photography high school assignments

10 Photo Assignments to Inspire and Challenge Your Skills

Liz Masoner is a professional photographer and she shares her tips and techniques on photo editing and how to photograph nature, portraits, and events with film and digital cameras. Liz has over 30 years of experience and she is the author of three books on photography.

The best way to learn photography is to practice, though sometimes you can get stuck in a rut and not know what to shoot. That is why photographers love assignments; they give us a purpose and an idea of what to photograph. 

Why Are Assignments Important?

Self-assignments are key to any photographer's growth. Even professionals with decades of experience will work on personal assignments that they may never get paid for. The goal of any self-assignment is to spur creativity, solve problems, learn new techniques, and challenge yourself.

As you start out in photography, you're probably filled with excitement and ready to shoot anything you can. That being said, sometimes a little direction and guidance are necessary.

Below, you will find ten photography assignments. Each covers a new topic, skill, or concept and they were chosen to help you learn how to see as a photographer. They are meant to be a personal challenge that you can complete at your own pace and with no outside judgment, simply as a means to practice and improve your photography. Hopefully, you will learn something new with each assignment and be able to use that in every photograph you take in the future.

Remember when composing your images to keep in mind the basics: the rule of thirds,  shutter speed , aperture,  depth of field , and  exposure .

Assignment #1: Up Close

This assignment encourages you to get close and personal with your subject. It is an exercise in viewing a common object in a new way and examining its finer details.

• Choose an object that you see or interact with every day.
• Focus on a small part of it, get as close as your camera will allow you to focus, and shoot away.
• Try to capture different angles and unusual lighting to add to the mystery of this tiny world.

From the whiskers of your cat to a fragile Christmas ornament, and even common soap bubbles, there is an entire world that we often overlook because we don't get close enough.

Assignment #2: Motion

Photography is a static medium which means that it doesn't move. Conveying a sense of motion is often crucial to capturing a scene or emotion and it is an essential skill for photographers to practice.

The goal of this exercise is to understand how shutter speeds can be used to convey motion.

• Choose a subject or series of subjects that will allow you to convey motion in your images.
• It can be slow motions, like that of a turtle, or fast motion, like a speeding train.
• Blur it, stop it, or simply suggest that there is motion in the photograph.

Challenge yourself to capture the same motion in different ways. For instance, you might go to a race track and stop the movement of the cars completely in one image, then leave the shutter open and allow them to blur out of the frame in the next. 

Assignment #3: Shadows

Shadows are everywhere and they are vital to photography because this is the art of capturing light. With light comes shadows and when you begin to look at shadows as a photographer, your world will open up.

• Take a look around for shadows and record them with your camera.
• You could show the shadow as the total focus of the image. Perhaps the shadow is incidental to the subject.
• Is the shadow natural or created by flash?

Shadows are integral to creating depth in a two-dimensional medium such as photography. Take some time to seriously explore the "dark side" of the light.

Assignment #4: Water

Water is everywhere in photography and it presents many challenges. There are reflections and movements to work with and in this exercise, you will take a deeper look at water.

• Find water anywhere: lakes, streams, puddles, even the glass on your kitchen table.
• Pay attention to reflections and use them to your advantage in the photographs. Use this opportunity to get familiar with a polarizing filter (a very useful tool in your camera kit) so you can accentuate or eliminate reflections.
• Play with the motion of a stream or the crashing waves. Notice the difference between stopping the flow of water and allowing it to blur to create a real sense of movement.

Be sure to make water the subject and not an accent to the image. Water alone is beautiful and mysterious and your challenge is to explore all of its potential as a subject.

Assignment #5: Leading Lines

A classic assignment in photography schools, 'leading lines ' is a popular and fun subject. The goal of this assignment is to learn how to direct the viewer to your subject using lines.

• Choose a subject then look around for lines in the scene that you can use to 'lead' the viewer to the subject. 
• Find an interesting line then determine what the subject of your photograph is.
• Remember that lines can be man-made or natural. For instance, the yellow line down the middle of the road or a tree branch. Even a person's arm can be a leading line of their face.

Use this assignment as an excuse to take an afternoon photo excursion. Walk downtown or in the woods and look around you for interesting lines that lead the eye to a subject. There is an amazing assortment of lines out there in the world and once you begin to see them, you won't be able to stop. 

Assignment #6: Perspective

How do you normally stand when you shoot? If your answer is straight up like a 5-foot-something human being then this assignment is for you. The perspective assignment challenges you to view the world from an entirely new perspective, which in turn gives the viewer a new look at the ordinary.

• Take another afternoon or evening for a photo excursion wherever you like.
• This time, every time you find something to photograph, stop!
• Ask yourself: How would a squirrel see that tree? How would a robin view that birdbath? How would a snake view that log?
• Take your photographs from very high or very low angles. Get on your belly or stand on a chair, whatever you have to (safely) do to get the 'right' angle on your subject.

If you pay attention to professional photographs, many of the images that have the WOW factor are photographed from extreme angles. People enjoy these photos because they've never seen an object from that viewpoint. It is new and unique, and you can train yourself to shoot with this in mind.

Assignment #7: Texture

You may have captured a few textural details in the 'Up Close' assignment, but this assignment takes that to the next level. The goal in this one is to study textures and forget about the object itself: the texture becomes the subject. You will also begin to realize how light affects the appearance of texture.

• Find a few objects that have very detailed textures like trees or rocks, even knit sweaters or woven rugs.
• Photograph them as close as your lens will allow.
• Use different angles and capture the same texture as the light changes. Notice how the different lighting directions and camera angles can change how much texture appears.

Textures are all around us and many of the best photographs in the world play up the textural element. This assignment should teach you how to recognize and accentuate those elements in your photos.

Assignment #8: Color Harmony

Color is important to photography because the world is full of color. This exercise requires a bit of study in color theory, which you will then put into practice in your photographs.

Do you remember art class in elementary school? You may have learned that yellow and blue make green, but color theory goes beyond that. There are cool and warm colors, complementary and contrasting colors, neutral colors, and bold colors.

It can get quite complicated, and photographers should have a basic understanding of color so you can use that when composing photographs. You don't have to study color like a painter would but can use tricks used by interior designers to influence your color decisions.

