A snapshot of the photo class so far

Malia Kabwe, Staff Writer

Over the past month, the Samo photography program has experienced multiple new opportunities for creative expression. From building their own cameras to contest-prized photography, these students have been busy.

A contest was held in which classes Photo I and Photo II were required to photograph the new pool. A company named Pfeifer Structures constructed the white screens that are featured on the new pool. Pfeifer reached out to photography teacher, Martin Ledford, to ask if his students would be interested in participating in a contest. Ledford’s students were given an hour to take pictures of the pool screens that were “advertisement worthy”. The pictures were supposed to promote the pool and show off the brilliant construction of our school. Most of the students took an establishing shot of the pool, a close-up and a detailed shot of the screens. The five first place winners received $100 and their photos are featured on Pfiefer’s website. Issac Rockwell (’23), Mia Fererra (’22), Mathew McAuliffe (’22), Jake Kim (’22) and the duo of Jenelly Lopez (’23) and Kelli Nicols (’23) all have their pictures credited and published on the Pfeiffer Structures website.

This assignment gave students an opportunity to adapt to the needs of a real company and integrate real world experience into their curriculum.

“As a true working photographer you must research that company and see what kind of styles they like,” Ledford said. 

The other project the photo classes have been working on is building a Camera Obscura. A camera obscura, also referred to as the pinhole image,  is a projector- like the device that allows light through a hole within the box and reflects an image through the opposite side. The photo students completed this activity by looking through a wax paper sealed hole in a shoebox. They cover the side they are looking through while exposing the opposite hole to light so a reflected image is shown. Photo student Wongiel Gebeyehu (’23) explained the impact of this project. 

“I think I’m actually improving in photography because we are actually using different techniques for photography. There are so many of them and we have learned so much in such a short period of time,” Gebeyehu said.

The photo class has been participating in  a surplus of projects within only the first few months of school. Any Samo student would benefit from joining Ledford’s class.

A winning photo of Samo's new pool from the Pfiefer Structure photo contest.

Isaac Rockwell/ Contributor

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