a few weeks from my classroom teaching to invite photography professionals into my classroom. Maybe a portraiture photographer, a newspaper photographer, a Doctor who specializes in radiation photography, or a camera store owner. If it was at all possible, we would travel "on location" to see the speaker in their own environment. I regularly had Smokey Roberts speak to my class. Smokey is an underwater photographer and cinematographer who worked with Jacques Cousteau on a few assignments. The students benefited tremendously from hearing the stories of these professionals. Made photography come alive. My article described the types of speakers a teacher could invite to their room, how to approach the school administration, types of calls and letters to make to the professionals, and a variety of ways to introduce them to the class. After being published, I was sent an assortment of photographic papers and film to use in my class. Very nice contribution from Ilford. In the fall of 1994 I had another article published titled "Have You Tried These Assignments Yet?" I described a few assignments that the students really enjoyed and were assignments that were meant to bring out their creative ideas as much as teach the mechanics of photography. Again a nice box of supplies from the company. By now I am telling the students that they may want to choose Ilford as well as Kodak as their choice of film and paper for the class. I suppose that was Ilford's idea behind the newsletter in the first place. The newsletter continued until 1997, but I never submitted other articles. Not sure why, but I just didn't. I found sharing my classroom stories with others to be exciting. Much the same as I do with sharing my life's stories with the readers of my blog. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
Monday, November 22, 2010
The "Making Photography Come Alive" Story
It was an ordinary day. I had just received the fall copy of "Instructor Newsletter", a publication from Ilford Photo. Ilford is a primarily black and white photography company based in Knutsford, Cheshire, England which sells film, paper and chemicals for developing black and white. The Ilford Photo Instructor Newsletter is published twice a year by IlfordPhoto, Paramus, NJ. I found out about it in the early 1990s and asked for a free subscription for Manheim Township High School where I taught. Called a few times with questions about their products and talked with Wendy Erickson who is the Executive Editor of the newsletter. She asked if I would be interested in contributing to the newsletter. Every time I have an article published the school would receive a complimentary box of Ilford supplies. In the fall issue of 1993 I had an article published titled "Using Your Community Resources." The article was a full page with a large title at the top and a small description of the author at the bottom. The article was meant to help other high school photography teachers with ideas for their classroom. I always took a few weeks from my classroom teaching to invite photography professionals into my classroom. Maybe a portraiture photographer, a newspaper photographer, a Doctor who specializes in radiation photography, or a camera store owner. If it was at all possible, we would travel "on location" to see the speaker in their own environment. I regularly had Smokey Roberts speak to my class. Smokey is an underwater photographer and cinematographer who worked with Jacques Cousteau on a few assignments. The students benefited tremendously from hearing the stories of these professionals. Made photography come alive. My article described the types of speakers a teacher could invite to their room, how to approach the school administration, types of calls and letters to make to the professionals, and a variety of ways to introduce them to the class. After being published, I was sent an assortment of photographic papers and film to use in my class. Very nice contribution from Ilford. In the fall of 1994 I had another article published titled "Have You Tried These Assignments Yet?" I described a few assignments that the students really enjoyed and were assignments that were meant to bring out their creative ideas as much as teach the mechanics of photography. Again a nice box of supplies from the company. By now I am telling the students that they may want to choose Ilford as well as Kodak as their choice of film and paper for the class. I suppose that was Ilford's idea behind the newsletter in the first place. The newsletter continued until 1997, but I never submitted other articles. Not sure why, but I just didn't. I found sharing my classroom stories with others to be exciting. Much the same as I do with sharing my life's stories with the readers of my blog. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
a few weeks from my classroom teaching to invite photography professionals into my classroom. Maybe a portraiture photographer, a newspaper photographer, a Doctor who specializes in radiation photography, or a camera store owner. If it was at all possible, we would travel "on location" to see the speaker in their own environment. I regularly had Smokey Roberts speak to my class. Smokey is an underwater photographer and cinematographer who worked with Jacques Cousteau on a few assignments. The students benefited tremendously from hearing the stories of these professionals. Made photography come alive. My article described the types of speakers a teacher could invite to their room, how to approach the school administration, types of calls and letters to make to the professionals, and a variety of ways to introduce them to the class. After being published, I was sent an assortment of photographic papers and film to use in my class. Very nice contribution from Ilford. In the fall of 1994 I had another article published titled "Have You Tried These Assignments Yet?" I described a few assignments that the students really enjoyed and were assignments that were meant to bring out their creative ideas as much as teach the mechanics of photography. Again a nice box of supplies from the company. By now I am telling the students that they may want to choose Ilford as well as Kodak as their choice of film and paper for the class. I suppose that was Ilford's idea behind the newsletter in the first place. The newsletter continued until 1997, but I never submitted other articles. Not sure why, but I just didn't. I found sharing my classroom stories with others to be exciting. Much the same as I do with sharing my life's stories with the readers of my blog. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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