After putting on his hiking boots, he grabs his camera, walks over to the rest of the group and the hike begins. Along the trek, he and the other students take pictures of the flora and fauna in Costa Rica.
Senior Anthony Wyatt spent five days in Costa Rica over the summer for a photography class sponsored by Texas A&M University. During the trip, he learned new aspects of photography while exploring the variety of wildlife in the area.
“When I first found out I was going to Costa Rica, I wasn’t really sure what to expect,” Wyatt said. “I figured it would be in some kind of resort and we would be having classes in a typical classroom setting, but whenever I got to Costa Rica, we were set up in the middle of nowhere.”
Wyatt was able to go on this trip because he received a scholarship through the Region 7 Education Service Center. On the trip, he learned the basics of photography as well as how to apply that knowledge in an actual setting. The students spent their time in the middle of a reservation containing a rainforest, as well as in the wilderness and in classrooms of the learning center, and they hiked and went on different adventures while taking pictures of what they saw.
“I learned a lot of things while I was there, and most of them concern how you structure your photos in comparison to the environment around you,” Wyatt said. “You want to be able to not only capture the colors that are in the environment but do it in a way that really reveals the true nature of what you’re looking at.”
Along with Wyatt, 27 other students from across the U.S went on the trip.
“I think this is an extremely positive trip for [the students] because, really, the only way to get better at photography is to do photography and go on a trip where you’re bouncing ideas off of photography professionals [and] learning from people in the industry with peers who have similar interests,” newspaper and yearbook adviser Neda Morrow said. “Those are the kind of things that you can’t get unless you immerse yourself.”
In addition to having improved photography skills, students who went to Costa Rica returned with a new appreciation for photojournalism and the environment. They are taught to see past what is immediately apparent and get a closer view of the smaller details to see the beauty that those who haven’t been taught simply will not grasp.
“This trip has definitely made a difference on the way I try to capture a setting or an environment when I am taking photographs,” Wyatt said. “It shows you that even the smallest things within nature have their own unique colors and their own unique composition if a good photographer can get the right settings to take that picture [they] can really make anything look beautiful.”
Grace • Oct 6, 2017 at 1:28 pm
Nice iguana