Ocean For Life in Film Festival!!
Great News! The 2011 National Geographic Photo Camp – Ocean for Life youth media project titled “Sense of Place” will be featured during the 9th Annual San Francisco Ocean Film Festival on March 8-11, 2012. Congratulations to Bashmah Al-Mesad (Kuwait), Tomas Fuentes-Afflick (California), Erica Haasen Knox (Illinois), Nasser Marzook (Qatar), Molly Struble (Arizona) and Hala — Read more…
NGPC Doha – Instructor Selects
National Geographic Photo Camp Doha instructor, Isabelle Carbonell, talks about two of her favorite photos here: I was trying to dig into what I jokingly call my “calling the elephant in the room an elephant” theme, being “Women” in a country which does not represent women on photo or film easily. I did a fashion show for — Read more…
Photo Camp Doha!
At the end of January, twenty-two high school students from the Qatar Foundation International-supported Arabic language and culture programs in Sao Paulo and Curitiba, Brazil, run by BibliASPA, were paired with students from the Qatar Leadership Academy and Qatar Academy on an educational exploration of Doha, Qatar. National Geographic Photo Camp partnered with QFI to teach digital storytelling — Read more…
NGPC Doha – Instructor Tyrone Turner’s Faves!
We were excited to have Photo Camp – Doha, Lead Instructor and National Geographic photographer Tyrone Turner on board as this was his first Photo Camp experience. Below he shares his favorite images and critiques. National Geographic Photo Camp Doha / Photo by Khalid Al Ibrahim A strong moment, not only of the sunset and Doha in the — Read more…
Disappearing Islands Exhibit Makes it Back to School!
Now at Stevenson University, come join us for another fabulous opening of the Smith Island Photo Camp’s Disappearing Islands multimedia exhibit!
On Assignment Workshops!
Now adults can have the same Photo Camp experience!! VisionWorkshops is proud to endorse On Assignment Workshops! This year, On Assignment was founded by National Geographic photographers, and NGPC instructors Matt Moyer and Amy Toensing, to share their passion for photography, travel and self-exploration. “Our cameras have taken us around the globe and allowed us — Read more…
How do you say SOCCER??
“Soccer is very important for our culture. Soccer is passion, love, & dedication but overall, soccer is in our hearts.” – Llisley Flores Twenty five Annapolis High School students showed their talent during VisionWorkshops recent project, “Crossing Borders: how do you say SOCCER?” The students, all part of the ESOL (English for Speakers — Read more…
Disappearing Islands Photo Camp Exhibit
On November 20th, National Geographic Photo Camp exhibited the work of 16 amazing young women from Photo Camp Smith Island 2011 – the first-ever all female Photo Camp, at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. The opening reception was fantastic, with students, families, and Baltimoreans alike reflecting on the still imagery and multimedia presentation — Read more…
Mentor Spotlight – NGPC Philadelphia Staff
Photo Camp Philly exceeded my expectations as a first timer. As an NG staffer, you hear about Photo Camps, see various blog posts, and occasionally meet someone who has volunteered for one of the camps. From all of this information, gleaned by reading and hearing about the Photo Camps, I knew it would be an — Read more…
NGPC Philadelphia Continues
The first day of a Photo Camp is always jam-packed with getting to know the cameras, each other, and the surroundings. For staff and students alike it can be a little overwhelming, but day two is always greeted with fresh eyes, bigger smiles, faces more familiar, and the drive to get out and shoot! We — Read more…
NGPC Philadelphia Begins!
In partnership with The Boys and Girls Clubs of Philadelphia and Drexel University, 22 middle-school and high-school aged students had the opportunity last weekend to obtain a unique perspective of Philadelphia during National Geographic Photo Camp Philadelphia. From October 7 – 10, 2011, these youth learned tools of photojournalism to tell the story of different Philadelphia neighborhoods, culminating — Read more…
National Geographic Oceans Site!
