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Teach a Kid, Share the Joy

By Jon Canfield.

I recently had the opportunity to give a talk on photography to a group of high school kids. Walking into the room it was pretty obvious that a good number of them were there because they had to be, not because it was something interesting or meaningful.

By the time I was done though, most of the glazed looks had disappeared. Sure, there were still a couple of students who could have cared less if I was talking about photography or how to mash potatoes, but that’s typical of any group. It seems like everyone these days has a cellphone with an embedded camera in it, and kids are accustomed to snapping and sharing photos with their friends. I found that more girls in the group had pocket-sized digi-cams, while the guys were more likely to just have the cellphone.

What was really interesting though was how few of these photos, regardless of how they were taken, were ever seen in print. The kids view them on their cellphones, or maybe on MySpace, but none of them had printed their photos! I had a few cameras with me that I loaned to the kids, and we went around the campus doing some shooting while I explained things such as composition and what type of lighting to try for. Then we all went back to the classroom to review images. I showed everyone’s shots on the whiteboard with a projector, to laughs and in a couple of cases groans, mentally taking note of the best of each kid’s shots.

While talking some more about what drew me into photography, places I’d been, and such, I was printing these images out on the small photo printer I had with me. At the end of the session, I passed out the photos to the surprised group, and it was like they had rediscovered something new.There’s just something different about seeing your photo on paper than on screen that somehow makes it more real.

Will any of these kids get into photography? I couldn’t tell you for certain. But I do know two things: There were a lot of smiles when I left (hopefully not because I left!); and there was a good feeling inside me for having shared something I enjoy.

 

Posted 06-13-2008 1:32 AM by Eileen Fritsch
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Conversations @ HP » Teach a Kid, Share the Joy wrote Conversations @ HP » Teach a Kid, Share the Joy
on 06-13-2008 1:47 PM

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