The choice of Grand Teton National Park for our second Parks in Focus program was a perfect match. Savanna, months before in our planning stages, always reinforced the breathtaking beauty of the Tetons. I was equally astonished and excited to enjoy my first visit to this special place with the Eastern Shoshone Boys and Girls Club.
Morning Ferris, from the Eastern Shoshone Boys and Girls Club, worked with us to bring ten youth and a handful of adults to meet with us at Jackson Lake Lodge for Parks in Focus.
Bob Filbin, Savanna Ferguson, Bret Muter, Martina Gast, and I worked together to teach the children about photography, the environment, and the legacy of Mo Udall. We were also very happy to have Melissa Millage join us during her short visit from Arizona! We couldn’t have asked for a better group.
The morning consisted of lessons about safety, basic photography, Morris K. Udall, and conservation. We gave each participant a digital camera to use during the program. Savanna led our first hike on the trails behind Jackson Lake Lodge.
Our first photography stop included a lesson on wildlife photography. The children practiced taking pictures of the Jackson Lake Lodge trail horses and whistle pigs that scurried around the horse fence. After some practice, latter in the day, we were able to capture wildlife shots of birds, a deer, and even a moose.
As Savanna continued the hike, Bob taught about how to take pictures of flowers using macro functions. Savanna joined in to teach them about the natural history. In our program, we try to teach conservation through “taking on pictures, leaving only foot prints”. Indian paint brush, sage, aspen, the forest was full of so many beautiful plants.
After a yummy lunch, and a few skits about the geology of the Tetons, we hiked along the Lunch Time Trail outside of the Lodge. The trail is an excellent place to view the Tetons. Bob did one last lesson about landscape photography. We ended our day together reinforcing conservation, taking a group pictures, and rewarding the Eastern Shoshone Boys and Girls Club with certificates of completion, our Parks in Focus patch, cliff bars, and Udall Nalgene bottles.
By Jessica Fagan
Monday, July 23, 2007
Parks In Focus Goes Grand Teton – Jackson Lake Lodge, Wyoming
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Could you post some of the photos the children took? Talk about seeing the world through the eyes of a child!
Great thing you all are doing.
www.macro-camera.com
Nice mantra..“taking on pictures, leaving only foot prints”..we could all do with a more careful, non destructive attitude, i really like this conservation message.
I will try to spread this through my macro camera lenses blog.
Keep up the good work
Ian
Looks like you guys had a great time, Jessica! I had a friend around that area not too long ago, and he mentioned that it was an incredible sight to see.
Photography as tool to educate children is definitely a good idea. Whether their using a normal camera or a digital camera , either way will do but digital camera provides an instant view of the photographs taken, so, I guess, it will attract the children more.
Post a Comment