Lakeland High School offers a variety of options between electives for students.
In the 2023-2024 school year, Michael Dunn started teaching a new photography class.
Set up to teach students fundamental skills for photography, many students have taken quite a liking to the class.
Whether students have had no experience or shown an interest in the skill, the class has given many students a chance to learn a new craft before entering the real world.
Sarah Smith enrolled in the class without much knowledge of taking pictures. However, has grown to really enjoy the class and overall knowledge.
“I didn’t realize there were so many ways to take a photo,” Smith said. “Adjusting just one setting can make it look totally different, so it’s been fun to learn about different techniques.”
She has learned many new skills, including composition and lighting. Smith did not expect to learn such a massive amount of information from a beginning class, but it has surprised her with how much she has learned.
“I expected to just learn how to use a camera, maybe some basic composition, but it’s actually been very in-depth,” Smith said. “So far, the class has been a ton of fun. I have learned way more than I thought I would. We do a new unit every week or so, so it never gets boring.”
Other students have had some practice with camera work. However, this class has still been a great learning experience with many new lessons.
Catalina Soper had an interest in photography, so in her first year at LHS, she enrolled in Dunn’s class.
Soper loves the social aspect of the class, as well as learning how to take photos manually instead of having the settings automatically adjusted on a cellphone.
Soper has taken photography classes for the past two years in her homeschool courses, but being in a classroom environment has created more depth because she has peers around her to work through issues together.
“There’s a lot different of doing it,” Soper said. “Depending on who you are and how you look at it, there’s a lot of different ways to think of it.”
The class has been a lot more hands-on than Soper expected, and she has enjoyed it tremendously.
Another student in the photography class is Morgan Dickerson. Although Dickerson has never been in a classroom setting learning about photography. She had previously had a camera before the class and wanted to learn more about it.
“I’ve always wanted to be a photographer, so I thought it was a good class to try out,” she said.
“I didn’t know much about my camera, and so he taught me a few things that were definitely shocking to know,”
Aperture, shutter speed, and finding different angles for pictures are all new skills Dickerson has learned from Dunn this school year.
