PhotoJ students get out of the classroom to document real life

Christian climbs a fence for that perfect shot of a horse grazing at the Sunshine Home barn! (Photos by Jolee Hatfield-King)

Aaron and Shalisha coordinate caption information before the shoot.

   I'm happy to report that this morning my students have successfully accomplished the 3rd annual Intro to PJ community service team project.  

   The team project gives the students a real-life shooting experience, and I am there to help them with things, like capturing live audio for a one-on-one interview, how to handle difficult light, and how to SEE photo ops all around them.

   Each semester I pick a different organization that fits these requirements:

•  It needs to be big enough for all students to shoot without duplicating photos.
• The workers and those they serve need to be welcoming to our cameras.
• The organization could use our photos. We reciprocate by handing over our best work, as long as the photos are credited to the students.

    This semester I chose the Sunshine Home in Maumee. For 61 years the Sunshine Home has been

"creating community among people with developmental disabilities in northwest Ohio." 

   We first met for breakfast at Georgette's Grounds & Gifts coffee shop in the heart of Maumee. Georgette's is a fair trade cafe and gift shop owned and operated by Sunshine Inc. of Northwest Ohio, so it was a logical choice to converge and discuss our game plan. Carolyn Miller, Sunshine's enthusiastic communications coordinator, was kind enough to join us there. Then we headed over to Sunshine and spent two hours documenting life there.

   The first two team projects were at Bittersweet Farms and Cherry St. Mission. Carolyn has already put bids on the class coming out next Fall. As long as the welcome mat is spread out before us, that is certainly an option!

The team from left: Carolyn Miller (Sunshine Home), Sydney, Aaron, Mariah, Lori (me), Christian, Shalisha and Paul.

End of semester means community project is near

Photo by PHO245 student Mariah Teet

Photo by PHO245 student Shalisha Russell.

   Wow. That's all I can say when viewing the sports photos taken by the students. They would look fantastic in any newspaper. Nice job!

   Tomorrow they will be working on their portrait assignment, which is the final regular assignment before we dig into the photo stories.

   Speaking of photo stories, I'm happy to announce that the class is doing their group community service photo story at Sunshine Home, a special place that services people with disabilities.

   Carolyn Miller, the Sunshine Home's communications coordinator, is coming into the classroom on Wednesday to talk about the shooting opportunities the students will have. The community service project is one of my favorite assignments because everyone involved benefits: the organizations we cover get fresh photos, and the students get to shoot a real-world photo story as a team. It's a win-win situation.

   The students will be divided into teams: sound, writing and editing, but they all shoot. It's a total collaborative effort. The end result is a Soundslides project that the organization can put on their website, if they so choose.

  In the meantime, view their great feature and sports photos by clicking on the student blog roll above.

   (UPDATE: The class will be going to the Sunshine Home April 9)