By Kathryn Schultz
Speaker Mike Dunlap paced around the stage in Forum Hall, as a game of Where’s Waldo took place on the floor beneath him.
A round lens peeked out from behind the curtains. Another hid behind a potted plant. One blended into the crowd. They weren’t men in red-and-white sweaters but a handful of high school photographers.
For other campers in the audience of the Flint Hills Publications Workshop, it’s an entertaining activity to try to locate the camera-clad people. But for the photographers, it’s a mission: to capture the perfect moment.
After the presentation, the photography room blazed with people trying to meet deadlines. Cameras were flashing, and people were glued to computer screens.
Emma Hardwick, a photographer for Shawnee Mission South High School, took up photography because her mother was also a photographer. She said she looked for specifics when taking a photo.
“I look for good emotions in people,” Hardwick said. “Any emotion looks great in a photo.”
A writer and a photographer both battle with deadlines. The writer fights with a pen and notebook. The photographer has a camera.
“I use the Nikon D80,” Hardwick said, patting her own camera case.
While a writer can control how their story turns out using the right words and questions, a photographer must go out and hope that their photos will work.
“When a photo doesn’t turn out, I just have to bypass it,” Hardwick said. “You can’t do anything if it’s too blurry or dark. You can’t spend all of your time saying ‘Oh that would have been so good if it hadn’t been for…’ You always have to choose photos that are top shape.”
When Hardwick takes her photos, she uses her whole body to get the perfect angle.
“I start at the back and work my way closer,” Hardwick said. “You take weird angles. I get on the floor. Anything to get a good photo.”
While talking, another student sat underneath a table and started taking photos of her. Hardwick smiled, embarrassed.
Just like the writers’ infamous brain fart and awkward interviews, photographers face their own challenges.
“Lighting is a huge problem,” Hardwick said. “School gyms…”
“And outdoor events,” a girl across the table added, not looking up from her Mac.
“And outdoor events,” Hardwick agreed. “When it gets dark. Football games especially. Motion, too. And just being right there at the right time.”
A person usually cannot fully visualize the descriptions in a story without the help of a picture. Being there at the right time and capturing the right visuals helps tell the story.
“If you are writing a story about a mob and say that they are crazy, people can’t really see that,” said Kevin Adams, an advanced newspaper writer from Lee Summit High School. “But if you have a picture along with it… it really adds an element to the story you didn’t have before.”
With the continuing advance of Internet, both writers and photographers are facing the prospect that the unmoving medium could become obsolete.
“It is helpful that we can just download it on the computer,” Hardwick said. ”But it’s just really sad that we won’t be able to see our word on paper at a more personal level. ”
Every person has done the point and click, framing frozen smiles and calling them moments. Photographers can do more, using photos to show memories, whether it was five minutes or five years ago. Pictures that capture the moment can describe things that no word ever could.
During an assembly, Linda Puntney, who is retiring after 20 years of being camp director, was presented with a quilt made of the T-shirts of the last 20 years. She showed the quilt representing all her work to the audience. Her eyes sparkled as instructor Jill Chittum joked to the photographers hidden around her.
“Why don’t I see any flashing here?” Chittum said.
“Yeah!” Puntney agreed, “This is one of those moments you should be working!”
She laughed. They responded with clicking and flashing.
Kathryn Schultz is a junior at Notre Dame de Sion High School and a student in the advanced writing class at the Flint Hills Publications Workshop.
No comments:
Post a Comment