In working with his Photo Camp students, Crowley received a refresher course himself. "They reminded me just how joyful [photography] is—and [to] always maintain a little bit of innocence in every assignment you undertake."
Beth Flynn, foreign picture editor for the Times, was equally impressed. "They were totally adventurous … in their photography."
Flynn participated on the last day and had a tough task ahead: She had to guide a small group of students in culling their multiple rolls of film down to approximately ten pictures. "Out of those various visions, we had to create something that said, Here's Times Square," Flynn explained.
It was a challenge to choose among such strong photographs, Flynn said. "I was very impressed. It was really hard to edit!"
San Francisco Assignment: The Mission District
Participants at the San Francisco National Geographic Photo Camp came from area Boys and Girls Clubs, Youth Radio, and Pacific News Radio. Under the guidance of staff from National Geographic and the San Francisco Chronicle, these students documented the city's Latino-influenced Mission District.
Kathleen Hennessy, picture editor at the Chronicle, said working on the project helped her see the area in a new light. "For me, it was great, because I got to experience [the neighborhood] again and realize how colorful and amazing it is—what a great place to take pictures."
To convey a sense of place, students were asked to take three types of photos: an overall shot, a portrait, and a detail shot. "We tried to show them that these elements will help you create a story," Hennessy said. "You don't want every picture to say the same thing."
San Francisco-based freelance photographer Ed Kashi said teaching at the Photo Camp was a good way to share the knowledge he has accumulated over his career. "I feel the role of being an educator is a way to give back." Kashi, who has shot nine National Geographic features since 1991, has traveled to over 60 countries, including Iraq.
For Kashi, teaching photography to young people serves a broader purpose. "The amazing thing about photography, even if you don't try to make it a vocation … is that it sort of forces you outside of yourself, to look at the world around you and to meet people and to learn."
The results of the San Francisco Photo Camp students' efforts were exhibited at the nearby Southern Exposure gallery. "It was really fun to see their reactions when they walked in the room," Kathleen Hennessy recalled.
"They tried to be kind of reserved and not really show emotions, because they're hip teenagers," she said. "But you could see the sparkle when they went up to their picture and saw it blown up to 11x14 [feet] [3.4x4.3 meters] or bigger and hanging on a wall."
District of Columbia Assignment: Adams Morgan
In Washington, D.C., Photo Camp participants were selected from National Geographic Education Foundation-sponsored LEAP (Learning, Employment, Adventure Program) interns. Their task: to photograph the colorful street life of Washington's Adams Morgan neighborhood.
National Geographic Contributing Photographer-in-Residence Sam Abell used the example of a particularly difficult assignment—documenting the land-rights battle of Australia's Aborigines—to help his students understand the challenges that come with trying to get a story and the persistence needed to overcome them.
Photographs, Abell told his students, can be used to reach a bigger goal. "It wasn't travel, and it wasn't wildlife, and it wasn't pure portraiture," Abell said of the goal of his Australia assignment. "It was [to bring back] photographs that served a purpose."
In observing his students, Abell saw them discover an important secret. "They found out the same thing that I found out when I was their age and I picked up a camera, and that is [that] it makes you a braver, bolder person."
Engaging with the world is what photography is all about, Abell says. "The camera not only allows you to do that, it sort of compels you to do it." And, as his students found out, that has benefits, as well. "They found themselves very noticeably with a new sense of their identity, a new sense of themselves," Abell said.
For Abell, the National Geographic Photo Camps are more than worthwhile. In fact, it was attending a lecture by a Geographic photographer at the age of 15 that altered his own course. "It changed my life," Abell said, "and that was just a lecture."
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