iPhone Photography with Blueprint 58

Tim Merritt has been around the Paint Love community for a while thanks to his wife, Paint Love veteran artist Ellen Gadberry but this is his first time as a lead artist himself! Tim says, "I'd like to help people better understand the terrific cameras they carry every day in their smartphones. Unprecedented numbers of people carry these great cameras with them all the time! I want to help them express their vision with great photographs."  Tim worked with the teens from Blueprint 58, a mentoring program in the Adair Park neighborhood. The kids learned all about perspective, angle, and even how to get that perfect pic with a selfie stick! They put their new skills to use throughout the neighborhood and with friends.  

After the event, leaders from Blueprint 58 wrote, 

Paint Love is an organization that Blueprint has worked with a few times and we keep coming back because they make planning events simple! It is a relief knowing that once we have rounded up our group we can relax and interact with our kids during the event instead of having to be the organizer of every aspect. We love that our group has the chance to try new artistic activities with Paint Love that they may not have the chance to do anywhere else. We have had kids walk away from an event excited to try out the new skill they learn, and that is a cool thing to witness.

For example, during the event, Tim was talking with two of our middle school girls about the pictures they had taken, and he described what a great camera angle one of the girls had used and how that completely changed how the picture looked. As he was saying this, she smiled and looked really accomplished and proud of what she had done. As a group leader, this is the kind of thing I look for at events. I want our kids to feel encouraged and empowered and it was great to see that happen at this event.

Our two middle school girls who attended the photography session with Tim left excited to start taking more photos and working on their vlog, and our high school student who attended left having learned some more techniques for his photography. It is great to see our students excited about new activities and learning new skills.