Interview with Jay Hoffman, Design and Technology Teacher at Frederick Tuttle Middle School

I was able to sit down and converse with Jay Hoffman, Design and Technology Educator at Frederick Tuttle Middle School in South Burlington as part of an assignment for a course I’m enrolled in, Teacher Leadership in Technology Integration at the University of Vermont. Our task was to interview someone we believed to be an educational leader in our schools and to ask questions themed around technology integration and leadership.  Hoffman, in my view, is a great example of teacher leadership in action, he’s successfully connected with the community outside of his courses, brought new and innovative media courses to the Middle School and has fostered a perfect example of what, (in my opinion), is a digital community in his school district.

I decided to film my interview with Jay Hoffman, (perhaps because I’m a digital video teacher, heh), and had to really try not to get funky with the editing. I purposefully left the interview shots and editing simple, with my questions titled between Hoffman’s responses. Because of the size of the video piece, I had to split the interview into two sections, so below you’ll see two embedded videos, Part 1 and Part 2. 

Investigations in Urban Decay through the Principles of Design: Slide Shows in Three Parts

Urban Decay: Principles of Design Part I on PhotoPeach

Here in Vermont, aptly labeled the “Green State” we notice fairly severe changes often brought on by the onset of the various seasons. As the brilliance of the leaves fade into the frigid starkness of winter, often an “undergrowth” is revealed, the landscape becomes clearer. Buildings spring up where before they were blocked by trees, remnants of garbage, foundations, decrepit buildings poke through the naked trees. Are we witnessing Urban Decay, or are we seeing the onset of Urban Renewal for the first time? As students in Digitial Photography I have witnessed in Edward Burtynsky’s photography, beauty in a photograph can come from sometimes the most dismal subject matter.

Urban Decay: Principles of Design Part II on PhotoPeach

Having looked through the principles of design, and in the spirit of the oncoming winter, I asked students to explore each principle of design in a photo series examining Urban Decay, (or Urban Renewal depending on how you see it), using each principle for one photograph. Students were required to take six photographs with the following criteria:

-1 ohoto showing the Use of Balance
-1 photo showing Asymmetrical Balance
-1 photo showing Rhythm or Repetition
-1 photo showing Emphasis
-1 photo showing Simplicity
-1 photo showing Unity/Coherence

Urban Decay: Principles of Design Part III on PhotoPeach

The slide shows posted within this post show some of the amazing work that came out of this project, and again, comments or questions are greatly appreciated and welcomed!

Digital Photography: Break Dance Photo Shoot!

Finally getting some student images up! As a recap, students in my Digital Photography I class had an opportunity to work with two break dancers in exploring movement and light in photography, (see previous Break Dancers post for more cool details about our project). As students upload these images, I'll be posting slide shows from this particular class. The images came out beautifully, and many of the students brought their images into Photoshop for further editing!

Digital Photography 1: Break Dance Photo Shoot on PhotoPeach

Graphic Novel: Taking Photography to a New Level

Graphics Novels continue to intrigue and excite a great many people, not only because of the story content, (and the coinciding cinematic presence that has been the trend for the last several years), but the art work continues to stretch the boundaries of what has been traditionally considered “comic art.” One project in our Digital Photography course aims to bring the element of story into a photographic series, combining the skills of photo-manipulation and editing in Photoshop with graphic novel concepts and design.

Snow White: A Tale of Sorrow on PhotoPeach



This project took the course of about a month, with students starting their story-board/photo summary process, capturing their images, editing them in Photoshop and ending with their graphic novel page layouts being designed in simple PowerPoint slides. Students were required to edit their images to the point of rendering them unrecognizable photographic images, with students enhancing the illustrative look through the use of various filters and processes in Photoshop. Students were reminded to pay attention to the use of the various elements of design that we’ve explored so far and to think about color emotion and story concepts being visibly recognizable as “graphic novel esque.” The end results turned out beautifully, and I hope you enjoy the posted work! Please comment on elements of the project that stand out to you, either in general or specific to student work! My students will love to hear from you, and I’d love to hear your feedback!

Break-Dancers Perform for Digital Photography Class!

The Digital Photography Class had an extraordinary opportunity to have two professional break-dancers from the Boston area come perform for a class period in a professional photography shoot atmosphere.

-Photgraphs by student Bentley Miller

 Students gathered in the small gymnasium space at the high school surrounded by light kits while the dancers performed some incredible break-dance and popping moves for the students to capture in an exploration of movement in photography, an element of design that students had just touched upon a few weeks back.

The gymnasium soon filled with other students who had the period free along with a couple classes whose teachers brought them by to watch some of the incredible displays of physical feats. We even had a few South Burlington High School students perform right along with the dancers!

Students were able to get right up close to the dancers and capture some incredible imagery, testing out shutter speed, lighting, focus and just how hard it can be to photography someone in motion. In the last few minutes of class, students were eagerly uploading their images, and sharing their “photographic gems” with the dancers who offered praise and excitement of their collaborative artistic endeavor.

Many thanks to both Ivan and Johnathan, amazing break-dancers who drove up at 3am to be in our digital photography class and to Sue Teske, our contact who helped organize and get them to Vermont to begin with! Stay tuned for some more student work from this photo shoot!

Texture Time

Texture Time on PhotoPeach




Like line in photography, students learned about the various ways in which texture can be used successfully in digital photography. Students found themselves often getting 'down and dirty,' to capture texture in places inside and in the great outdoors.

Elements of Design: The Use of Line

Elements of Design: The Use of Line on PhotoPeach



During our couple week period of learning about, investigating and using the various elements of design, students looked at the use of Line in their digital photography. What I loved about this particular project was the flexibility for students to either create their image, (set up the lines they were photographing), or find naturally occurring lines. There was a great mixture of both in the end results.