M-A has introduced a variety of new freshman Career Technical Elective (CTE) and Visual Performing Arts (VPA) classes, allowing freshmen to explore niche interests even in their first year of high school.
One of these classes is Digital Photography, a seventh period course of 31 students—making it one of the biggest freshmen classes—taught by English III and Yearbook teacher Livija Kelly.
Digital Photography teacher Sarah Frivold, was unable to take another period, so Kelly signed on to teach photography to freshmen.
Kelly has taken photography classes since high school and minored in film photography in college. “I’ve always loved photography, so I expressed that I would love to take on this opportunity,” Kelly said.
Digital Photography is a hands-on class that teaches students how to utilize Photoshop, shutter speed, aperture, and all the fundamentals of a camera’s workings. Teaching photography has been different from teaching Yearbook, which Kelly described as a class with less in-depth photography lessons.
Teaching freshmen has been a fresh experience for Kelly. Unlike her English III class, which is very structured, every Digital Photography class so far has been 50 minutes of “controlled chaos.”“Everyday, something unexpected happens. It’s still trial and error for me,” Kelly said.
Plus, the students aren’t the only ones learning each class. “I find photography to be a learning process, even for myself, because technology changes so fast,” Kelly said.
“The ninth graders have been excited to learn photography,” Kelly continued. “In the first semester, we focus on the rules and theories of art. In the second semester, we break those rules and get really creative.”
So far, freshmen in the class have been learning the basics of photography and Adobe Photoshop. “We recently did a scavenger hunt based on the movie Amelie with the traveling gnome,” Kelly said. “The kids would use the techniques they learned, like metering and exposure, to take photos of a toy around campus.”
“I signed up for photography to learn something new and because I enjoy being outside,” freshman Uriah Segura said. “Ms. Kelly has a lot of energy, which makes class fun and enjoyable.”