• Once you have an idea of color theory, take another photo excursion and put what you've learned into practice.
• Capture photographs with the primary or tertiary colors.
• Look for complementary colors then contrasting colors to photograph.
• Try finding a scene to photograph that is filled with neutral colors, then one that uses a bold color to 'pop' from the scene.

This is an advanced lesson, but one that any photographer working with color images will find useful. As you practice working with colors, it will become second nature and you will know how to work with color to change the feel of your images.

Assignment #9: Emotions

Take a photo of a person smiling or scowling, right? Not so. The intent of this assignment is to convey emotion in photographs  without  a face.

• Take photographs that express each of the basic emotions: happy, sad, and mad.
• How would you express the feeling of anger with no person? What about happiness? Sadness?

This is a purely conceptual assignment, but it is important to be able to relay emotion in your photographs and you might not always have a person available to do that with. Challenge yourself to think deeper about this one.

Assignment #10: Don't Look!

Are you ready to put your photography skills to the test? In today's world of digital cameras and the ability to see image captures right there on the LCD screen, photographers are losing some of the skills needed to visualize a photograph.

In this assignment, your challenge is to shoot as if you were using a film camera. That means that you will not look at the photographs you've taken until they are downloaded on your computer. Instead of relying on the camera's screen to see if you 'got the shot' you will rely on your instinct and knowledge, just like photographers did before digital photography. Can you do it?

• Plan a photo excursion to a particular location and permit yourself to photograph only 36 images (a roll of 35mm film).
• Turn off your camera's LCD screen so it does not show you the image after you have taken it.
• If you cannot turn off the camera's screen, cut a piece of thick paper and tape it over the screen. Use masking or painter's tape so you don't leave a residue on the back of your camera.
• Go out and shoot your 36 frames, thinking carefully about each image because you don't have an endless number of shots. Bonus points if you turn your camera to completely manual settings for focus and exposure.
• Don't peek at your photos until you get home and download them.

How did you do? Were you able to get good exposures on your own? How did it feel to be 'blind' and not know how your image turned out right away? 

This is similar to what it is like to shoot with film and it does require you to think harder about every image you take. Next time you shoot, slow down and pay attention, pretend that the screen is not there and rely on your own skills to create a great image. You will be a better photographer in the end.

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These Cross-Curricular Photography Lessons Inspire High School Students to Do Social Good

Because creativity is at the heart of activism.

Explore the Getty Unshuttered Teacher Portal , a cross-curricular resource for high school teachers filled with lessons that inspire students to raise their voices for social good through photography.  

“Who am I? What do I care about? How can I make a difference?”

Teens continually attempt to figure out their place in the world. As teachers, we can make a profound impact as our students learn and develop. We can guide those in our classrooms to use their passion, creativity, and energy to make a difference in the world. And now there’s a new resource, created by the Getty Museum, to help teachers do just that. The Getty Unshuttered Teacher Portal is a cross-curricular resource that provides high school teachers with free lessons that inspire students to raise their voices for social good through photography .

Featured Image Photo Credit: Melissa Barales-Lopez, Mia Bella Chavez, Grecia Carey Ortega, and Norma Vidal, [untitled], 2018

Cross-curricular lessons.

Originally developed as a free, photo-sharing app , Getty Unshuttered encourages teens to inspire others with their creativity. The app also teaches photography skills and posts photo challenges. The Getty Unshuttered Teacher Portal is a new resource that provides high school teachers with lessons that incorporate photography and enhance curriculums across a variety of subject areas, such as ELA, history, politics, art, photography , and more. 

Social Justice Themes

The carefully developed lessons tackle social justice themes that resonate with high school students. For example, Exploring Your Background is a lesson that shows students how to use self-portraiture to express their identity. In the accompanying activity, students use their smartphones to capture selfies that reveal their cultural background, family history, and place in society. The lesson also incorporates photography skills videos from the Getty Unshuttered app , and resources such as portraits from the Getty Collection and an “identity map” graphic organizer. 

Other cross-curricular, high school photography lessons from the Getty Teacher Portal delve into impactful, social justice topics, such as:

• Exploring Communities
• The Role of Photography in Social Justice Advocacy
• Identifying Types of Service 

Useful Tools and Resources

Currently, there are eight social justice lessons available on the Getty Unshuttered Teacher Portal. Over the next school year, there are plans to add lessons on photography skills and visual narrative. All  lesson plans include a variety of tools and resources. Examples include relevant activities, photos, videos, discussion guides, graphic organizers, and assessments.

Explore the Getty Unshuttered Teacher Portal

Tap into your high school students’ creative expression through photography that helps them develop a deeper understanding of art, history, literature, politics, and more. Inspire them to raise their voices for social good through Getty Unshuttered’s cross-curricular, high school lessons.

Note: The aim of the portal is to be a tool for educators, and the Getty wants to hear feedback from you directly ([email protected]) in order to be responsive and ensure resources work for you. Going forward, you will see updates to lesson plans as feedback is incorporated.

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How to Make an Absolutely Awesome High School Photography Curriculum

Do you teach photo classes? Do you need a curriculum map for this year? You’ve come to the right place! Teaching photography is a lot of fun! But if you don’t have a plan to help you keep track of where you’re going, it is very possible that you’ll get a little lost in the middle of the semester.

In the last post, I spoke at length about  graphic design curriculum examples , in this post, we’re tackling high school photography! Just like in the last post, I’ve got a free curriculum map overview for one full semester of intro to photography and it lays out which standards go with each unit according to the National Arts Standards. There are few more units in this curriculum because they tend to be a bit shorter than the graphic design ones. Enjoy! 

NOTE: This curriculum uses DSLR cameras, but many of the units may be completed without them.

NOTE: I have given you links to each of the units I’ve created below. The units themselves are available for sale, but if there are videos associated with the units, they will be free for you to view.

Famous Photographer Presentation : This is an ongoing unit. Students choose from a list of famous photographers and research their life work. Students will present their research toward the end of the semester. I use this unit as a “work on this if you have everything else done” project.

Photo Assignments : This is also an ongoing unit. Introduce a new photo assignment weekly and give them a full week to complete it (don’t forget to give them reminders! They’ll need them!)

Legal Issues in Photography : This unit gives students a basic knowledge about the rights of photographers. They will explore some real life photography court cases.

