The school’s year 10 photography camp, completed a few weeks ago went well enough.
We learned a lot, all of us, me especially when it came to how to interest 15 year olds in what was often their “soft” choice (the only camp that paid the loosest attention to the camping bit) and also how to deliver it in a form that holds their tenuous interest.
The girls in the group were invested early, the boys, with one exception took a while to get interested, video and sport photography sparking something.
They produced some great work on the most part and several students even discovered a latent talent.
One student in particular, Will an identical twin, the junior one I guess as he seems to differ to his brother often, but in a show of personal growth, he attended this camp on his own, a first and I feel part of a larger thing as he matures and moves away from co-dependence.
Will was a teachers dream. Attentive, keen and compliant to the needs of the course. Enthusiasm is great, but skill does not always follow.
There were signs of macro and possibly longer lens interest shown by some, so with little gear available (mine basically), some effort was made show those keen enough a taste of the birder or bee-chaser experience.
No high expectations were held as time and opportunities were limited.
On the last morning Will and I took the arduous track to the boat shed on the campus dam (all of about 50 metres from the main building!), where I had discovered two fledgeling swallows on the first day.
I was pretty happy with my grab that day, especially considering bird photography is not something I practice.
We set up in a pretty obvious spot in the middle of the road, no camouflage available, the 300mm and an EM1x on a tripod at standing height about 10m from the little dock where the nest is located.
Will took a few shots, we chatted about process for a while. The conversation got pretty involved in potential and technical stuff, the birds largely ignored. We were about to pack up when Will and I noticed some action developing as the two fledgelings started to play fight.
He was closest to the camera and went for it by reflex.
He responded to my “did you get it?”, with “I think so?” and a look of wonder on his face, which slowly became a smile.
Yes, he did get it, “it” being a series of shots, all but one in perfect focus.
Happy to be trumped by a young enthusiast, especially when he commented later “I think I have found my thing”, we headed back.
The heart breaker (there is always a heart breaker), was image two, inexplicably slightly out of focus in a tight sequence (no sequential shutter mode, single fires in sequence).
Probably the most dramatic and the tightest composition, but three out of four ain’t bad.
If that one moment is significant enough to justify the camp, I will take it.