Yellowstone Academy's Photo Club-Halloween Project!

It has been a while since I've posted about my class at Yellowstone, so I thought I'd make a quick post with our Halloween Project this year.  I've got a new class this school year with 7 new students, and they are eager to learn about photography.  We'll be meeting Monday afternoons this year, and Yellowstone has moved to an all year calendar, so the students are currently on Fall break.  Before they left for Fall break, I wanted to introduce some concepts dealing with shutter speed, but I didn't want to get into too much, as long breaks can lead to forgetfulness.  So, I came up with an idea to take some spooky Halloween photos of our class, and use slow shutter speeds and double exposures to achieve ghostly effects!  All of the students will return to school on Halloween day, so they will come back to Photo Club's terrifying 1st show of the year!

Yellowstone Academy's Photo Club -- February Show!

As some of y'all might have read in previous posts of mine, I teach a small after-school program at a local Houston school called Yellowstone Academy.  Yellowstone is an incredible place, and it's mission is close to my heart (please visit their website to learn more about the school and children they serve).  I've been involved with them for about 7 years now, and have been teaching this after-school program since the spring of 2008.  Once a week (this year it has been Tuesdays) I meet with a small group of students in the afternoon, and we learn about photography, and pursue different projects.

Every year is so much fun, and brings its own awesome experiences and challenges.  This year, however, has been especially wonderful for me.  I started with 7 students, but 3 were accepted into some sort of dance club, so they decided to participate in that instead.  That left me with 4 very dedicated photography students.

Having the small class size has been a blessing in many ways, and has given me the chance to grow closer to my students than any year before.  This year I feel like I've connected with my students in new ways, and I've been SO impressed and proud of their work.  Next year I hope to have a couple more students, just so more people can experience photography; but for now I'm really thankful for this small and close nit group I have.

We spent the entire first semester learning how to use a fully manual 35mm SLR camera (the good ol' workhorse Pentax K-1000...wonderful student camera if you're thinking about learning photography, and would like to shoot film).  Then, towards the end of 2010, I gave them their first project, the Self Portrait Project.

While they don't always follow the project theme/guidelines, the important thing is that they keep taking photos.  The most important thing to me is that these kids learn that photography is a language, and that they can communicate through their photos.  I want them to understand that photography is an opportunity for them to have a voice, because, believe me, these kids have something to say!

My four students this year are Alton, Talora, Lyric and Juston.  They are in the fifth grade.  Each of them has developed a different approach to their work.  Alton dove right in, and wanted to know everything.  He can easily shoot 3-5 rolls of film in a week, and has become the photo whiz.  He photographs everything from his PSP to his baby niece.  He is probably the smallest kid in his grade, but you wouldn't know it by the way he acts.  He's tough and ready to take on anything.  Talora takes her time and really seems to visualize and develop her work.  Her photos are not mere snapshots, but reveal something about how she interprets or relates to her subjects.  She is slower moving than Alton, but her photos seem very carefully crafted.  I've been inspired by her creativity this year, and her ability to quietly observe what is around her.  Lyric has struggled a little bit to get started.  She had some trouble learning to load and unload her film.  Therefore, she's only started to have a couple successful rolls of film.  However, I know she is persevering, and will create some great work.  She accidentally created a multiple exposure photograph (pictured below), which turned out really neat.  I explained to her that sometimes accidents can create really cool photos!  However, now I think I will discuss with them how they can intentionally do that to create some exciting photos : ).  Juston has a lot of energy, and I really appreciate his honesty.  I have to stay on him to get his rolls turned in, but he has been working diligently.  He attempted a night series that didn't quite turn out (but I was excited that he was trying something different...we haven't yet talked about long exposures at night).  He seems to most enjoy taking portraits of friends and family, and I've been really impressed how comfortable and honest his subjects appear in his photos.

I wanted to go ahead and post about these guys and girls because on Tuesday I hung their first show in the school hallways, and I was so proud of them!  All of the teachers, parents and other students were marveling at their work and creativity (as they should have been...they've created some really great work!).  I've had them each choose one photograph from the show, and they will be writing a little something about it.

Below are the photographs that are included in the first show, hanging proudly in the halls of Yellowstone Academy!  The students and I chose together which photos would be displayed (but as they are the artists, and I am only the teacher, they always have the final say).  I'm so impressed with all of the photos they chose to display.  They've done an incredible job already, and I can't wait to see what else they create this semester.  I'm planning on having two more shows for them before the summer.

I've never done this before, but I would REALLY love to have y'all's comments on their photos (and I know my students would too).  So please either post a comment below, or send me an email at chrisbailey@cbaileyphotography.com.  Any posts or emails that I receive I will pass onto the students, and I know they would love the encouragement!

Hope y'all enjoy Yellowstone Academy's Photo Club's first show!

Photo by Talora

Photo by Talora (look at this one carefully...)

Photo by Juston

Photo by Juston

Photo by Talora

One of the teachers mentioned that the car really looks like it is moving, almost coming off the page. 

Photo by Alton

Photo by Talora

Talora created this photo by throwing rocks into the pool of water that was on the playground.  The rings of water that formed were much more interesting than if she had just photgraphed the surface of the water by itself.  I thought this was an important lesson to learn...that we have the ability to impact the photos we are taking.  We don't have to be mere observers.  Sometimes it can be appropriate to introduce our creative hand in the work, and effect the photo in a very literal way.

Photo by Alton

Photo by Alton

Alton took this photo of himself on one of his first rolls of film.  I was so impressed by his ability to pre-visualize everything about this photo, and then to actually make it work.  I had him walk me through everything he did, and it really showed me how much he had been paying attention in class!  To get this photo, he placed the camera on a table in the cafeteria, and knew to focus at the spot that he would be standing.  He set the exposure after focusing, and then had a friend come over to press the shutter release button.  This is one of my favorite photographs taken this semester.

Photo by Alton

Photo by Juston

Photo by Juston

Photo by Talora

Talora has a nack for observing her subjects, and then waiting until just the right time to press the shutter.  She captures many of her subjects as they actually appear, naturally as if there were no camera in the room.  This photo is of her sister, Tiatta (who was in my class last year).

Photo by Lyric

Lyric's hero is her mom.  This is from Lyric's first successful roll of film, and is the only portrait she has been able to get of her mom (her mom doesn't like to be photographed).  I think Lyric's goal for the year is to get a good portrait of her mother.

Photo by Lyric

This was Lyric's accidental exposure.

Photos by Talora

I asked Talora if she'd like to display two of her sky photos side by side like this, and when we put them together we noticed that when arranged a certain way, they matched up beautifully.  I wanted to show the class how we can choose to display our images, and how these choices can be as much a part of the art as taking the photos themselves.  By placing these photographs together, we are able to experience these images in a new way, different from how we'd experience them apart.  Also, the photo takes on additional meaning, and can be interpreted differently.

Look how the clouds and branch line up perfectly, as well as the different clouds across both photos.  They transition perfectly between the two photos, and become one.

Yellowstone Academy Photo Class Recap and End of Year Show

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: 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: Roneisha

Photographer: Shundell

Photographer: Shundell

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

Yellowstone Academy

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.