Last week, we (Pictage employees and Photographers) hosted our 2nd Lens & Learn event at the Boys & Girls Club in Santa Monica. The facility there is amazing! Hundreds of kids and teens are there at one time and get to enjoy some pretty cool activities in their tech room, basketball courts, the skate park, a recording studio, a huge game room, and I’m sure much more. They have some incredible mentors and staff on hand too, which made our job of teaching the kids photography SO much easier.
When I say teach photography, we took a very lax approach this time around which I thought was pretty awesome. Our goal wasn’t to teach technique, it was to inspire. We challenge them with things like “take a picture of something that represents hot”. It’s amazing to see them go from focusing on the obvious hot items like the sun, to the less obvious things like the color red or my favorite that came up for that one, a supermodel.
Of course while trying to inspire them and fielding questions like, “I can’t decide whether to be a doctor or a photographer, which one makes more money?” I was inspired. Just like the last Lens & Learn event, I walked away with something too. I not only got to hug and squeeze a bunch of kids (one of my favorite things of all time) but I also got to speak 11-year-old. When we weren’t talking about photography, we chatted about nail polish color and how to best bedazzle a cell phone, Eclipse (btw aren’t they too young for that?) and Toy Story 3.
The funny thing is that’s what I talk about anyway…
I had a blast and was reminded to not take photography and/or life too seriously. They have high hopes and dream big with no hesitation, no doubt. I think we can all learn from seeing that.
I hope to go back to the SM Boys & Girls Club soon, I owe them a thank you (and I would like some more hugs).
How cute is this sign they made us?
The pier with 100 or so kids was a little crazy, but it ended up being a great place to shoot.
When we finished the scavenger hunt, we practiced posing :)
Their shirts are awesome. They say “The positive place for kids and teens” and “Be Great”.
A man at the merry-go-round gave us lots of Bazooka.
Miss them :(
by Emily
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