It has been the practice of the Photography Program at NHS to have a guest speaker from different areas of the industry visit our classroom every month since the program’s reboot in 2018. Guest Speakers have ranged from nationally known studio owners, award-winning local photographers, Meredith Corporation Director of Photography, a National Geographic photographer, military photo reconnaissance pilots, and the Director of the Digital Darkroom for the Des Moines Police Department, to name a few. In December, students had the chance to learn about photography in its historical context more in depth from members of the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York.
Kate Emery, Manager of Digital Engagement for the museum and Suzanne Kolodziej, Director of Education for the museum collaborated with Nic Brandreth, Historic Process Specialist and Staff Videographer for the museum to create a live, virtual lesson demonstrating the gelatin emulsion dry plate process of making film. This kind of film became the basis for motion pictures and ‘still’ photography that we know today. George Eastman introduced the Kodak camera in 1888, giving the general public the ability to create their own photographs without needing any prior skills or experience. Nic explained the chemistry that creates the film and how those particular ingredients work together to allow us to “paint with light” (the definition of the word “Photography”) and create an image written onto that piece of film. This virtual field trip experience is the first of its kind for the George Eastman Museum and NHS students piloted it for the Museum to be able to offer a similar experience to other schools across the country.
Mrs. Krupke works with the guest speakers who visit the class to share about their education that led them to their current career in the photography industry, and she specifically looks for speakers who can touch on a current assignment the photo students are creating in class to keep the material relevant & applicable. Learning about this historical process and development of the camera and film lends itself to the course’s standard of “understand(ing) the history, evolution, and current trends of photography”. Students will use this information as a foundation for their final project researching a famous photographer & the equipment that photographer used to create the images for which they are most well known.
Future guest speakers topics for this school year include x-ray & radiology technologies, a National Geographic Editor, social media influencers, and storm chasing photojournalism.
Photo 1 & 2 are considered to be CTE (Career & Technical Education) classes, are open to students grades 9-12 at NHS and currently host 3 of the 4 foreign exchange students visiting Norwalk in addition to students from just about every activity in the building.
Follow Norwalk HS Photography on Twitter @HSPhotoPhactory to see more student work like the images below!