We are extremely excited to have the work from our Ocean for Life students be featured on National Geographic’s Oceans website. The NOAA sponsored field study gave students hands-on experience documenting humanity’s effects on the health of our oceans and how it interconnects us all. Click the image below for more!
NGPC Smith Island in the News!
A link to an article about this Spring’s Smith Island Photo Camp in the Chesapeake Bay Journal.
Remembering Katrina…
Monday marked six years since the tragedies left in Hurricane Katrina’s wake. In remembrance, National Geographic’s website has featured the images of our Photo Camp New Orleans students, who photographed their city and their lives only seven short months after the hurricane.
Ocean for Life 2011 – Youth Media Projects
During the National Geographic Photo Camp – Ocean for Life program, students worked in teams with our Media Camp mentors to create 5 short videos, illustrating their ideas about the themes of the OFL program. Themes of ocean stewardship, interconnectedness, sense of place, and cultural understanding were addressed as the students worked to document each — Read more…
Ocean for Life 2011 – Journey to Santa Cruz Island
Our journey out to the Channel Island Marine Sanctuary furthered the Ocean for Life field study by allowing students to develop their own first-hand accounts of how conservation and awareness can restore the natural balance of an environment. On Anacapa Island, the National Parks Service invited the students to attend a live, underwater interpretive — Read more…
Ocean For Life Field Study Continues …
After a thorough introduction to the Ocean for Life program objectives and the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, the students began their field study by learning about the elements that help build a healthy foundation of sustenance for marine life. While doing activities such as water quality testing at popular Hendry’s beach and visiting with — Read more…
National Geographic Photo Camp – Ocean for Life
Our National Geographic Photo Camp – Ocean for Life program has begun! In partnership with NOAA, 30 students from Lebanon, Pakistan, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Bahrain, and all over North America have come together to learn about one another through ocean science, documenting their experience with the help of our NGPC Media Team. One of our — Read more…
National Geographic Photo Camp – Smith Island, Words From Our Students
There are a lot of differences between here and home. For one thing it’s more peaceful. It’s like the rest of the world is on pause. Things are just more beautiful here. In the city a pile of bricks to me, was just a pile of bricks. But here through the eye of my camera — Read more…
National Geographic Photo Camp – Smith Island
Last month, NGPC conducted it’s first ever all-female Photo Camp with 12 girls from the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women. Four students from VisionWorkshops’ Crossing Borders program, girls from Iraq and Nepal, accompanied the group as team leaders for the younger girls, new to this type of photographic story-telling program. Their task was to — Read more…
Crossing Borders Baltimore – I Am
This winter, our Crossing Borders program in Baltimore with the Refugee Youth Project, gave 15 refugee teens the opportunity to explore their new city of Baltimore; it’s similarities and differences to their home country, culminating in a visual “letter” to the city and it’s people entitled, “Dear Baltimore.” In April, these students participated in a — Read more…
Olympus Donation
Many thanks to Olympus Imaging America! Olympus has just donated a set of their fantastic PEN EPL1 cameras for our photography workshops, to add to their previous sponsorship of digital cameras for our programs. Here are a few photos of our students learning to tell stories through photography over the years, using their Olympus — Read more…
A Wonderful Night for a Photo Show!
The Crossing Borders Photo Exhibition was a huge success last night and quite a treat for the city of Baltimore! A very special thanks to our gracious hosts at the Creative Alliance, and to BCCC’s Refugee Youth Project for making sure that all of the participants and family could attend.
Crossing Borders Baltimore: Photo Exhibition
Join us Saturday April 9th, 2011 at 6pm for the opening reception of these wonderful images taken by 15 immigrant and refugee students who have resettled here in Baltimore.
National Geographic Photo Camp Chad – Portraits
There were just too many amazing images to fit them all onto one post. Here are the wonderful portraits that students from the third Chad Photo Camp took during their workshop exploring and celebrating the diversity in their own country. The photography featured here was made possible by the generous support of the — Read more…
National Geographic Photo Camp Chad – Part 3 WOW!!!