Camera History : What is a camera? Where did it come from? These and other origin questions about photography will be explored in this unit.

Exposure : After a week or two of background information, it is finally time to explore the camera. In this unit, students will explore the manual camera parts.

Digital Camera Basics : This unit explores the different types of cameras. Everything from the phone camera, to the point and shoot, to the high quality DSLRs.

Photo Composition : This unit shows students how to take quality photos (no matter what kind of camera they have).

Introduction to Photoshop : So they know how to take pictures, now they need to know how to edit them! This unit explores the basics of Photoshop.

Colorize a Black and White Photo : Students will learn how to use selection and color tools in Photoshop.

Restore Damaged Photo : Applying previous knowledge, students will bring in a damaged photo from home and learn how to restore them (I also provide images if they don’t have any).

Cut Out Background : Students will learn how to cut the background out of one image and place the subject into another picture. This unit explores the use of selection tools and masks.

Still Life Photography : This unit shows students how to control light through still life photography.

Time Lapse : This unit gives students the chance to practice their masking skills as they combine several photos together into one.

Magazine Cover : This unit will allow students to apply their knowledge of Photoshop and photography.

Historical You (paired with Famous Photographer project) : This is a short, fun assignment where students use images from their famous photographers and mask their faces onto the bodies of those in the images.

Final Exam : Students will apply previous knowledge to show you what they’ve learned through a couple of short application projects.

And that completes one semester of digital photography! If you ALSO would like to see an example of a photo syllabus,  click here !

As promised, below is a sample curriculum map for you, click the button and enter your email!

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Lesson Plan

Five Photography Assignments That Invite You to Look Closely at the World

Students, try one of these exercises inspired by the visual series The Take. What can you learn about the world by looking at it through a particular lens?

By Natalie Proulx

How often do you look — really look — at the world around you? Below, we offer five photography assignments that challenge students to do just that, all inspired by The New York Times visual series The Take .

In this series, The Times asks photographers to explore different cultural themes through images — for example, to document what they see when they look up, to capture the sounds they hear in New York City or to find dance in everyday movements.

What can you learn about the world by looking at it through a particular lens? Choose one (or more) of the five assignments below to try out. For each, we’ll guide you through a warm-up activity, a reading of the Take article that inspired the exercise and your own photo shoot. When you’re done, you can create your own visual article by putting together a gallery of your images and writing a short commentary on what they mean to you.

These exercises are meant to be accessible to anyone with a camera or smartphone, whether you’re an experienced photographer or you’re just looking for a fun visual challenge. If you’d like to experiment with some composition and editing techniques, see our related photography lesson plan .

And if none of these projects inspires you, look through The Take’s archives for more ideas.

Assignment No. 1

Most of us spend our days looking down: at our phones, computers, homework, meals. What would you see if you looked up instead? For this assignment, we invite you to photograph what you see when you turn your gaze to the sky.

Warm-up: Wherever you are right now, look up. What do you see?

Spend some time studying the images, shapes, patterns, colors, lines, light, shadows, angles or movements above you. What catches your attention? What have you never noticed before? How is this angle different from looking at something straight on, straight down or from the side? Is there anything you see that strikes you as artistic, that might make for an interesting photograph?

How often do you look up? What does this quick exercise tell you about what might happen when you do?

Read “ When 4 Photographers Looked Up, This Is What They Saw .”

For this assignment, The Take simply asked photographers to look up. View the photos they made and their commentary on them. Then choose one that stands out to you. What did the photographer want to capture in it? Was the photo successful in your opinion? What does the image say to you? What does it show us about looking up?

Your turn: Photograph what you see when you look up.

You might approach this assignment in two ways: 1) You can carry your camera around with you for a day or several days and photograph anything interesting you see when you look up, as the photographer Ali Cherkis did venturing around New York City. 2) Or you might start with a specific place and idea in mind that you want to photograph, as Stella Blackmon did when she wanted to capture the “sense of wonder” she felt from seeing children climbing in the trees at her great-aunt’s home in Ozark, Mo.

Assignment No. 2

Capture the Sounds of a Place

Photography might seem like it’s all about sight, but it can evoke other senses, too. The Take challenged four photographers to try to capture the sounds of New York City in images. How can you show what the place you live sounds like?

Warm-up: What sounds can you hear in this photograph?

Study the photograph above closely. What might you hear if you were in the scene? Which elements of the image help convey those sounds? What senses or emotions does the photograph evoke in you? What story does it tell about New York City?

Read “ Sounds of the City .”

For this assignment, The Take sent four photographers to capture New York’s soundscape in images. Spend some time with the photos and the photographers’ commentary on them. Which images most strongly and clearly imply sound to you? Which ones surprise you or perhaps challenge an assumption you have about life in New York City? Choose one of these photos and repeat the exercise you did in the warm-up.

Your turn: Photograph the sounds of a place.

For this assignment, you might travel around your city or town and photograph the sounds you find. Or you might focus on a more contained space, such as your school, the skate park, your neighborhood or any other place where you spend time. You might try to capture many disparate sounds — quiet ones, loud ones, harsh ones, pleasant ones — as Daniel Arnold did in his photos of various corners of New York City. Or you can try to capture a particular type of sound, as Ike Edeani did in his photos of the subway stations’ “mini concerts.”

Assignment No. 3

Find Art Wherever You Go

Four photographers went in search of candid moments and images that struck them — impressionistically, conceptually or naturally — as art. Where can you spot art in the world around you?

Warm-up: What does art look like?

How do you know when you see something that is art? What elements make it so? What does it do to you, the viewer?

Look around the space you are in right now. Is there anything that strikes you as art? Perhaps it’s the way your jacket is draped over a chair, how light is coming in through a window, the interesting pattens created by a shadow on your desk or the shape someone’s face makes when they smile or frown. What about this thing makes it seem artistic to you?

Read “ Art Is Everywhere. Just Look to the Streets. ”

The Take invited four photographers to look for art in the streets of New York. Spend some time looking at all of the photographs and reading the commentary. Then, focus on one photographer’s images. How does this photographer conceptualize art? How does that idea come through in one of his or her photos? What do you think makes this photo artistic — impressionistically, conceptually or naturally?

Your turn: Photograph candid moments and images that look like art to you.

