Boreal Community Media in collaboration with Cook County Higher Education and North Point hosted a Photography and Videography Technology Camp the week of July 19th.   Camp instructor Jaye White shares a recap of the week on camp learning experiences.

Five campers joined me in downtown Grand Marais to learn photography and videography skills and how they can use these skills in both everyday and future professional careers.

We started the week learning about the very important "Exposure Triangle" to create unique and interesting photographs with an emphasis on being creative and thinking outside the box. We moved around downtown Grand Marais photographing flowers, bees, seagulls, a kite being flown near the Harbor, and various signs and building details. Campers learned to adjust their exposure settings to work best with moving objects, creative focus points, and other photography techniques.

On the second day of camp, campers learned to take some fun and creative portraits of one another, again by utilizing the techniques learned the day before.

The second half of the week was dedicated to film, and how photography and videography use many of the same techniques. We started by creating stop-motion videos which is how the first film was created. One camper created a beautiful hair-cut scene using LEGOs. Another used a posable art figure to do some yoga moves. A third created a battle scene between two LEGOs fighting over the fact that one of the LEGO men put the milk in the bowl before the cereal. And in a group collaboration effort, a bottle of mustard married a bottle of ketchup and had a beautiful reception!

The campers also learned the importance of continuity- how a storyline flows from scene to scene and how specific movements need to be mimicked from angle to angle. This practice proved beneficial, although not completely flawless in the creation of the final film.

For the final film, the group then collaborated to create a silent film utilizing the videography skills they had learned along with their continuity skills. Using the settings available to us- downtown Grand Marais- along with some personal interests shared amongst the group- a love for "The Avengers"- the final film was created.

Together, we edited the film which utilized multiple shots and angles for each scene and created the film we titled "The Mother". Check out the film below. For copyright reasons, the original music used in the film has been removed. To get the full feel for the film as intended you can mute the sound and play "The Avengers" theme in a loop (it will play through 2 times). 

We want to thank North Point for providing a great space to use as a home base for our explorations downtown, Cook County Higher Education for providing laptops and other support, and Boreal Community Media for arranging this unique opportunity for the youth of Cook County. We had a lot of fun, and, hopefully, learned a lot along the way, as well.

This camp was made possible through funding by the generous grants from Operation Round Up and the Cook County Community Foundation.  The Cook County Food Coop donated drinks and snacks for both weeks of camps.