Beginning Photography: Class of Spring 2010

Me and my class of 4th-5th graders in Beginning Photography

I just finished a 7 week program with 11 Daly City 4th-5th grade kids in a class I've named "Beginning Photography" [all but one pictured above since he had to leave early ]. The title of the class says what this class is all about--getting the kids' feet wet in photography and just covering the basics like what a camera is, how to hold/use it, and basic theory of photography [aperture, shutter, and verrrry briefly ISO hehe].

I was able to get all the kids photo albums so they can place all their photos and bring it home. In the last day of class [Monday, March 8, 2010], I had all the kids present their portfolio in front of everyone.

Below are some of the photos I've picked that were personally my favorite from the class:

The 1st official day of shooting, I taught them Rule of Thirds and how to take simple portraits. We did expressions of anger, sadness, and happiness and each kid photographed their partner in these 3 moods.

Another portrait made by one of the students.

Another class' theme was panning--capturing people/things in motion by selectively blurring the background. This is all done in-camera with no help of Photoshop. And mind you, this is using basic pocket digital cameras. The kids did a great job capturing motion.

A step above panning are action shots in which the I think the kids had the most fun. We went outside and took advantage of the camera choosing a high shutter speed automatically to capture jumping shots. I give props to my student for capturing me in air in the photo above!

My favorite jumping photo for the day was this one [above]. I loved the angle and just perfect timing in capturing a high energy shot.

The last themed day before the portfolio day was trick photography. I briefly went over terms like perspective, distance, and proportion to show them that it all works together to make trick photography happen. All the kids were laughing as I photographed the kids and made them look super tiny--all in-camera.

Another favorite of mine is this above in which one of my students made it seem that one of the kids in the yard was jumping off the chair. It's just awesome when kids can show you something new and equally off-the-wall.

While it being only a brief 7-day course over the span of 7 weeks [not including school holidays hehe], I'm sure they were able to come out of this class with better knowledge and skill on how to take pictures.