Where can you find art in the world around you? You might take your camera out for a day and start shooting anything that strikes you as art. Or you might shoot with a particular vision in mind, such as Sabrina Santiago who was “interested in what people are saying from the back,” or Trevor Wisecup who looked for “abnormalities in our day-to-day life, glitches in the matrix if you will.” Challenge yourself to capture candid moments, rather than trying to stage images.

Assignment No. 4

Explore the Ways We Move

The Take asked four photographers to find dance in our everyday gestures, whether reaching for a jug of milk, hugging a loved one or scaling a rock wall. How can you find beauty in how we physically navigate the world?

Warm-up: Can you see beauty in the ways that people move, even when there is no music?

Can you find dance in people’s everyday rituals and routines? To answer this question you might go somewhere crowded — your school’s hallway, a park, a basketball game — and spend a few minutes just observing people. Do any gestures look like dance to you? What is it about these movements that resemble those that dancers might make?

Read “ There’s Dance All Over, No Matter Where You Look .”

During the height of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, The Take asked photographers to show how people were physically navigating a world in which awareness of our bodies — how much space we took up, whether we were six feet from our neighbor — had become the norm. What they found was a kind of dance in these everyday movements.

Spend some time with the images and photographers’ commentary. Then choose one photograph to look at more closely. Why does this image speak to you? How does it represent dance? What emotion, experience or idea do you think the photographer wanted to capture in it?

Your turn: Photograph how people move through the world.

For this assignment, you can take your camera around with you for a day or two and snap a photo anytime you see a movement, posture or gesture that looks like dance to you. Or, you can go to a specific place. For example, the photographer Camilo Fuentealba went to Costco to document “the daily rituals we must partake in just to survive,” while Noah Sahady went to the San Bernardino National Forest to capture “the harmony of rock climbers and nature.” You might play with taking both candid and staged shots, or, like Jillian Freyer, shooting the “fragments in between.”

Assignment No. 5

Show Us What Fun Looks Like

Three artists photographed the many forms fun can take. An end-of-day ice cream ritual. Caring for rescued chickens. A bubble bath for an inanimate friend. What does a good time look like to you?

Warm-up: What do you do for fun?

Brainstorm a big list of everything you’re doing for fun these days. Do you play video games? Hang out with friends? Play sports? Make things? Write down everything you can think of, whether it’s an everyday ritual or a special event.

Then go through your list. Which of these activities feels most compelling or unique to you and your friends? Which might make interesting photographs?

Read “ Making Your Own Fun .”

The Take asked three photographers to document how they were having fun during the lockdown period of the coronavirus pandemic. Spend a few minutes looking at the photos and reading the commentary. Then choose one photographer’s images to focus on. What do you notice about their artistic choices — about their composition, the photographic style, how they were made? What do you wonder? What can we learn about fun from these photos?

Your turn: Photograph your fun.

Return to the list you made in the warm-up and choose one or several things from it to photograph. You might consider how you can get creative with your photographic style and composition, as the photographers in the article did. You can stage photos, as Sheida Soleimani did, or you can try to capture more candid moments.

Going Further

Make a Visual Article

Put together your photos with a written reflection to create your own The Take-inspired piece.

Related Article

Once you have completed one of the exercises above, choose three to six photos from your shoot and create a gallery of images that speaks to the theme of the assignment. Then, write a short commentary reflecting on the assignment and what you learned from it, just as the photographers and Times editors do in The Take.

Here are some questions that can help guide your reflection:

Who or what inspired you? Did you stage your photos or seek out candid moments? What composition and editing techniques did you use, and why?

Is there a thread — some theme, emotion or experience — that connects your images? Was it something you set out to capture? Or something you discovered during the shoot or after seeing your finished photos? Taken together, what do your photos reveal about the subject of the assignment?

What is something new you discovered or learned through this exercise? How, if at all, did it make you look at the world or the people around you differently?

How challenging did you find this assignment? Why?

You can put your images and commentary together using a digital program like Google Slides or Canva . Teachers might invite students to share their work via a gallery walk , whether in the classroom or online.

Find more lesson plans and teaching ideas here.

Natalie Proulx joined The Learning Network as a staff editor in 2017 after working as an English language arts teacher and curriculum writer. More about Natalie Proulx

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May 16, 2018 2 Comments

Beyond Selfies: Unshuttering High School Photography Fundamentals

Inside: An examination of the teen-oriented social platform Getty Unshuttered and how its challenges can be used for high school photography lessons.  This post is brought to you by WeAreTeachers and Getty Unshuttered.

Our lives were inundated with images long before the internet or smartphones came along. We’re a visual species and we’ve been creating images for as long as we’ve been human, but never before have our lives been so dominated by photographs.

A World of Images

One estimate says we’ve gone from seeing about 500 ads a day back in the 1970’s to as many as 5,000 a day now. And that’s just ads! Spend a few minutes scrolling through Twitter or Facebook and you’ll be above 500 images in no time. Our students spend a significant amount of time looking at screens and every day there are more photo-based apps clamoring for their attention.

The popularity of apps like Instagram and Snapchat have passively educated our students to how photos communicate messages about the world and about themselves. They know that a single photo can make or break a reputation. They’ve seen it happen. The ability to take 20 selfies in 2.5 seconds has awakened them to the storytelling power of photographs. They know how their expression and setting can change the mood and emotion of a photo. They know that others will judge them based on what they show. Our students speak the language of photography, but a lot still gets lost in translation.

Advertisements and memes regularly rely on editing to change the meaning of a photograph. The internet is littered with arguments about the veracity of images because it is getting harder to determine the authenticity of the media we see. In this confusing and often dishonest landscape, I think we art teachers have a responsibility to help our students navigate the world of photography.

Getty Unshuttered

That’s where Getty Unshuttered comes in. Getty Unshuttered is a new social platform built specifically for teens. Each week, they introduce a new photography challenge that includes a video of a teenager sharing their own photographs and personal story. The concept introduced in the challenge video is explored further with written tips and explanations.

Teens are encouraged to post their own work in the free Getty Unshuttered app . I love that the photographs in the app can be favorited but not commented upon. We all know how cruel comment sections can be. Eliminating that aspect allows students to share their work free from unnecessary negativity.

