Independent Art and Photography - Tenagers documenting thier hometowns.

An article by the New York Times about a new project open to teenagers enrolled in photography classes across America.

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/my-hometown-teenagers-document-america/?smid=pl-share

Here is the main section of the article:

What does America look like to young people today?
Well, just as the Farm Security Administration unleashed a team of photographers to chronicle the United States in the 1930s, Lens is beginning a new interactive project called “My Hometown.”
In the coming months, we are asking high school students to help create a 21st century portrait of America, turning their cameras on their neighborhoods, families, friends and schools. We are hoping the project will allow young people from bustling cities, Rust Belt towns and rural outposts to capture their communities in all their complexities — from portraits and fleeting moments to sweeping landscapes and quiet insights.
Since we are soliciting submissions from teenagers in high school photography classes and community programs, participants must either be enrolled in high school or be 14 to 18 years old. All submissions must be uploaded under the supervision of a photography class teacher or program instructor by the May 1 deadline.
As with our 2010 project, “A Moment in Time,” the resulting collection of photographs will be shown in an interactive gallery of several thousand pictures that will be sortable by geography or theme. We will also highlight select images in a series of posts on the Lens Blog. Many of the photos will be archived at the Library of Congress (just like the Farm Security Administration) photos.

For me, the outcome that they are looking for is very similar to what I am aiming for - "from portraits and fleeting moments to sweeping landscapes and quiet insights." The way that Lens are asking students to document their towns is almost exactly the same as the way I wanted to document my hometown, which the exception of including portraits. I particularly relate to the quiet insights mentioned, as I feel that that is one of the main aspects of my town I wanted to document - the bits that I know about from living there all my life, and bits that can't be re-created in other towns or cities. This is the reason for me using both wide landscape shots and more tightly framed images of details of the city - to give both a general overview and a close analysis.