Children Photograph Nature Close Up
From the beginning, Olivia Metellus, 9, and Nia Brown, 12 enjoyed taking pictures with digital cameras during photography classes for children and parent teams. More difficult was learning to edit them on Macintosh computers.
The class, sponsored by the Bronx River Art Center, challenged the parent/child teams to take interesting microphotographs of natural subjects, zooming in on flowers, parts of trees, and waterfalls, for example. The idea was to bring the teams into their natural surroundings close up. BRAC provided the cameras and an engaging teacher, Marisol Diaz.
Nia liked taking nature pictures because they are beautiful and because “we’re in nature, and if we don’t have nature we don’t have anything all.” She didn’t like doing the close-ups at first, though. She had to exchange the Olympus camera she loved for a Nikon, and she had to exclude from her pictures aspects that interested her. But her teacher, Marisol Diaz, explained that professional photographers have to focus on whatever subject is assigned to them, and Nia liked being professional about her work. She’s really good at it, and it’s her best way of being creative, she thought.
The first weeks of the class were spent learning to use the cameras and uploading and filing their pictures into the computers. They also talked about elements of composition. In the next weeks, they learned to sharpen and size the pictures on Macintoshes using Adobe Photoshop.
Selecting which pictures to edit was hard for Olivia because all were “so good.” She had to pick 10 or so to show on Dec. 15 for a special exhibition at BRAC.
The exhibit will include the work of this class along with that of the documentary and computer games classes for teen-agers, and the adult class making this blog. Olivia’s favorite pictures were of a raindrop of water on a flower and a pine tree.
Nia, called “the brain” by Marisol because she remembers everything she is told about using the cameras and computer, said she tried to tell a story with her pictures. Her favorites were of a waterfall and of a red rose she saw near an old house.
Both Olivia and Nia were full of enthusiasm for the class and for their teacher. Nia said that besides taking the photographs she enjoyed learning all about the river and about the garden where they took many pictures. In addition, Marisol was “the best teacher you could have. She’s funny, and she tells you everything.” Olivia said the class was not only fun but also a way for mothers and daughters to spend “quality time” together.
The children will receive prints of selected pictures at the exhibition and ceremony December 15.
All are invited to this event at the Bronx River Art Center, 1087 E. Tremont Ave. from 4 pm to 7 pm.