High School Photography Lessons

Getty Unshuttered is the perfect tool for high school photography lessons because it pairs a medium that our students are hyper-familiar with and educates them on how it can be shaped and manipulated. By teaching the fundamentals of composition, light, and color, students will better understand why a photograph is good and what makes a photo memorable. Looking at and critiquing artworks inspired by the challenge and created by peers will make it easier for them to dissect the choices the artist made and how those choices impact the final photograph.

Getty Unshuttered can easily be used as the basis for a complete high school photography unit. The lessons will be a hit because they’re hands-on, fun, and incredibly relevant. Each week, you can choose a challenge to share with your classes. After watching the video and going over the written concepts, you can show students photographs that other teens have shared for inspiration and to critique in a controlled setting. Then, you can give students a homework assignment to complete the challenge using their own cameras or smartphones.

Once they’ve paired their knowledge and stories with the fundamental skills lessons available on Getty Unshuttered , students will be more discerning and observant of the images around them and become better artists themselves.

Light Challenge

There are several challenges already available on the Getty Unshuttered website, including features on skills like perspective, color, and composition. One of my favorites so far is the Light Challenge.

Getty Unshuttered makes it easy to empower students with the knowledge they need to take great photographs, tell their stories, appreciate the work of their peers, test their skills, and understand the increasingly visual world around them.

This post is brought to you by WeAreTeachers and Getty Unshuttered. While I was compensated for this post, all reviews and opinions expressed in this post are based on my personal view.

I’d love to hear about how you’ll use Getty Unshuttered in your classroom in the comments below!

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Reader Interactions

May 18, 2018 at 4:34 pm

Do they have an idea of when it will be available as an android app?

June 18, 2018 at 11:25 am

I don’t know. I’m sorry!

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12 Exciting Photography Assignments to Challenge and Inspire

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Everyone likes a good photo challenge. But photography assignments can also be very discouraging if they’re approached the wrong way. A good photography challenge will strengthen your photo skills and inspire you in multiple ways. A bad one will leave you wondering why you even tried photography in the first place.

12 Exciting Photography Assignments

Here are 12 exciting photography assignments to help you find the right one.

1. Shoot With a Limited Amount of Equipment

2. Take a Photo Every Day for a Year

3. Limit Yourself to X Photos a Day

4. Take Photos With Your Smartphone Camera Only

5. Experiment With a Completely Different Genre

There’s a wide variety of photography genres out there. There’s underwater, glamour , smartphone , landscape , and portrait , to name a few. Trying something new can help you fall in love with photography all over again. So take a temporary break from your main photo genre. If you’re a portrait photographer , take panoramic photos of your neighborhood. If you spend lots of time photographing animals, improve your self-portrait photography skills. When you expose yourself to different genres, you’ll learn many valuable lessons. And they will be useful long after the photography assignments end.

6. Photograph the Same Person or Object Every Day

7. Quit Social Media Temporarily

8. Create a Stop-Motion Video Using Photos

9. Take Creative Self-Portraits With a Friend

10. Crop or Rotate All Your Photos in a Specific Way

11. Include the Same Object in Every Photo

12. Invest in a Photo Book and Complete Every Assignment in It

Conclusion: Exciting Photography Assignments

You don’t need to travel the world or break the bank to improve as a photographer. A single assignment that lasts at least a week can teach you many lessons. And it’ll help you become a better photographer. All you have to do is find photography assignments that work for you. Then, dedicate some time to it, and watch your photo skills strengthen!

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Photography Project Ideas for High School in 2024

Are you going to try your hand at creating school photography project but have no idea what to start with? Then this article will come especially in handy since it includes 20 fantastic photography project ideas for high school.

Each concept listed below is easy to realize. If you properly follow these tips and use your artistic vision, you will definitely achieve “A”.

20 Great Ideas for High School Photography Project

Look though these photo essay examples that will help you to leave both your teacher and classmates in awe. The majority of them were picked in accordance with two aspects: accessible materials and development of your creativity.

1. FaceTime Photo Session

Those who stuck at home during the coronavirus outbreak can do a virtual FaceTime photoshoot to have a great time with friends.

Ask them to take you on a guided tour around their house so that you can choose the most appropriate background. Next, your friends will need to take the flattering pose, look in the right direction, etc.

2. Portraits Employing Projector

Creative photographers can use a projector to organize an exciting photo session even at home. All you need is to pick an appealing picture, dim the lighting, and optimize the color saturation of your projector in order to achieve the balanced lighting cover.

Let your imagination run wild. You can play with various images, map the light on both a model and background, or only a model/background. Complement your work with some photo editing manipulations to bring your pictures to perfection.

3. Light Painting

Light Painting is one of the most exciting photography portfolio ideas for students. You can take fantastic photos just using your camera, light source, and your creativity.

When you release the shutter and keep it open in the dark room, the film or digital sensor acts like the canvas upon which photographers paint.

4. ‘Bokeh’ Lights

Bokeh photography effect is a special technique, which requires a fast lens. You need to use a lens with an aperture of at least f/2.8. However, to create a better bokeh effect, it is better to pick a lens with apertures of f/2, f/1.8 or f/1.4. Thus, you can produce not only out-of-focus background but go even further and use it as a main tool to create engaging compositions.

Photographers typically use this effect while shooting a night city full of lights or dark room illuminated with multiple light sources. Play with camera settings, use different lighting conditions, subjects, and locations to create an aesthetically pleasing bokeh effect.

5. A Day in Life

One of the shortest high school photography projects can be a “Day in Life” photo session. You will to choose the models and photograph them the entire day.

To specify the concept of your project, you can photograph the life of people engaging in different professions. Not only people can become subjects of your storytelling. You can depict the life of your pet or take a closer look at a tree ecosystem.

6. Forced Perspective

Forced perspective is one of the most creative photography techniques that uses optical illusion. The photographer can shoot the objects from an unusual angle so that they appear of different sizes or distances than they really are.

One of the most popular forced perspective photography ideas is when tourists pretend to prop the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy.

7. Silhouettes

Make usual photographs look different, or add extra meaning to them, by simply cutting out some silhouette on a sheet of paper and taking a shot through it.

You can choose harmonic combinations, like shooting nature through shapes of animals, or go for contrast and shoot some highly technogenic landscapes through shapes of trees.

