Exposed to Photography

One day my teacher announced we would have a guest speaker come talk to us about photography.  I was excited because prior to this I had seen a Polaroid camera and therefore was somewhat familiar with a camera. The Polaroid was "IT" for me. It peeked my curiosity into photography by having this magic image suddenly appear on a blank paper.

The day finally came; our guest speaker was here.  I was attentive and ready to learn. I needed to know more about this photography thing. Somehow, I knew in my heart I would love it. There I was, face to face with a real photographer. I noticed he had a bag. He asked, "How many of you know how to use a camera?" I looked around only to see not too many hands up in the air, mine included. That's when he reached into his bag and pulled out a small black camera and announced he would give each of us a camera to use.

A smile as big as the day came across my face. We went outside. The cameras were already loaded with 35mm black and white film. He said, "Shoot whatever you like." I was the only one crouched down low trying to photograph an ant, a tiny opening in a door, a leaf hanging on a tree. I noticed he stayed close to me.

A week later he returned with our film. We got to keep our images! Before he left he announced there were a couple of exceptional students that he was super impressed with. I was one of those students. Up until then, I had never been exceptional. There was a sigh of relief. I thought, "Finally, something I'm good at!" There was no turning back. To this day, I'm rarely without a camera.

I believe the arts are essential for delivering quality education and well-rounded students. A world without creativity, imagination and social skills is a dreadful world. For me, I was more engaged with the work I was doing in school when the arts were brought in. I was attentive, had perfect attendance and my achievements in the academic subjects got stronger because I had a creative outlet (photography) to focus on.

Keep the arts in schools.