Setting up a Photography Club at a school - help appreciated

Matt Charlton

Matt Charlton

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Morning guys,

For quite a while now I've been toying with the idea of creating a school camera club for the kids here, I'm the Network Manager at a secondary school with about 2000 kids. Obviously photography is quite a decent hobby for me and I think it would be great to share this with other people, there are probably quite a few kids who would be interested in photography and post processing too.

Now I was going to make it a film and digital thing but the art department don't seem to be all that bothered about it, so I thought that if I kept it digital I could base myself up near the IT office and post processing would be done on the PCs anyway.

I was wondering what age ranges to open the thing up to - I haven't really given it much thought, I wondered if it were 6th formers (16-18) - things would be a lot simpler in regards to trips - ie meet a the local park on Saturday or whatever, they're old enough to be responsible and it would just be a casual meet up to take pics and things. The grounds here are quite large too so theres a fair few photo oppertunities here.

The age range is a factor also in terms of maturity - I don't want them messing around and want genuinely interested people involved.

I'd probably run the club on a lunchtime or after school one night. The kids finish school at 2:30 and I finish at 3:30 so that gives us an hour there.

I just wondered if people had any ideas at all, any tips or advice would be gratefully recieved.
 
I used to run evening photography classes at work years ago. Obviously they were all adults and I had the advantage of a classroom in the Training Dept and a fully equipped darkroom compliments of SOCO. The classes proved very popular and if there was a problem it was that the darkroom sessions got to be a bit crowded.

With access to classrooms and networked computers you seem ideally placed to run something similar with digital processing. You might be surprised at the depth and complexity of some of the questions which can be raised. The only advice I can offer is don't ever BS if you want to keep any credibility - if you don't know say so but tell them you'll find out. ;)
 
I would have thought that even the younger scholars with a digi cam would love to take part in this, parents can't always help with the uploading problem and as for a bit of editing, I think the younger the better, I'd love to teach a bit of photoshop. I can see the advantages of the older ones too, you will have to limit the size of your classes anyway, I reckon you will have a waiting list as long as your arm! They're not going to sign up for this unless they're serious about learning anyway.....
 
I've got a reputation for never BSing ;) I keep quiet generally unless I know what I'm talking about, luckily with access to google I can answer most if not all questions that get thrown at me.

I just registered hansonphotoclub.co.uk, will use that for the galleries and photo blogs of the kids if they want them. I'm really excited about this, gives me something to really get my teeth into.

As for limiting the size of the classes - I'm in two minds about this - a smaller class gives me more time and attention for each but I have the capacity to use about 28 computers in each classroom.

I'd probably want to limit it to around 20 people. If it comes to it I could always run it two or three lunchtimes a week having a different day for each age group I guess couldn't I.
 
Get practicing with photoshop. The more you know the more you can pass on to others.
 
get back to bed, you're ill, and you've given it to me :(

(headache and runny nose today)
 
Sorry not stopped coughing all morning. :( Hope I havent given it to you. I am curled up on the sofa under the fleece.

When you planning on starting these, how long will they run for?
 
I dunno, I have to do posters and stuff, gauge interest, and run it until we get bored.

You could come with me on the trips if you weren't at work.
 
Poster is underway, sign up forms are done, website is up and ready for me to work on later. Its moving very fast indeed.
 
why not get them to join here?
 
matty said:
why not get them to join here?
Click to expand...

Bod is looking into a special request I made about something I'd need - the website I've set up is for a gallery and somewhere for them to host their pics.

The plan was to have them join here to use the forums :P
 
I went to Hanson, occasionally! Good luck though, there will probably be a few kids that can teach you a thing or two!
 
Fingers crossed ;)

I just hope theres enough interest.

Done a poster and put that up in a few places and put an announcement on the desktop so they'll see that when they login in the morning.

Scheduled the first session for next Wednesday lunchtime so we'll see how it goes.
 
Sounds like a great idea Darksaber, I did photography GCSE at secondary school (was the only one) and it was great! Even if you just get a couple of really keen kids it could be worth it. Learning the basics at that age is really usefull. Good luck ;)
 
Tbh, you're not going to get mature and genuinly interested students at a school - unless photography is already one of their hobbies, which is rare.
 
You will have to be careful what you do and say on here Darksaber, if you invite all your students on to the forum. You may also never have any peace from them.

Just a thought
 
Out of the 1,000 students in my school, only me and a friend of mine in sixth form like photography, and thats only because I let him have a go on my D50.
 
Nath theres no way that you can possibly know all 998 other students personally and know if they like taking pictures or not. I think there will be a fair bit of interest, but we'll see how it goes.
 
problem with kids that age, (i've been there YRLY!) and most of them are really shy and if they like something others don't they try to ignore it at school.. If it aint cool, keep it away from school, in other words :/

shame really :( PEER PRESSURING NEWBS
 
aye, but what I'm saying is, they may like it.. but they might be embarresed to do something.. anyway off for sex bye!
 
Darksaber said:
Bod is looking into a special request I made about something I'd need - the website I've set up is for a gallery and somewhere for them to host their pics.

The plan was to have them join here to use the forums :P
Click to expand...

special requests = $1,000,000 :D

pink fluffy hat?? Moi??????
 
well i havent heard how it went so dont know if its a good thing or bad thing.
 
yeah so do I
 
I had three teachers come to it, it was pretty good. There were some people that wanted to come but had made other plans because they hadn't heard about it in time - I'm sure the numbers will grow.
 
do you want some nice TP business cards or fliers to hand out?
 
Even if it is just teachers that come, that may be better, more experience, mire likely to listen, and not cause problems, and also no permission needed for trips.
Fingers crossed for future weeks.
Have fun, cant wait to see some photos.
 
cool, glad people turned up, good luck for future weeks and stuff
 
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