8. 100 Strangers

The 100 Strangers is another cool idea for your photography series project. You need to find 100+ strangers and photograph each of them. For some people, it may seem a challenge to take photos of strangers in the street or park.

However, if you want to be a successful photographer, you should overcome your fear. This project may be a good starting point for you to become a more confident professional.

9. Phone Camera Photos

Currently, many high school students want to purchase the best DSLR camera before even trying to photograph something. And while it may seem that having a good camera is a must to practice photography, it's not really like that.

If you choose a smartphone as a main tool for your photo project, you will understand how to focus on perspectives, lighting, composition, and subject posing. Moreover, you can demonstrate your classmates that it’s not necessary to have an expensive camera gear to produce high-quality content.

10. 365 Project

People know it as the 365 Project or Photo a Day project. Whatever you call it, that doesn’t change the outcome – a picture for every day of a year. This is one of the long-lasting photography projects for high school that will enable you to explore your creative potential and improve your photography and image editing skills.

Also, 365 will come in handy for those, who are searching for some interesting photography ideas at home .

11. 52 Weeks

The 52 Weeks project resembles 365, but you should take a new picture each week of a year. To make your work even more dramatic, you can devote each new photo to a different topic.

It is possible to shoot specific locations, subjects, or attend a photo walk. During such walking tours, you can explore new places and get inspired for new achievements.

12. Reproduce Famous Paintings

If you are into painting, you can employ it in your photography project by reproducing your favorite paintings.

It’s up to you, to choose the level of similarity with the original, the only rule is to keep it recognizable. You can start off by simply imitating poses and general composition of the painting and slowly get to adding all of the original props to the photo.

Another great option will be to change setting or elements of the photo that contrast with the original idea while keeping composition and signature details. It usually makes for a great comedic effect.

13. Shadows of Objects

Incorporate shadows in your project in a creative way.

You can use them to create shadows that appear like something different (as in example above). Another option would be to capture shadows without objects themselves in frame to create a type of “shadow composition”.

14. Funny Photoshop Collages

If you will learn how to make a collage in Photoshop or any other program it will allow you to create interesting photography projects even if you are stuck at home, or are limited in your resources and props.

Tripods are advised to make shooting easier. Otherwise you’ll be pretty limited with your shooting angles.

15. Juxtaposition Illusions

Juxtaposition illusion is a great subtype of forced perspective that employs collaging to create an interesting, usually funny effect of combining objects in unusual way. Be creative with objects that you put together, think about associations that objects in the original shot bring about in your mind.

16. Motion Blur

One of the most extraordinary photography portfolio ideas for students is taking a series of motion blur pictures. Thus, your subject appears still in the picture while surrounding objects are blurred, which creates an illusion of motion.

There are many ways to use this technique, but the most popular is to take a picture through a car window. There is no need to have in-depth photography knowledge to capture the motion.

17. Crystal Ball Photography

Use crystal ball to jazz up your photoshoot and amaze your viewers. Crystal ball photography allows you to use glass or crystal ball as an extra lens element to flip the image, experiment with lighting, achieve unusual abstractions and even a fish-eye effect. All you need is to get this optical tool and express your artistic talent.

18. Drawing Directly onto Photographs

If you are looking for photography series inspiration, you can use this unusual photography technique to hook your viewers with striking combination of drawn and photographed objects. You can think about this type of project as creating augmented reality in your photos.

You can do the drawing-over both by digital editing, or printing the photo and then using markers or pencils (depending on the type of printing paper you’ve used).

19. Shoot Self-Portrait in a Different Way

Self portrait photography allows you to combine different techniques in your project. Also, it is a way out for those, who can’t find a model or aren’t ready to work with strangers.

With a great variety of self-portrait ideas available on the net, finding the most suitable concept for your project will be a breeze.

Just experiment with various compositions and use unusual lighting and perspectives. Try cheap photography props to explore all the boundaries of your creativity.

20. Social Awareness Project

Most iconic photos always include a special message and social commentary on particular events. You can document some local protests (just take care of yourself and stick to the law).

Also, it is possible to face a series of environmental or social challenges, for example, alcoholism, water pollution, scarcity of drinking water, etc.)

Apart from developing your skills in photojournalism, you can do something really meaningful for people and society.

If you want to enhance your photography projects for high school, you can use these photo editing freebies. These presets and actions will help you make your creative works shine even if you don’t have enough experience in image editing.

Double Exposure

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The Double Exposure effect is a combination of two exposures in one image to produce a dreamy and surreal photo. You can achieve this effect just in several clicks by applying this Ps action. Thus, you will get a considerably enhanced picture and open up new photo editing opportunities for you.

Improve your pictures and make them appear as if they were taken during the Golden Hour. Aside from facilitating your workflow, these Lightroom presets will add a special warm atmosphere to your photos while emphasizing orange, brown, and yellow tones.

Street Vibes

These Lightroom presets will help you bring your street photos to perfection. They are suitable both for images taken during the daytime and at night. You can also experiment with other photography genres and apply these presets to the shots that include the buildings in the background.

Hi there, I'm Tata Rossi - a professional blogger, read more

• For beginners
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Photography & Journalism 

Sunset high school, assignment 5: aperture, depth of field & bokeh.

Target: Learn to manipulate the depth of field in your images by choosing the appropriate lens and adjusting the aperture settings on a digital camera.  Creatively choose your focus point, not necessarily the center or closest object.

Directions:  Take images which demonstrate your understanding of aperture settings and depth of field. 

Turn in 4 examples of shallow depth of field with thoughtfully considered bokeh. 

set your shooting mode to Av or M

use a prime lens or zoom lens in full zoom

use the wheel on the camera to  decrease your aperture settings (f-stop)

consider your composition, making thoughtful decisions   about the arrangement of subject matter, balance, lack  distractions, and general feeling of the image

place yourself and your subject with light in the background some distance away from the subject.

     (city lights, sunset through trees, reflected light, Christmas lights, etc.)

Tips: 

portraits and macros make great subject matter for a shallow depth of field

focus on creativity (try unusual combinations, tell a story, solve problems, create something unique)

the more actual depth you have in your view the more you will be able to manipulate it

lights, backlight, reflected light - makes for lovely bokeh

Aperture   is the opening between the lens and the shutter that controls the amount of light falling on the CCD sensor.  It is also referred to as f-stops. 

