MyEverydayCOVIDLife

As 3rd grade students embarked on their first photography unit, they had the opportunity to learn from High School student photographers as well as Pulitzer Center photojournalist Peter DiCampo. DiCampo is the cofounder of the acclaimed Everyday Africa project and its resultant nonprofit, The Everyday Projects, through which he and a network of photographers “seek to dismantle media stereotypes, broaden coverage beyond the headlines, and promote local storytellers worldwide.” The Everyday Projects crowdsource mobile device images to portray diverse perspectives on place, culture, and experience.

Five High School student photographers—Reid Alexander ’22, Madisyn Moore-Nicholson ’24, Dylan Posey ’21, Jordan Yates ’21, and Kaiden Yu ’23—prepared a presentation for the 3rd graders on space and context, perspective, emotion, and opportunities in editing. They met over Zoom and looked at examples of the High School students’ work they’d selected to illustrate the specific themes.

Several 3rd grade students took time to send a note of thanks to the High School students. One student wrote, “Thank you for telling us so much about photography. I learned so much from it. Now I definitely know what to take pictures of and how to do it!”

Another wrote, “I’m inspired because I learned a lot about photography that I didn’t know, and now I have a few ideas for taking photos!” 

They certainly did have ideas! LMS art teacher Vanessa Smith-Bados introduced the work of DiCampo in advance of his visit, inviting the children to contribute to a collaborative project to catalogue their everyday life as a 3rd grader during COVID. During his visit, Vanessa shared the students’ gallery dubbed MyEverydayCOVIDLife with DiCampo, who offered the students some professional feedback.

One student said, “It was exciting to meet a professional photographer who talked to us about the project trying to show the real way things look from many people’s perspectives. We enjoyed trying to take pictures to show our own perspective and our story during COVID. We focused on themes like shadows, lines, angles, and portraits.”

You are invited to view the 3rd graders’ MyEverydayCOVIDLife gallery and the High School students’ visual presentation.