NZPhotographer Issue 23, September 2019

HOW DO YOU EDUCATE YOURSELF SO YOU
CAN BETTER HELP YOUR STUDENTS?
I look a lot at student work and talk to them about their
interests. I then go online and see what other artists and
photographers may have done in that field and how
they have done it. I spend a lot of time on online forums,
watching tutorials, or exploring different genres in order
to better help my students. Essentially, I am constantly
learning alongside them.
I find it pointless to teach the same thing to everyone.
Last year a student said she loved the work of Prue
Stent and Masie Cousins so I went online and explored
their work and their techniques with that student. We
experimented making coloured cornflour paste, and
Googled the ingredients for a milk bath so she could do
a shoot at home. We bought glitter, and slime and found
out how hard it is to clean it up after you have taken
photos with it and that the glitter keeps reappearing
weeks, even months later. It’s about learning, and
experimenting together. This year when a student asked
me about those two photographers, I was ready with
answers!
When you train to be a teacher, or train within your
subject matter, it doesn’t mean you now know
everything. You can learn as much from your students as
they can learn from you if you choose to.
TELL US HOW YOUR SCHOOL HAS TEAMED UP
WITH EXCIO TO SHOWCASE STUDENTS’ WORK…
It started with me leaving a comment on one of the
NZPhotographer Magazine posts on Facebook that
asked what we, as a community, wanted to see
in the magazine. I was tired of seeing all the posts
of landscapes and what I felt was the same style
of photography again and again posted by the
photographic community. I felt that it excluded the
creativity and talent of our younger generation.
I use this magazine as a teaching tool, and I wanted
to see the magazine evolve and attract a younger
generation of reader – I think this is definitely happening
lately, which is awesome. Ana and I began talking
about my feature on the Excio blog and I asked her
if we could have an Excio account for the school as
the photography the students do is fantastic, and a
bit different from what we normally see showcased in
photography magazines and in social media.
She was immediately supportive and when she came
to talk to our students she was so inspirational. She
essentially voiced the message that I have been trying to
get across to our students about photography telling the
students that photography does not have to be about
the ‘likes’, the ‘followers’ and the ‘influencers’, but it can
be about doing good and communicating a message
for change or just sharing a beautiful moment. I feel very
grateful to have had someone like Ana in my classroom
living those words with her work with Excio and NZP as
an example of how a photographic community can be
based on something other than the pursuit of fame and
money.
At the moment we have around 8 students on Excio with
1–3 photos per student, but are in the process of adding
more. What we are trying to do is showcase a variety of
images from our students so users of the app can see
how varied our students’ talents and interests are. I have
put together a student team to help me administer the
school collections so we can showcase as many as
120 photos at a time. It’s very exciting for us, and gives
students the motivation to strive hard to be innovative
and creative because, in the end, it is those images that
have the most impact and those are the ones we want
to show. Photography as a subject is only growing at
Kapiti College, and with our partnership with Excio it will
only attract more students keen to be appreciated for
the innovators and artists that they are.
HOW DO YOU THINK PHOTOGRAPHY BENEFITS
KIDS AS A WHOLE?
Photography has something for kids who think and see
things differently. Maybe they can’t draw or play a
musical instrument but are still creative. Imagine a world
without creative people, without photography, art and
music, it would be a very grey world. Children paint, sing,
and dance before they read, write, and calculate. It’s
their way of communicating, and essentially that is what
art is in its purest form; a vehicle for personal expression.
Photography facilitates creativity, personal expression,
communication, and changes the way kids look at the
world. Once you begin to be able to communicate a
message with an image, you start seeing the potential for
photos, and for communication everywhere. Remember,
we are a society made of kids whose first instinct is to
imagine, create and explore. Why can’t we continue this
into adulthood?
September 2019
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