Street Photography
Ages: Teens
July 20-24, 2020
Instructor: OA lead mentor / photographer Maya Jackson
(Co-Instructors, Photo educators, Shannon Castleman & Liana Elguero)
This summer, Oakwood Arts’ Virtual Photography program focused on the tradition of street photography, and assignments were created in black and white using digital photography. Students spent the week taking a close look at the work and photographers included in the recent Working Together: Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop exhibition at the VMFA. Each student received their own copy of the exhibition catalog and the photographs created by members of the Kamoinge group served as sources of inspiration and points of reference for the work students created during the week. Some of the students were able to join instructors for a socially distant field trip which gave them an opportunity to photograph in our city during this unique time. (Scroll to bottom of page to see works the students created during the week).
“Many of the students in this program also participated in OA’s photography class I taught at the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia last summer, and it has been amazing for me to see how much their techniques and skills have grown in such a short amount of time. I believe taking black and white images instead of color allowed the kids to not only feel a sense of connection to the style of the Kamoinge Group but find and share their own poetic perspective capturing the streets of Richmond. I start to feel emotional every time I view the students’ work from this program, because I can tell they are truly developing their photographic eye. I thoroughly enjoyed preparing for and teaching this program with Shannon Castleman, who actually taught me black and white darkroom photography during my freshman year at VCU. Shannon has described having the same feeling of emotion as she watched my photographic eye develop, and experiencing that with students of my own has fueled me to work even harder while creating my own images and continue sharing my passion with those around me.”
-Maya Jackson, OA Lead Mentor
