Cedar Springs — What do you see, think, feel and wonder when you look at a striking photograph?
Students in Jennifer Swift’s DSLR photography class consider these questions as they examine a photo of Leonardo DiCaprio with a swan draped around his neck.
As they look at the portrait, taken by star photographer Annie Leibovitz, students call out what comes to mind. DiCaprio looks pretty young in the image, so it must be from the ‘90s, one suggests. Another notices DiCaprio’s piercing eyes, while others wonder how the swan stayed still for the shot.
Bringing up a few more Leibovitz photos, Swift points out how, in contrast to photojournalist Dorothea Lange, who famously made her subjects feel comfortable enough to be vulnerable, Leibovitz “almost intentionally makes her subject uncomfortable.” She asks students to think about this as they plan for an upcoming portrait assignment.
But that’s a subject for another day. The matter at hand is still-life photography, and after looking at Leibovitz’s work, the students turn their attention to a recent assignment tasking them with capturing images of cereal in various styles — overhead, traditional, outside-the-box artistic.
The assignment is meant to teach students how to plan, manipulate and think through a photo shoot, altering a subject so the image they capture is just right.
“You don’t always just find the picture,” Swift says, as the class gets to work. “Sometimes you have to create the photograph. You need to take time to set it up. … You’re not just walking around and being like, ‘That’s beautiful.’”
‘I’ve always kind of had a connection to photography. I think it’s cool to have that memory, and go back to see — in detail, vividly — what you experience and what other people are experiencing.’
— freshman Payton Matthews
Practical & Artistic Applications
In the age of smartphones, when everyone has a powerful camera in their pocket, what can high-schoolers get out of a DSLR photography class?
Turns out, quite a bit.
Swift said there are many reasons — both practical and artistic — for knowing one’s way around a camera.
“With social media and Etsy accounts and any sort of business, you can pay someone to take professional photographs, or you could do it yourself,” Swift told SNN. “Instead of outsourcing and paying someone else to take the photographs, I want our students to feel empowered to be able to take their own photographs.”
And the students are feeling empowered. Case in point: freshman Payton Matthews, who has long wanted to learn how to operate a camera.
“I’ve always kind of had a connection to photography,” Payton said. “I think it’s cool to have that memory, and go back to see — in detail, vividly — what you experience and what other people are experiencing.”
When she photographs people, Payton prefers the Lange approach to that of Leibovitz. She wants her subjects to feel comfortable. While getting a head start on the portrait assignment, Payton sought to capture students in a situation where they felt at ease, so she photographed student musicians during a marching band practice.
“I put them in an environment where they enjoy being. Like, at band practice, I was taking pictures of people who really enjoy being there and having fun.”
She said she prefers using a DSLR camera to using an iPhone.
“I feel like the quality is much better, and overall, the depth shown with it is much better than with an iPhone,” said Payton. “It’s hard to describe, but I feel like the quality ends up being better.”
Payton’s classmates seem to agree.
‘Learning to slow down’
Sophomore Aaron Beckett, who became interested in photography after getting a drone a few years back, said using the DSLR camera is more challenging and rewarding than using a smartphone.
“This is more technical,” Aaron said, cradling a camera as he snapped photos of cereal frozen in place with Crisco to get a milky look without the sogginess. “I feel more accomplished than I do when I’m just taking a picture with my phone really quick.”
Aaron said the trickiest aspect of DSLR photography is thinking on your feet, and changing the camera’s setting on the fly based on the lighting of your environment and the speed of the action you’re hoping to capture.
Getting acquainted with the various components of the DSLR cameras requires patience, said sophomore Zoey York, but she said it’s made her put more thought into what she’s photographing.
“It’s been a struggle to learn the parts of the camera, and how to operate them … but I find that it helps me be creative and think of things to take photos of,” she said.
That’s the desired outcome of the class, said Swift.
“They’re learning to slow down and be more intentional,” she said.
Swift stressed that the class isn’t anti-smartphone. In fact, she said there will be a unit on iPhone photography sometime later in the semester, and it may even incorporate some things Swift has learned from students.
“It’s me teaching them DSLR, and they’re teaching me some cool, fun tricks on their phones that I can then teach in the future.”
Read more from Cedar Springs:
• New elevators, bigger classrooms, & don’t forget that playground!
• District welcomes new directors to leadership team
