Virginia Mahoney, an art teacher from the Avon, MA school system, did a pinhole photography activity.

She brought several pinhole cameras that her students had made, and showed the class how to load them and some of the specifics about how to take pictures. Each camera had been measured for the correct shutter speed and distance from the subject (most of this was done through trial and error by Virginias students). The different specifics for each camera depend on the volume of the camera and the size of the pinhole.

Say Cheese! - Teachers showed their best side while working with homemade pinhole cameras.

The pinhole is covered with a piece of tape, which is removed by the photographer for a specific length of time, while the photographer holds the camera a specific distance from the subject. It is usually best to place the camera on a steady surface instead of trying to hold still for several seconds.

After the first round of pictures were taken, the class developed the pictures in Governor Dummer Academy's darkroom Almost everyone was surprised and a bit disappointed by their results which just goes to show that taking good photos isn't as easy as pointing and shooting!

After their second and third attempts, people were starting to learn a bit about their camera, and the results began to improve.

Some very interesting shots were taken. One of the participants who especially enjoyed this session said that she thought she could teach her introductory photo students pinhole photography for an entire semester and that they would probably be able to learn all of the basics of photography using this method.

Frank Ippolito came to us from the Department of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History, where he works as a scientific illustrator.

He spent a session teaching how to record natural history in a field sketchbook. Frank did a number of sketching exercises with the class.

One in particular that seemed to go over really well was a lesson in recording change over time in a drawing. He did this by giving everyone an ice cube and telling them to draw it over and over across the page. The heat of the room melted the ice fairly quickly, and several quick sketches using black felt-tipped marker and the water from the ice cube, showed a beautiful progression of the change.

After talking to the group about several techniques in keeping a nature journal, he turned them loose to draw outside. When they returned he gave them each a critique. Frank later wowed us with his own portfolio, which is outstanding.