Depth of Field   is the zone between the nearest and furthest points at which the camera can obtain a sharp focus.

Shallow Depth of Field=   large aperture, small f-stop (daylight will require a fast shutter speed so that it won't be washed out)                

Maximum Depth of Field=   small aperture, large f-stop (will require a slower shutter speed so it won't be too dark)

Macro Photography   is extreme close-up photography, usually of small subjects, in which the size of the subject in the photograph is greater than live size. 

                      Use the Macro function to achieve a shallow depth of field by choosing aperture priority and macro on your camera.  Make sure that you are in good 

                      lighting and get very close to your subject.

Bokeh   is defined as “the effect of a soft out-of-focus background that you get when shooting a subject, using a fast lens, at the widest aperture, such as f/2.8 or wider.” Simply put, bokeh is the pleasing or aesthetic quality of out-of-focus blur in a photograph.

lightroom skills

For every image remember to use LR to:

Adjust the color tones, brightness, contrast, shadows, highlights, saturation & luminance

Crop and straighten images

Set the resolution to 300 dpi & limit file size to 15000 k for export

Define your personal editing voice with:

Use the brush tool to make adjustments to select areas of the image​

Use the HSL (Hue, Saturation, Luminance) panel to make individualized color adjustments​

Use the split toning panel to adjust shadows and highlights independently​

Use the brush tool to do selective edits

Student Examples

CVHS Photography

Projects and Tutorials

White Balance Assignment

• You will be taking 4 photos   
• You will not move your object
• You will only change the White Balance setting 4 times

• Colored Object  inside School  building  under the yellow lights 

• Colored Object in the Shade or Sun

• Person   in the shade or sun outside.  
• Focus on the FACE

• Person   inside School building 
• Focus on the face

___________________________________________________________________________

3. Change your Height to 10 Inches (width does not matter) and     Resolution of 72.  Click ok 4.  Repeat this with all 4 of the images

12.  Using the Text Too (T) type in what white balance setting was used for each photo.   13.  Merge your photo and save as jpeg 14. Do not watermark

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Photography for Magazine Assignments

A school of orange scalefin anthias swarm above colonies of fire corals on the crown of a reef in the Red Sea just before dark.

Telling the story in 10 photos or less

Having their work showcased in a print magazine is one of the greatest satisfactions for underwater photographers. It is even more gratifying when the words they’ve written accompany and support their images. But with so many accomplished photographers producing such good work, what are the chances of getting your work published? 

It’s not as difficult as it might seem, provided you have the commitment and perseverance to follow a few simple recommendations. I’ve been a photojournalist since before the advent of digital cameras and have learned some basic tenets for regularly getting published, even in this crowded field of talented shooters. 

First and most important, if your work has never been published or has been only modestly published, don’t send unsolicited images to an editor or publisher without a detailed and thoughtful written explanation of the photos. If you want to write a destination feature with the images submitted, for example, include an outline at minimum as part of your submission query. 

Publishers and editors receive plenty of unsolicited content, much of it from excellent shooters. Without content explaining and defining your submission, the editor has to imagine where it might fit in their magazine, if at all. That lack of explanation shifts the burden to them when it is your job to suggest where your work might fit in their publication. I have found that the shelf life of an images-only submission, even if the photos are outstanding, is as short as the freshness of a carton of milk left out on the table.  

Even if your images grab an editor’s attention and you receive a polite email thanking you for your submission, considering it for publication will likely stop there. Don’t bank on it, even if they say your images will be filed for possible future consideration. Too many quality images are crossing editors’ desks for them to come back to yours at some point.  

Rule No. 1: If you don’t get more than a polite “thank you” from your submission, chances are high that the images won’t be published.

Even decades into my career, if I’m targeting a new publication with which I do not already have a relationship, I’ll go one step beyond the submission query and submit fully completed work for consideration. If your images and writing are good, a complete package is your best opportunity to get genuine interest in your work.

Rule No. 2: Submit to match the publication’s format and style, which you can find in their table of contents. Do they have departments? Do they publish main features? What are the themes of the stories in the publication? If the publication heavily focuses on wreck diving, for example, you should submit work fitting this niche; submitting words and images on wildlife behavior to a wreck diving publication will likely get a pass.  

It is also important to understand the similar topics the magazine has recently published. If I were pitching a destination article on Grand Cayman to Alert Diver , for example, a simple online search would reveal that an article on that location appeared in the Winter 2019 issue. Five years ago is probably long enough for you to make a viable query. A similar search for Alert Diver and Palau, however, would reveal a story that ran in the Third Quarter 2023 issue, which is too recent for the editors to consider revisiting the destination. It is a courtesy to the editors and a time saver for you to understand the recency effect of the proposed editorial.

Rule No. 3: Rejection should not equate to dejection. Perseverance is the key to successfully getting published, but remember that your work must meet the editors’ and publishers’ quality threshold. Even if your work exceeds that threshold, it may not meet the publication’s immediate needs for various reasons — perhaps they’ve already covered the content, they have it planned with someone else, your scope is not broad enough, or your work does not fit their demographic.         

My work has been rejected more times than I care to think about. But when I set my mind to getting into a particular publication, I succeeded by eventually submitting work to fill a specific niche. Feedback from the editor is often helpful in narrowing your focus for your next submission effort. You initially may get something published in one of the magazine’s minor departments, which isn’t the desired full travel feature you were hoping for, but it is a good start in building a résumé and your relationship with that publication. Getting published will also give you an advantage for future submissions.

Quality is the operative word for submissions of both images and words.

First impressions are lasting, and I submit the best photos that clearly and directly support the accompanying words. I often write my words directly to most of the images in the submission, making it an easy pick for an editor. Embedding location and caption information in the metadata of a digital file is a courtesy an editorial team deeply appreciates and is expected for a professional.

Sometimes it is good to be part of a team. My wife and mother-in-law are often my copy editors for grammar, syntax, spelling, and story flow. I try to tell a good, coherent story and minimize what the editor has to do to my written submission.

My wife is also my second opinion on image selection. She often selects a critical image I would not have included in the submission but that ultimately makes it to final publication. It is important to have a competent second (or even third) set of eyes review your words and images for accuracy, relevance, and quality before submitting.     

