And so it begins …

And so it begins ...

October 4, 2022 marks the official start of a dream come true.  On that date, Freeport Middle School Faculty member, Elaine DesPres, will hold the first meeting of the Photo Perspectives: Freeport Middle School Initiative – an extracurricular pilot program to expose middle schoolers to the photographic arts as a medium for self-discovery and self-expression.  Mrs. DesPres will meet with Freeport Middle School Photgraphers on a once-weekly basis to provide brief lessons in photography followed by hands on experiences involving real world projects using Canon Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) Cameras.

Photo Credit: Elaine DesPres

Participant photographers will then use a “Facebook-like” online learning platform to share their work with each other and instructors, give and receive feedback, and be able to access additional written and video educational materials as well as tutorials for photography projects they may wish to explore on their own.  Platform access is restricted to the students, instructors, school administrators, and Photo Perspectives staff to give students a safe online experience.  Our goal is to eventually offer the platform to additional school sites, where each school would have its own locked down photography portal, but would eventually be able to participate in interscholastic collaboration and competition.

Selected Works By Elaine DesPres

Finally, our participating photographers’ work will be exhibited to the public in several meaningful ways.  Mrs. DesPres successfully secured funding through the donorschoose.org organization for frames that will be used to provide a rotating display of photographer’s art in a school gallery.  Pending funding availability, selected student works will be professionally matted and framed and donated to a public entity in Freeport for permanent display for the community to enjoy.  Plans are also underway for an end of the year visual arts exhibition.  Current discussions also involve providing each student participant their own online gallery at photoperspectives.org to share their photographic vision with the world.

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