I have a confession to make, it’s really rather obvious to those that follow this blog regularly. It has been entirely too long since we’ve posted. So many positive changes afoot that the new year came, flew by, and brought March right on it’s tail. Expect to see some really exciting things coming from us — Read more…
National Geographic Photo Camp Chad – Week 2
Week two of NG Photo Camp – Chad, led by Photographer Lynn Johnson, dealt with the themes of promoting leadership and citizenship. The students were tasked to photograph examples of these themes in various communities of N’Djamena. The work produced was then again displayed in the Baba Moustafa Cultural Center where the general public could — Read more…
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch… Crossing Borders Baltimore
While half of our rotating cast of characters, also referred to as volunteers and teaching assistants, were in Chad for National Geographic Photo Camp, the other half remained local to put on yet another successful Crossing Borders- Baltimore. Crossing Borders is our regional initiative to help teens who have immigrated to the US, learn more — Read more…
Giga Who? Giga What?
GigaPan! Integrating the use of a GigaPan into our programs has yielded some really fantastic results. For those of you out there still scratching your head, GigaPan is not a gigantic frying pan, but an amazing little robot developed by Carnegie Mellon University, with NASA Ames Intelligent Robotics Group, and a little help from Google. — Read more…
Photo Camp Chad 1
Themes of encouraging cooperation and building community guided the first of our three consecutive Photo Camps in N’Djamena, Chad. Students were assigned to shoot in areas of the city where different examples of those themes could be found and explored. Then our staff led focused group discussions which inspired participants to discover their own unique — Read more…
National Geographic Photo Camp – Chad
For the last two months, VisionWorkshops has had the unique opportunity of running another National Geographic Photo Camp series in a locale not often photographed. Through the generous support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID’s) Peace Through Development program, 60 youth from across the country of Chad came to the capital city — Read more…
Seasonal Thoughts and Photos
Fall has arrived here in Maryland, and with it, a season of amazing sites, smells, and sounds. Many students are back in school, and the weather here is getting cooler. What is fall like where you live? Do any of the seasons carry special feelings or memories? Join the discussion on our Facebook page and — Read more…
Our Mentors – Alison Harbaugh
In this new blog series, VisionWorkshops hopes to highlight our incredibly diverse and talented group of mentors. Acting as teachers, assistants and friends to our students, our mentors work across all our programs. We hope their experiences with our students and programs as told by them will add another chapter to the story that is — Read more…
A Lasting Impression
Pine Ridge came with a preface. One that was relayed to me with great emotional depth as a place that was overwrought with “permanent grief” and the repercussions that come with that. What I found; however, were nine kids with a glimmer of hope in their eyes, and an unmatched excitement by having a camera — Read more…
Slow Down
Day three of our photography workshop with the kids from Pine Ridge, afforded us the opportunity to slow the pace and enjoy our surroundings. Rockin’ R Ranch were our hosts for morning trail riding and the students were tasked to photograph ‘action’ for our lesson. While many of the students were seasoned riders, and were — Read more…
A Change of Perspective
Often times, when faced with a difficult situation, human nature is to fight, flight, or freeze. However, a shift in how we see things can turn an unsurmountable challenge into a positive, life-changing experience. The same applies to photography. Our view of the world through the viewfinder of a camera can change drastically depending on — Read more…
The Journey Begins
These students represent an aspect of American culture that is often overlooked or shied away from. This year, we decided to adapt our programming to better fit the needs and the challenges they face. Our thought was that an “adventure photography workshop” approach would be an exciting way to engage and encourage the students to — Read more…
First Impressions
