Photography and Life Lessons

By Kassidy Ravina and Sara Dimmick

 

 

 

 

Photography is like telling a story with pictures.

That’s what we learned in a “Smart Photos with Smart Phones” workshop on January 30 at the Teen Canteen with journalist Garry Pierre-Pierre, the Executive Director of the Community Reporting Alliance, which provides some funding to Coal Cracker.

Pierre-Pierre showed us five elements of composition in photography. To have a good photo, he said, you need good composition. These elements aren’t rules, but something to consider when photographing. There is pattern, symmetry, texture, depth of field, and lines.

Photography, believe it or not, can even teach you about yourself, said Pierre-Pierre. “It can teach you to really look at life. It can teach how to be patient, and it also gives a way to say something you didn’t know how to say. It can teach life lessons.”

We also talked to Pierre-Pierre about his career. We asked him why he wanted to be a journalist. He said it’s because he was curious. We then asked what he likes to write about. He said he likes writing about anything, “but to be able to do that, you will need to get out of your comfort zone, so you can complete the task.”

After the workshop, we stepped in front of the lens for a Coal Cracker staff photo session with Nikki Stetson.

The following photos were taken during our photography workshop.

 

Photojournalist Ashley Stetson, whose work is featured at left and below, won the prize for best photo collection of the day during Coal Cracker’s
“Smart Photos with Smart Phones” workshop. “The session made me really try to be creative and artistic,” she says. “I tried to show more in every picture.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coal Cracker photojournalist Taylor Walsh captured texture and color, at left and below, with images of a yellow leaf, a shadow, and some rocks found along the pavement. “The leaf is one of my favorites because of how unique it was just laying in the middle of the street, and how it shows the material of it,” she says. “I like the rocks because of how I focused it and how all the rocks are different.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coal Cracker photojournalist Kassidy Ravina says she focused on the chain, at left, because “I feel it captures a story.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coal Cracker photojournalist Sara Dimmick, zoomed in on the same subject as her colleague Kassidy. “This photo (at left) shows the texture of the wood and the chain,” she says. “It tells a story of how locks are supposed to keep people out of things, but we can still see what’s on the other side.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coal Cracker photojournalist Joei Shaller says, “I usually like to keep my photos as natural as possible [when editing or adding filters].” During the workshop, she tried some new techniques to create the black and white and colorized photos at left and below.