Make Connections Practice Passage - Frankfort School District 157-C

NONFICTION
What job might you have if every place on Earth
could be your office? You could be a photographer
who takes pictures around the world. You might
work in an indoor studio. Or maybe you take pictures
at ballparks or wilderness areas. You might even
spend your time at a science lab. Each place will need
a certain kind of equipment. And each photographer
must be ready for the various challenges that a photo
session may bring.
Have you ever had your picture taken by a
photographer at school? Photographers bring in
special lights and film. Sometimes they even bring a
background for your picture. Then it’s up to you to
look into the camera and smile. But what if you don’t
want to smile? Or if you forgot to comb your hair?
Or if you blink at the wrong time? Then the
photographer has to be patient.
What a Job!
Practice the Strategy
MAKE CONNECTIONS
1 Write something you know about photographers.
What kind of connection did you make?
Remember you can make connections to
yourself, to the world, or to other texts.
MAKE CONNECTIONS WHAT A JOB!
Sundance Comprehension Strategies Kit © Sundance Publishing
It’s a Snap
José Ramón García knows a lot about that. He
has photographed thousands of people.
José says that when he started taking pictures,
he shot everything. It didn’t matter if it was buds
on trees, rocks, or flowers. He later worked as a
photographer who creates pictures for commercials.
That’s when he figured out that he best liked taking
photos of people. This is known as portraiture.
José often works in his studio. That’s where he
has his lights, backdrops, and cameras. He also has a
setting in which people feel at home. Before he starts
taking photos, José talks to his subjects. He gets to
know them and helps them relax. While they are
talking, he notices the looks on their faces. He also
watches how they sit, move, and hold their hands.
This helps him to capture each person’s uniqueness
when he begins to shoot the film.
José doesn’t work with just a camera. To make
ads, he often uses a computer, too. He chooses parts
from a variety of photos. Then with a computer
program, he can mix the different parts. The result is
a new photo made of many photos—and an
incredible piece of art.
T hink About It
2 Look at the time line below. Why do you
think the author wants you to know about the
history of cameras?
History of Cameras
1826:
1888:
1924:
1931:
1935:
Late 1940s:
Late 1980s:
Today:
World’s first
photograph
taken.
An easy-touse camera
introduced.
More people
can take their
own photos.
First
35-millimeter
camera that
could fit in
your pocket
introduced.
Electronic
flash invented.
Color film
introduced.
Edwin Land
invents an instant
camera. It prints
photos almost
instantly.
Disposable
cameras
become
available.
Digital
cameras are
widely
available.
MAKE CONNECTIONS WHAT A JOB!
Sundance Comprehension Strategies Kit © Sundance Publishing
Going to Extremes
Maybe anyone can learn to take photographs.
But not everyone is as excited about sharing the water
with sharks as Norbert is. To do this, Norbert wears
three layers. He puts on a wet suit first. Over it, he
wears a custom-made chain mail suit that weighs 20
pounds. Over that, he has an inflatable vest called a
buoyancy compensator (BC). It controls how deep in
the water he goes. A shark bite to the BC would pop
it, and Norbert would sink to the bottom of the sea.
Norbert Wu is one of the best-known
underwater photographers in the world. His jobs
have taken him from icy Antarctica to tropical
Borneo. To work underwater, Norbert needs a lot of
special gear. To protect his cameras from the water,
he covers them with large casings. Weighing up to
100 pounds, these are hard to move underwater!
As a child, Norbert always liked marine life.
By second grade, he had seen Jacques Cousteau, a
famous marine biologist, on television. That was all
it took. From then on, Norbert was hooked on the
watery world. While in high school, Norbert learned
to dive in Georgia’s Lake Lanier. All he saw there
was “a muddy bottom, a catfish, and some golf balls.”
He has been diving for about 30 years since then.
Read Between the Lines
4 Why would Norbert sink without
a buoyancy compensator?
Photographing underwater takes stamina.
Imagine diving in the subfreezing waters off
Antarctica. Most people can barely stay in for an
hour. But Norbert has made many 90-minute dives—
in a row! He did all of this to take pictures of a
colony of Weddell seals in the Antarctic.
It may seem like a long way from catfish and
golf balls to sharks and seals. But it’s not if you have
the courage of Norbert Wu.
Practice the Strategy
MAKE CONNECTIONS
3 What new connections have you made to
what you’ve read so far about photographers?
Some people think that great photographers are
born, not made. Not Norbert. “It’s baloney,” he says.
“Anyone can do it. You can train the eye. I just
happen to work full-time at it.”
MAKE CONNECTIONS WHAT A JOB!
Sundance Comprehension Strategies Kit © Sundance Publishing
Tiny Wonders
Darlyne Murawski is not only a photographer.
She’s also an artist and a scientist. She takes photos
of tiny life forms. Darlyne makes trips to all parts of
the world to collect her exotic samples. Most of them
are so small they can only be seen with a microscope.
The microscope makes the living thing look bigger
than it is.
Darlyne has taken many pictures of a life form
called diatoms. These are small, shell-like algae.
They are so tiny that about 25 million of them
would fit in a teaspoon!
Notice how some of
these diatoms look like
snowflakes.
Read What’s T here
All photographers have some of the same skills.
They’ve learned to use a camera. They know about
various types of film. And they can see how to
compose a shot. But each photographer needs skills
for his or her type of photography. Some need to
scuba dive. Others need to use computers. They each
have unique skills and interests to get the job done.
5 What does Darlyne Murawski
take photographs of?
Photographing something so tiny calls for a lot
of careful work. Darlyne first places her sample
between two pieces of clear glass. This glass, called a
slide, makes the sample flat. That way the details of
the life form can be seen. She then puts the slide
under a special microscope that has a camera.
Darlyne gets her microscope into focus…and snap!
She takes a picture.
MAKE CONNECTIONS WHAT A JOB!
Practice the Strategy
MAKE CONNECTIONS
6 Think about what it takes to be a photographer.
Is it the job for you? Explain why.
Sundance Comprehension Strategies Kit © Sundance Publishing