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Scott Douglas' Photography Class

We were very lucky to have Scott Douglas, from New Jersey, come to our school to introduce the BVI and Children of Peace students to photography. He came prepared, donating ten water-proof, drop-proof Olympus cameras, a photo printer and loads of ink and paper, to assure that these students had all the resources to learn and see their results.

The kids faces lit up when they were given the cameras for the first time and their curiosity and excitement for learning how to use them rubbed off on Scott and Kailtyn, who was assisted in teaching, and they were off! The first day was basic camera usage and after learning how to turn the camera on and take pictures, the kids went off for an hour and enjoyed the freedom of taking pictures and the seeing themselves on the camera, many for the first time.

The second and third day were dedicated to learning how to take pictures of colors and people working and they explored their community in new ways, returning from their excursion with beautiful pictures that impressed us.

The last two days included a rainy trip to the market (the water-proof function of the camera coming in handy) and the week culminated in a slide show on Friday where the students were given awards for the pictures they took. Our students took huge steps in four days, showing us that if these kids are given the opportunity to explore their world and imaginations, they can return impressive results.

Now that Scott has left, we are trying to continue his class and hopefully soon, we'll be able to link up our kids to the kids Scott taught in Brooklyn in a similar program. He is continuing to help by putting our students pictures online, allowing the whole world to see our community through the eyes and cameras of our students.