Being new to the photography camps outside of our regional programming, coming here to Pine Ridge has, thus far, been a wonderful first-time experience. South Dakota greeted us with quite a storm, that we watched from across the rolling green plains, callused with these so-called Badlands. Moody maybe, but definitely not “bad.” One thing that — Read more…
Photo Camp Crimea
Maybe it was the myth and magic of the Black Sea drifting in with the tide, but when things really fall into place during one of our camps, the evidence is truly in the student images that are produced. Our Crimean students traveled from near and far to the resort town of Simiez to capture — Read more…
Our Instructors- Raul Touzon
Last May I had the unique opportunity to teach at Photo Camp here in Homestead, Florida. WHAT A GIFT – I shared the classroom with an outstanding group of professionals, and an AMAZING bunch of teenagers. In this camp, they learned to use three types of cameras; an Olympus Evolt 510, and an Olympus underwater — Read more…
Adobe- New Sponsor Update
VisionWorkshops would like to thank Adobe for it’s recent sponsorship of our programs. The company has just announced that they will donate much needed software for our staff and students to continue to create our amazing exhibitions and multimedia presentations! From Baltimore to Chad, VisionWorkshops’ talented tech directors, editors, photographers, students and volunteers will love — Read more…
International Family Day
Last Sunday, with a feeling of global unity fresh in the air with the beginning of the World Cup, locally, families gathered at the Walters Art Gallery to celebrate their multicultural backgrounds at International Family Day. The Walters has partnered with several community organizations to make this and other events possible, including our own Crossing — Read more…
Dreaming in Black and White Gala
Photos by: Whitney Shefte On the evening of April 20th, Kara Brook and Howard Brown hosted a gala for VisionWorkshops at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. Supporters gathered and photographers and artists donated beautiful pieces for a silent auction, which was the highlight of the evening. These artists included Steve McCurry, Annie Griffiths, Ed — Read more…
Photo Camp Barbados
Photo by: Daniel National Geographic Photo Camp Barbados “The workshop helped me understand a lot of things, for example planning a frame and waiting for a subject. That also teaches me that in life we might have a frame or a dream, but we might be missing the subject, which is motivation. The program not — Read more…
First Annual Fundriaser
VisionWorkshops is pleased to announce our first fundraising event – Dreaming in Black & White. Hosted by Howard Brown and Kara Brook at their home in Baltimore on April 20th, the funds collected from this gala will be used to launch a series of free after-school photojournalism workshops to youth in the Baltimore area.
Crossing Borders Workshop in Baltimore
The debut of Crossing Borders Baltimore began last fall with a workshop at Patterson High School. In partnership with the Walter’s Art Museum and RAMP (The Refugee Adolescent Mentoring Project at Patterson High School) young immigrants and refugees from Iraq, Somalia, Sudan and Nepal explored their identities and cultural heritage by making photographs and writing — Read more…
VisionWorkshops on Twitter and Facebook
Support, fan and follow us on Facebook and Twitter… http://www.facebook.com/visionworkshops http://www.twitter.com/visionworkshops
2010 National Geographic Photo Camp Series
Starting this weekend, VisionWorkshops kicks off our National Geographic Photo Camp 2010 series. Our first camp of the year is on the island of Barbados. The staff includes Sam Abell, Matt Moyer, Kirsten Elstner and Jim Webb, and Katel LeDu and Susan Poulton will be teaching assistants along with some local volunteers, all in partnership — Read more…
Photo Camp at Pop!Tech 2009
This year, four Photo Camp alumni attended and photographed Pop!Tech. Abigail Campbell, Erie French, Chaz Thompson and Misra Walker worked with photographer Amy Toensing, Katel LeDu and Susan Poulton to document the annual conference in Camden, Maine. Chaz (left), Misra, Erie and Abi pose in front of their print exhibit at the Pop!Tech final reception. — Read more…
Photo Camp on the Olympic Peninsula
In August, Photo Camp traveled to Washington State in partnership with Olympic Park Institute. The students experienced a variety of natural ecosystems that are influenced by the area’s myriad wildlife and vast range of physical environments. Photo by Taylor Photo by Kendall Photo by Jim Webb (staff)
