PIQUA — Seniors in Susan Caudill’s Interactive Media class at Upper Valley Career Center have spent the first weeks of the school year attending several festivals and events.
Armed with cameras, students were assigned to visit the Tipp City Mum Festival, Fort Rowdy Gathering in Covington, Piqua BikeFest or the WACO Fly-In in Troy.
Their objective was to take photographs as if they were a photojournalist or commercial photographer assigned to capture images to “sell” the event for organizers — photographs that best tell the story of the festival or event.
Once their assignment was complete, students narrowed their images to their 10 best. Each student then spent time with Piqua Daily Call photographer Mike Ullery, who critiqued the images and offered advice on narrowing their selection to the top three images.
Once students made the decision of their three best photographs, prints were made. Caudill and Ullery judged the photos, choosing a Best of Show, first through fourth places, and several Honorable Mentions.
“Interactive Media Students practice photography and content writing skills. This experience allows them the opportunity to cover an even from a photojournalist point of view,” Caudill said.
“Each year, selection of the top photos becomes more difficult.” Ullery said. “Students show amazing talent with their cameras.”
This is the ninth year students have undertaken this first-quarter project at the Upper Valley Career Center.
Organizers of all of the festivals and events covered have the opportunity to see, and possibly utilize, photographs taken by the students for future event planning and promotion.