From landscape to macro and colour to black-and-white, the work of nearly two dozen students will be on display the Prince Charles Secondary School photography program’s show and silent auction.
Running Jan. 24 from 6-9 .m. in the Erickson Room at the Creston and District Community Complex, the show is a chance for the public to see what the students, taught by Jeff Banman, are capable of.
Visitors will enjoy “seeing the work we do at such a young age because we have such a good teacher,” said 16-year-old Aurora Jarvis.
Now in her third year in the program, Jarvis has been taking photos for about seven years.
“I got my first camera when I was nine,” said Jarvis. “I took some really random pictures. … It was interesting to me to take pictures of things and have them forever.”
Madeline Darby, 15, got started even younger, taking photos of stuffed animals and abstracts of walls and corners when she received her first camera 10 years ago.
“It was one of those play cameras that takes actual pictures,” said Darby, in her second year in the program.
Students learn a wide range of photographic skills, including building and using a pinhole camera (very simply, a lightproof box with a small hole in one side). Photos from that project are currently on display in the Creston Valley Arts Council’s show, Home Is Where the Art Is, on display at the Creston Valley Chamber of Commerce through Feb. 14.
Through the program, the student shave discovered their favourite types of photography. For Darby, it’s sports and action, and for Jarvis, it’s all about people.
“I love doing portraits,” she said. “I don’t do a lot of families, but I’m hoping to get into families and portraits.”
For the silent auction, students made their own frames with wood donated by Wynnwood. The community has helped out in other ways, as well, with donations allowing the program to purchase lenses, six cameras, over a dozen tripods and three computers with photo editing software.
The students appreciate the support, which makes their show and sale even more important.
“The community has given a lot to our program,” said Jarvis. “It’s nice to give something back so they can see what we’ve done with it.”
“I don’t think we would have the photography program without the community,” added Darby.
