to hand in.

The next really important milestone was #3. This milestone was very important as it set down the basic framework for what our photoessay would look like and what sort of photos we would take. I took this one quite seriously as I knew it would plan out the future for this project. For this milestone, the competency we were assessed on was the same, “how am I an empowered learner” I showed proficiency in this as I effectively used my apple pencil to my advantage by writing my notes and the story with it.

The very next milestone was also important as it completed the first structure of our storyboard and actually showed us what our photos would somewhat look like.I used this milestone to help me speed up my photo taking process as I knew exactly the photos I would take. This meant I didn’t need to spend as much time taking the photos rather than editing and publishing them. The competencies we were assessed on for this milestone were “be an empowered learner” and “be an active digital citizen” which basically means connecting with the world through technology. I was an empowered learner as once again, I used my apple pencil to draw and set up a story board late on. I was an active digital citizen as I used my ipad to compare and obtain feedback with and from my peers to better my understanding of how my photos should look.

The next and final milestone was of course, taking the photos and creating the actual photo essay. We had go to our photo location and take many photos reflecting our story board. Then with our photos we edited them as to not make them seem bland and boring. Then with the final product of the photos, we used BOOK CREATOR to create the photo essay, adding the photos, media and anything we thought would improve the photo essay. I added music, captions to my photos and even an about the creator page at the back. The 2 competencies we were assessed on were “be an empowered learner” and “be an active digital citizen” I showed proficiency in the first competency by using my iPads camera to show the world my photos and photo essay as I presented via ipad. I showed that I am an active digital citizen through a cycle of feedback through my teacher, peers, and myself.

Overall, I think my photoessay turned out great. I included all the aspects of a great photoessay and translated it into mine. My photoessay was about how the community reacted to the whole pandemic. I included pictures of the closed signs, the awareness measures, and even safety precautions such as lines to show how far away six feet is and plastic wrap of the card machine. The link to my photoessay is below. It is a video so feel free to pause it if you want to look deeper into the photo.