New Edition Available: Documenting Your World Through Photography

We’re pleased to announce the publication of the 2nd edition of Documenting Your World Through Photography: An Introductory Course for Elementary and Middle Schoolers by Hill Press founder Julia Soplop. Aside from a bright new cover, the content of this beloved curriculum remains the same. However, changes we’re making to broaden the distribution of the book have allowed us to reduce the price! We feel passionately about making this resource accessible to more students. You can purchase the ebook (digital download) here and the paperback here.

We’re working to make the paperback available for wholesale purchase soon for schools, libraries, and book stores. In the meantime, please contact us directly for wholesale inquiries.

About the New Cover

When Julia and her family traveled to Costa Rica early last year, they found themselves in a magical garden where hummingbirds zoomed around their heads and landed on their hands. It was their last trip before the pandemic shut the world down just a few weeks later. Julia selected an image of one of the hummingbirds in flight for the cover of the new edition to remind her of this enchanting moment—when she and her family were still naive to the difficult year ahead.

Book Description

To quiet your body and mind, to observe what is in front of you, to learn how to find the thread of a story, to document it from a unique perspective, to transform it into something extraordinary—these are some of the most essential life skills we can teach our children. Why? Because effective storytelling is what propels us through life. It doesn’t matter what particular careers we pursue; college essays, job applications, grant proposals, social media marketing—they all force us to weave engaging stories to convince our audience to feel a certain way. The basic photography skills your children will gain from working through this course are the building blocks of an artist, but they are also transferrable to other forms of storytelling the world will expect them to master along the way.

Kids don’t have to wait to learn photography fundamentals until they can handle a high school or college photography class that requires thousands of dollars of equipment and the ability to understand the relationships between shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. With Documenting Your World Through Photography, they can begin to build their foundational skills now. All they need is access to a mobile phone or inexpensive point-and-shoot camera. Packed with large, high-quality images from photographer and author Julia Soplop’s stunning portfolio to illustrate concepts, this book introduces students to the basics of light, composition, and perspective. It then walks them through experimenting with different genres of photography, including still life, motion, nature, and storytelling. Students will wrap up the course by creating their own photo series.

 Course Details

• Nine lessons, each comprised of one lecture and four related activities

• High-quality photo examples from author Julia Soplop’s personal portfolio to illustrate concepts

• Tips for teaching the course, whether you're a non-photographer or a professional

• Pacing guide to help you set a lesson schedule regardless of whether your kids are on a traditional or year-round calendar

• Course hashtags to share work on social media and create a photography community

• Appropriate curriculum for homeschools, co-ops, classrooms, families looking to supplement traditional education, and self-starting kids

• While written at a level accessible to elementary and middle school kids, high schoolers and adults with little photography training may also find it valuable

About the Author

 Click here to read about Julia Soplop.