As some of y'all know, I work with some of the 6th graders from Yellowstone Academy on Wednesday afternoons. Several years ago, I began a photo class for their after school program. For the first two years we did the class only in the spring. However, this year the class lasted all year long! It has been great, the kids have learned a lot, and taken some great photos. I'm really proud of them. I decided this past summer that I wanted them to be thinking more about their photos. The previous two years we used Olympus point and shoot 35mm film cameras. These worked great, especially for the age of the students at that time (they were in 4th and 5th grade during those two years). However, last year students were spending too much time running around, holding their camera up high and just taking thoughtless photos. I was not very happy with that. Therefore, I decided they were getting old enough this school year (6th grade) to learn how to use a REAL camera...a true, FULLY MANUAL 35mm camera. So I searched ebay for a couple months this summer, putting together a nice collection of used Pentax K-1000 camera (a classic, workhorse student camera).

A little background on Yellowstone and my history with the school. Yellowstone Academy is a private Christian school serving underprivileged children of Houston (please click on the link and visit their website to really learn about the school and the students they serve). It is an amazing place, with wonderful teachers and a strong sense of community. Students get two meals a day there (for some, this is the only food they see all day!). Most importantly, though, they are in a supportive environment, surrounded by people who want to see these awesome kids succeed! I have been blessed to work with the school since my senior year in high school, when my high school's "Outreach" program sent me there. During college I would return when I could (though not often enough). However, my senior year in college I had an opportunity to create this after school photo class, and use it as one of my final projects in art school. Thankfully, Yellowstone was willing to work with me, and allow me to teach their oldest group of students, who at the time were 4th graders. Everything went great, and since moving back to Houston we've decided to keep it up. It has been a wonderful experience, and I always look forward to what the kids can produce!

So, back to this year's class! I decided, "No more, easy, thoughtless photos!" I wanted my students to have to think about the photos they were taking, to OWN their photography. Therefore, we were going to have to learn to use good old, fully manual cameras! We spent the entire first semester of school learning how to use the cameras. We talked about how to control them mechanically, and we also discussed things like perspective, depth of field, and the ability of photos to tell a story. At the end of the first semester, all of my students took a test to determine if they had earned the right to have their beautiful, fully manual Pentax K-1000. I nervously handed out the tests, got them back and graded them. EVERYONE PASSED! Hooray! Now we could actually begin taking photos, and getting into projects. Christmas break began, and I prayed that everything we learned from the first semester would not be forgotten over the break!

When we returned for the second semester, we did a quick review, and began on projects. The students looked at their beautiful new cameras, and were like, "Huh? How old are these things! They must be from like the 70s or something?!?" They wanted to know where the digital cameras were. I assured them that these were great cameras, and that if used correctly, they would take photos as good or better than digital cameras. So we began some different projects, photographing portraits, color, action, and self portraits. Most of the time the students didn't completely follow the projects. Most of my students enjoy photographing people the most. But that is fine by me.

I've learned a lot this past semester, how to teach this group, and how to interact with them. They are a great group, and I've had a lot of fun with them. I'm excited about the photos they've produced, and would like to share some below. We are going to hang a show in the school for the last week of school, and these are the photos that my students have chosen to be in the show. Three of my students haven't chosen their work yet, and so hopefully they'll have the chance to this afternoon. I hope you enjoy the work!

Photographer: Melquisha

Photographer: Makayla (Self Portrait Project...what a cool idea)

Photographer:Makayla

Photographer: Blossom

Photographer: Blossom (I'm really excited about this photo. Blossom told me that she also likes to write, and I thought this would be such a cool photo to write about. I've encouraged her to write a narrative, or poem, or whatever she'd like, using this photo as a basis. I'm looking forward to seeing what she comes up with!)

Photographer: Roneisha

Photographer: Shundell

I'll post my remaining three students photographs for the show once they choose their two favorites.

Well, I promised to post soon about what I am doing at Yellowstone Academy, so I thought I'd go ahead and fill y'all in on the gist of what I am doing.

In the spring of 2008, during my final semester at the University of Texas, I decided I wanted to start a photo program with a school that I used to volunteer with while I was in high school. The name of the school is Yellowstone Academy, and it is a private, Christian school (pre-K-6th...but will be adding through 8th grades) for underprivileged children of Houston. It is an awesome place, with an incredible and extremely dedicated staff. Please check out Yellowstone's website here for more information about their school and students.

Sometime before my spring semester in 2008, I had read an article in National Geographic about a photographer who had taught children in Israel how to take photos. It was very powerful, watching these young children essentially learn a new language, a new way to speak and tell their story. Some of the photos were very beautiful, and I remember thinking, how cool would it be for the children at Yellowstone to be able to tell their stories! How empowering. How beautiful.

Therefore, for my final semester's project at UT, my professor graciously allowed me to travel to Houston to spend time with and teach the 4th grade class at Yellowstone about photography. I would go down to Houston every other week, and meet with the 4th graders in the after school program (at the time, the 4th graders were the oldest children). We learned about the basics of photograph, composition, light, and tried to discuss photography as a language. We used Olympus point and shoot cameras.

The following spring 2009, I continued the project, and I had mostly new kids in my class. Again, we used the Olympus point and shoot cameras, and I did my best to teach them about photography. I continued to give the children in my class different assignments every couple weeks, and we would meet weekly on Wednesdays. However, I had trouble getting my students to focus on a project--they just wanted to snap pictures on the playground, and of their friends. They took some wonderful photos during the semester, and like the year before, I put together a show for them at their school, with their framed and signed work.

However, this year I decided I would like for my students to begin thinking more about the photos that they are taking. The children are in Middle School now, 6th grade! And I believe they are certainly capable of learning how to use a true, manual 35mm film SLR (I also learned in middle school). Therefore, I spent the beginning of the fall buying up used Pentax K1000s off of eBay for the students to learn with this year. We had our first class in the middle of October, and are again meeting weekly on Wednesdays!

So wish me luck! I'm trying to find fun ways to teach these kids the concepts of lighting, exposure, and the functions of their new cameras. I think last week I bored them to tears, teaching about shutter speed. This week we are just going to try and have fun. I'm going to make a camera out of their science lab room! A camera obscura...I'll take some photos of the day and post them online soon.