Before I start I just want to say that I thought Pinterest was going to be a complete waste of time but felt that I needed to look because it is a photo-sharing hub; it isn't a waste, it's awesome.
Here is the Pinterest Board I created: http://www.pinterest.com/danieltinelli/photo-grfaie-the-history-of-san-diego-around-us-by/
Alrighty then. So I have a general sort of specific idea about the 20% project all lined up with some goals I would like to ultimately try to meet before the end of this class (though I don't see why I can't just keep on trucking if I don't quite finish). As I go forward I feel like I have to define, at least for now, some smaller mountains to climb. I also have been thinking that it would be pretty neat to include older pictures of the locations and/or building that I am focusing on in order to give some good contextual juxtaposition. So...
1. Learn how to use my DSLR Camera a bit better.
2. Begin to identify and research on the locations and/or buildings that I would like to focus on for the project.
3. Start to use some of the social networking tools we have been learning about in class, and that I have been learning about on my own, in getting this information together.
4. Get out and start using what I learn about the camera and practice on the locations. I'd like to get some research done before heading out to take some initial pictures.
So, my first step here is going to be to try and start narrowing down what I actually want to take pictures and learn the history of here in San Diego. There is just so much here that I wanted to take an online look around at what might be of interest. I started close to home and simply started writing down a list of buildings, areas, and locations that I thought might be historically and photographically interesting. I, literally, live across the street from Balboa Park in Banker's Hill so both the Hill and the Park (with many of the buildings) were on the list. I spread out from there and jotted down what I could see from our front windows- Gaslamp (noting Cortez Hill, Star of India, the Midway, Cabrillo National Monument, and the Bay itself. I then included Old Town since that was the inspiration for the project in the first place (not to mention where San Diego started).
Ok, list was done and now onto the research and organization of information. For this I used Pinterest, both as a repository of images and a brief history, and as a way of getting ideas about the types of images I would like.
Despite my interest in photography, I have actually never used it before. I only knew that it was a photo-shearing website that allowed people to manage photos and by themes as well as offered a social networking aspect that enabled people to browse and share similar interest.
Getting started was actually a slog of a process because of how easy it was to use. I just couldn't accept that it was as simple of a tool as it was. Well, simple on the user end since as I started to engage with it I started to see the implications of the networking aspect. I started putting images with history descriptions I as finding from the web, or that I had taken pictures of, and before I new it Pinterest was offering advice on other users with similar themes, interest, and images. What was really interesting and great is that I was able to locate other teachers who had images and personal experiences with the subject on there.
So, step one is starting to get accomplished and I have been getting some ideas of the different types of shots I can take of a subject.
The board for the Pinterest : http://www.pinterest.com/danieltinelli/photo-grfaie-the-history-of-san-diego-around-us-by/
On the front of the inclusion of older, in some cases, much older, I searched for and found a resource and community interested in historic images and pictures that have both an online and brick and mortar presence; the San Diego History Center (sandiegohistory.org).
As I look forward my next step is to try Storify (another tool I have never used) and see if I can begin to create a brief outline of some of the location histories with maybe some images, articles, and history that I find on the web. At the same time, while I have been out experimenting with the camera I am still learning the process of using the specific functions. I will be looking on line for video tutorials for some of the basics.