This week, I had the opportunity to bring my GED students from Linden Learning Center to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens for a photo feast for the eyes. It was a perfect early spring day with a gorgeous blue sky as our backdrop. I was amazed that none of the students had been there before even though most of them live nearby.  They were truly in awe at the natural beauty and extremely inspired to use use their Macro setting! I spent a lot of time working with them on moving their bodies- bending down, and looking up in order to create a well composed image.  It is important to me that all of my students understand that photography is a physical art form and you need to move around to find the composition that you didn’t even know existed.

Here are some pretty great shots from our trip:

I recently introduced my new 8 year old students to the power of interacting with shadows. Rather than just photograph their own shadow, I asked them to find existing shadows cast my inanimate objects and create new imagery by introducing their own shadow into the composition as well as drawing with chalk. This exercise was challenging since it was difficult for them to quietly control their shadow’s movement while simultaneously composing and snapping the photo.  I am always searching for new ways to get my students to slow down in order to create dynamic and thoughtful imagery while also directing what is in the frame,  and this exercise seems to succeed at doing just that. Have a look:

I am honored to have been asked to curate Magic Box Productions’ annual Student Photography exhibition: Focus: 2012, this year at 25 CPW.  After looking through some 2000 student photographs (ages ranged from 6-18), my co-curator, Brian, and I edited the show down to just 40 spectacular photos.  The opening on March 12th was packed and many of the students showed up to receive awards. We only had one night to hang all of the work, but it turned out beautiful, if I do say so myself. This is the contact sheet from the show and some pics of the gallery:

I can not believe that the fall semester just flew by without even one measly post from me, it just goes to show how busy I was teaching kids the power of the still image.  In addition to my ongoing After School class at Packer, I also had the great pleasure of teaching an outstanding program with Magic Box Productions at IS 237 in Flushing. With 400 6th grade students per week creating atleast 4000 images a week to edit, it was definitely a challenge, but it was an invaluable experience which I hope to repeat next fall.  The students learned first hand about what makes a successful composition and the importance of taking one’s time before pressing the shutter as well as moving around to get the best angle rather than always shooting from the hip.

With a focus on food and culture, they took some incredible images on photo walks to a community garden, as well as to the neighborhood Chinese grocery store which was full of photogenic subjects such as live fish and fresh produce. Here are just a few of my favorite photographs by these talented students:

Rising Shutterbug has received some fabulous and exciting press on the oh so popular blog, A child Grows in Brooklyn. Thank you to Karen for the amazing write-up.  Read all about it here: http://www.achildgrows.com/2011/07/11/get-your-family-photos-looking-better-by-you-or-your-kids/

In other positive and exciting news (and we all need that these days!), Rising Shutterbug is officially offering an after school class this fall at HiArt in Chelsea.  Classes will run on Tuesdays starting September 26th from 4:30-5:45.  You can learn more about HiArt at http://www.hiartkids.com/. To register for my class just call the office at 917-318-9499.

Happy Hot days!

xoxo

Jess