BAYCS | myclimatefuture

Picture your climate future

Click on this image for a downloadable flyer.

Click here to sign up for the project.

Email Seeing for Ourselves with any questions

REMOTE ORIENTATION MEETING

xxxday, October xx, 2024 10:00-10:45 am PT

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These are the steps in this project. We will review these at the Orientation Meeting. For a downloadable version of these instructions, click here.

Step 1: Research (Estimated Time Commitment: ½ day outside of school hours)

A. Climate
Think about what the Bay Area will look like decades from now–say, 2054. Although you may be far gone, try to imagine what your environment will be like if you remain—flora and fauna. Then identify a locale for your photo(s). It’s your choice, but you might want to consider:

How will the local woods have evolved?
The beaches?
The canyons
Local streets and structures?
Wildlife?
Will newcomers have arrived here, climate refugees from hotter locales?

B. Photography
You’ll be taking photos with your own smartphone or camera. (While film cameras are as acceptable as digital ones, you’ll need to process the film and scan the printed photos.)

Photography instruction may be available. Watch this space for further details. However, you almost certainly have had enough experience taking photos to produce striking images. Following these simple guidelines will take your smartphone photos up a notch:

For a bit of training in landscape photography specifically, take a peek at this online guide.

Step 2: Field Work (Estimated Time Commitment: ½ day outside of school hours)

You’re ready to head out on your photo expedition! Grab your smartphone and/or camera and head for the locale of your choice. (Sorry, we cannot provide transportation.)

Consider what will be the most evocative way to photograph the scene. You can capture the way it is now or the way it may appear in the future. (Filters may help with the latter.)

Or maybe you’d prefer to envision your climate future symbolically, like a ticking clock. (You can do this one at home.) The sky’s the limit!

Then take the picture, experimenting with different angles and perspectives. Take many photos; you’ll figure out the best ones later.

We may be able to arrange for a professional cinematographer to shoot video of the picture-taking one Saturday or Sunday. They will meet up with you where you’re photographing this day. (Bring a parent or other escort if you like.) You will also be interviewed on camera as to what led you to take part and what you hope will result. The footage may wind up in a podcast and/or film about this project! (Check out the teaser here.) Let us know on the sign-up sheet or at the Orientation Meeting if you’re willing to participate in this part of the project.

Step 3: Captioning and Submittal (Estimated Time Commitment: 1 day outside of school hours)

A. Captioning

When you get home, decide on your favorites (a maximum of 10 photos). Then add a caption to each, conveying what you felt when you took the picture. Try not to say, “This is a photo of…” but relate what was in your mind. Adding an intriguing fact isn’t necessary but can take your image to a whole new level.

Check out the gallery of photos from the 2023 pilot project at Cape Elizabeth High School. Click on a photo to see the caption.

B. Sharing with Seeing for Ourselves

Then upload your work to Google Drive, Dropbox, or something similar, and send us a link no later than November 9. Be sure to upload the original hi-res photos. We will select the best photos from all those submitted and work with the photographer to fine-tune the captions by November 12.

The photos themselves will be exhibited during June 2025 in Thomas Memorial Library in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

C. Sharing with Home Stories

The final task is to contribute these final works to Out of Eden Walk HomeStories. A global storytelling initiative supported by National Geographic Society, Out of Eden Walk created the HomeStories portal—a space to connect with the world and our neighbors in it through multimedia narratives. Add your voice to the collection, and your HomeStory will be seen by people all over the world. Please contribute your final photos and narratives by November 19.

First, upload your photo.
The Title of Submission should include this parenthetical: (“My Climate Future” Project with Everyday Climate Champions)
Adapt your photo caption to What’s the Story of This Place.
The rest is up to you!

An example is provided below.

Stipends

Thanks to the generosity of donors, a total of $900 is available for stipends to the first nine individuals to enroll in the program.

Subject to this ceiling, you can earn $100 for simply participating in a serious way—or $25 per usable captioned photo, to a maximum of six per participant.

If there are up to six individuals in the program, they can each earn up to $150.
If there are as many as nine, they can each earn $100.
Other combinations are possible.

All judgments and allocations are the responsibility solely of Seeing for Ourselves.