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Seeing It Their Way: Photographers Put On A Show

Domonic Eaves

Domonic Eaves, a student at John Hopkins Middle School in St. Petersburg, photographed a man waiting at a car wash, top, while participating in the fourth Midtown Summer Journalism Camp. His work is included in a studio exhibit opening next week.

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By STEVE KORNACKI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 29, 2007

Updated: 09/28/2007 07:55 pm

ST. PETERSBURG - How do kids see the world around them?

One focused on the friendly face of a barbecue restaurant owner. Another on a youngster learning to take a punch. Yet another on a final resting place framed by rusty metal.

But rather than casting a passing glance, each of these students recorded the images on a digital camera while participating in the fourth Midtown Summer Journalism Camp. And soon they'll be sharing them.

Some 100 photos taken by 48 budding photojournalists from Melrose Elementary School and John Hopkins

Middle School will be on display beginning Oct. 12 in 'Midtown Through Our Eyes,' an exhibit at

The Studio@620, 620 First Ave. S.

'You can't help but get caught up in it,' says Dave Ellis, the studio's artistic director.

The students learned from teachers and professional photojournalists before venturing out on their own. They made daily field trips during the 11-day camp, picking places in the south-central area around their schools to visit with cameras and notepads. Some of their written work will appear in Midtown Magazine, a publication produced by the two magnet schools for arts, communications and journalism. It also will be displayed at the studio exhibit.

'It exposed them to a community some of them live in and some of them don't,' says Melrose journalism coordinator Cynda Mort, a former Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times reporter and editor. 'And all of them saw a side of Midtown they hadn't seen before. It cleared up some misconceptions.

'It was amazing how much they absorbed from it all.'

Jenny Butkus, journalism coordinator at Hopkins, says, 'I didn't get to do anything like what these kids are doing until college. They came out of it as real journalists with more presence and confidence.'

Earlier this year, both schools were recognized by Weekly Reader with first-place awards for excellence in nonfiction publishing.

MORE STUDENT PHOTOS, Pages 8 and 9

The man waiting outside the car wash looked at Domonic, 12, snapping photos and asked, 'What y'all supposed to be doing here?'

'And so I told him,' Domonic says, 'and I told him not to smile. I learned in the class that if people start smiling at you, just put down your camera until they stop smiling.'

Folks grinning for the camera are for family birthday snapshots, not serious photography. And Domonic, a Hopkins seventh-grader who aspires to become a lawyer, is serious about shooting.

'I learned that to get better pictures you have to get another side of things,' he says. 'That's how I used the reflection in the car-wash office window to show the street. That way it wasn't just a plain old picture.

'And I liked the bright colors - the yellow, orange and blue - in the photo. There's good light, too. And I learned you have to get the best out of a picture when you take it.'

Kimberly liked the look

of Melvin Hall, owner of Connie's Bar-B-

Que at 1795 16th St. S.

'I could frame him with the structure they had in the restaurant to bring out food,' says Kimberly, 12, a sixth-grader at Hopkins. 'And he was such a nice guy.'

She has been working on her craft since first grade.

'With photos, you can express how you feel,' she says. 'I want to be an occupational therapist and bring photography into working with kids. I have dyslexia, and an occupational therapist helped me. And I can take my love of photography to help bring kids out more.

'Most kids with disabilities don't like school. Seeing their artwork up in a school would be helpful.'

And what about seeing your own work in an exhibit?

'It lights me up,' she says.

Reporters and photographers worked together in camp, and Michael, 10, wrote about Melvin Hall, the likable restaurant owner Kimberly photographed at Connie's Bar-B-Que.

'He told us that he named the place after his mother,' Michael says. 'He had pictures of meat on the walls and talked about how he sold steak and ribs. He also had games in there to play, like Pac-Man.'

The Melrose fourth-grader also wrote a story about a lost-and-found for bikes in Midtown and how they were sold if not claimed within 30 days.

'We learned how to write on a computer, research stories and write better,' he says. 'The main thing was learning how not to be scared to ask people questions.'

His goals are to become a newspaper reporter and college professor.

'Sometimes we got in the way of the photographers,' he says, 'but we learned to work together. And it was better to get subjects away from crowds.

'At the exhibit, it will be cool and fun to see if people like our work.'

What was the most important thing Hayley, 11, learned about photography?

'You have to be invisible,' she says. 'You don't want people to notice you or pose.'

So, she became a chameleon to the boys learning boxing from an adult, settling in between a tree and a car.

'They didn't pay attention to me,' says the Melrose fifth-grader. 'I really like the picture because it shows how the one boy was feeling, covering up from being hit.'

She took more than 1,000 photos during the camp and found that the key was taking many pictures of many things to get a select few that are special. 'I learned that it was not easy finding people doing something interesting,' she says.

She thumbs through a small photo album of some of her favorites, not all of which are of people. She stops at a shot of a dog peering at her through a fence.

'He's saying, 'Come play with me.''

Shahnaz, 12, learned how to play all the angles.

'It's easier now that I know there are different ways to take pictures,' she says. 'I know different angles to take: vertical, horizontal and through things.

'I shot the picture that will be in the exhibit through some rusty metal around the graves at Greenwood Cemetery. I thought it was a nice way to show where the people were buried. I liked the little flag on the one grave.

'I also learned to take a photo of a person holding the photo of a loved one who died,' says the Hopkins seventh-grader. 'It allows you to see how they feel about the person they lost.'

Shahnaz, who hopes to become either a photojournalist or a pediatrician, says the most challenging pictures to take are those dealing with death.

Jordan, 10, smiles when he looks at the photo taken at the Frank Pierce Recreation Center (above right).

'It kind of looks like a 'Star Wars' kind of thing,' he says. 'It's a playground bridge, but the yellow bars go in and the blue bars go out. And it kind of makes it look like it's moving.'

Jordan, a Melrose fifth-grader, says photographers and reporters were assigned beats during the camp. One of his was the recreation center.

'We got to feel what it was like to be a real photojournalist. It was pretty cool.

'We learned to get close up to things. And that if the light isn't good, you can always use a flash. We learned to look for what is different. They taught us how to write better captions for the photos, too.'

He hopes to do it all for a daily newspaper someday.

ON EXHIBIT

Midtown Through Our Eyes

WHAT: An exhibit of 100 photos and written work in Midtown Magazine by students from Melrose Elementary School and John Hopkins Middle School

WHEN: Opening reception, 5 to 8 p.m. Oct. 12. Exhibit hours, noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 13 and Oct. 16 to 19. 'A Taste of Midtown and a Community Conversation,' with photos on exhibit, 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 17. All are open to the public.

WHERE: The Studio@620, 620 First Ave. S., St. Petersburg; (727) 895-6620

ADMISSION: Free

Reporter Steve Kornacki can be reached at (813) 731-8170 or skornacki@tampatrib.com.

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