Regardless of how you develop your submission, it always starts with a theme. I recently received an assignment to shoot images supporting a writer’s destination feature about a Caribbean liveaboard adventure. Although I had a good idea of what the magazine wanted, I asked the editor for specific image goals before I left for the shoot.  

The story was about the liveaboard diving lifestyle set against the writer’s specific itinerary, so the image submissions needed to encompass most, if not all, of the sites the liveaboard visited. To feature destination diving as a lifestyle, I wanted to make guests on the liveaboard prominent in my portfolio. With that in mind, I worked to incorporate guests as both primary and secondary subjects in various wide-angle images to give the editor options. 

Obviously, I asked their permission before taking their photograph; for people who were featured prominently, I also asked for a model release. Free model release forms are available by searching the internet, but if you wish to place your images with a stock photography agency, you may want to print and carry your agent’s specific form. Advertising and commercial photography have more rigorous requirements for legal releases than typical editorial usage.

Wide-angle photos are excellent for demonstrating scale relative to a coral reef, for example, but generally cannot stand alone in a submission. Marine animal shots, reef scenes, macro critters, and close-up diver portraits are important supporting actors to the centerpiece wide-angle images. If night diving is part of the itinerary, include some images of nocturnal critters.   

Don’t underestimate the importance of topside photos, even for a dive publication. Only a small percentage of dive holidays take place underwater, and terrestrial attractions are a big part of destination research for readers. If the destination does not restrict drones, I always pack mine in anticipation of topside opportunities. Some countries only allow drones by permit, so I always check in advance to avoid the hassle of traveling with gear I’m not allowed to use.

Some destinations, such as Papua New Guinea (PNG), need illustrations of the local culture. I’ve done some articles about PNG and included topside images of the Indigenous people paddling handcrafted dugout canoes. One such image always makes the publication’s edit.

When it’s time to write, I select images to fit my outline. I like to include a few facts on history and geography while staying mindful of word count and general interest. The facts need to complement the main story, not detract from it. Naturally, the images must support the words and the main theme. If you are writing about animal behavior at a cleaning station, for example, make sure you have good images of cleaners actively engaged in cleaning. 

If the story is about muck diving in Anilao or Lembeh Strait, Indonesia, wide-angle images of reef scenes in the Red Sea would not support the submission. This may seem obvious, but we’ve seen Indo-Pacific fish used to illustrate a Caribbean dive destination. The editors should know better, but the responsibility also lies with the photographer who submitted an image that could not possibly have been photographed at the destination.

A great way to educate yourself on how to write and shoot for a submission is to look at publications that interest you and study how they write and present their articles. These examples can provide a good framework for you to build on with your work. While others’ style obviously works to get them published, you should work to develop your personal style.

As you build a résumé of published work, you’ll likely find it easier to get more marks in the win column. If you develop relationships with publication decision-makers, you can begin to float ideas for consideration versus submitting completed, unsolicited work. This level of relationship opens an entirely new realm of possibilities.

Explore More

See more of Photo Techniques in this photo gallery.

©  Alert Diver  — Q2 2024

Photo gallery: 301 students graduate from Pocono Mountain East High School

Lewiston Sun Journal

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Photo album: See images from the Leavitt Area High School commencement

Leavitt Area High School awarded diplomas Sunday to 126 seniors at the school's 125th graduation ceremony at The Colisée in Lewiston.

Lindsay Bates, left, reaches out to shake her grandfather’s hand Sunday during the processional march of Leavitt Area High School’s 125th commencement at The Colisée in Lewiston. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Read the story: Leavitt Area High School awards 126 diplomas at 125th graduation

A cell phone records the start of Leavitt Area High School’s 125th commencement Sunday at The Colisée in Lewiston. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Darien Wells, right, starts some horseplay Sunday with fellow graduate Dominick Toscano before the start of Leavitt Area High School’s 125th commencement at The Colisée in Lewiston. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Dominick Toscano, right, expresses mock dismay Sunday before the start of Leavitt Area High School’s 125th commencement at The Colisée in Lewiston. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Principal Eben Shaw delivers opening remarks Sunday during Leavitt Area High School’s 125th commencement at The Colisée in Lewiston. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Olivia Doyon, left, and Maracella Gnipp react to Principal Eben Shaw’s opening remarks Sunday during Leavitt Area High School’s 125th commencement at The Colisée in Lewiston. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Leavitt Area High School alumni stand for recognition Sunday during Leavitt’s 125th commencement at The Colisée in Lewiston. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Emma Fogg, president of the class of 2024, welcomes graduates, friends and family Sunday to Leavitt Area High School’s 125th commencement at The Colisée in Lewiston. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Devon Clifford plays with a Rubik’s Cube on Sunday before the start of Leavitt Area High School’s 125th commencement at The Colisée in Lewiston. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

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Colorado High School Activities Association

Baseball 6/3/2024 7:29:17 AM CHSAA

Coronado's Trey Gregory-Alford Named Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year for Colorado

Trey Gregory-Alford, a senior at Coronado, has been named Colorado's Gatorade Player of the Year, it was announced on Monday.

Gregory-Alford is the first Gatorade Colorado Baseball Player of the Year to be chosen from Coronado High School, the third honoree from Coronado in any sport, and the school's first since 2008-09.

The award, which celebrates the nation’s top high school athletes for excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community, distinguishes Gregory-Alford as Colorado’s best high school baseball player. From CEOs and coaches to star athletes, Gatorade Player of the Year winners showcase the power of sport, touting an all-star group of alumni that includes Gary Sheffield (1985-86, Hillsborough High School, Fla.), Alex Rodriguez (1992-93, Westminster Christian School, Fla.), Clayton Kershaw (2005-06, Highland Park High School, Texas) and Max Clark (2022-23, 2021-22 & 2020-21, Franklin Community High School, Ind.).

The 6-foot-5, 245-pound senior right-handed pitcher and first baseman led the Cougars to a 13-11 record and a berth in the 4A regional semifinals this past season. Gregory-Alford batted .492 with 34 RBI, seven home runs and 26 runs scored. He also compiled a 2-0 record on the mound with one save and 94 strikeouts in 45.1 innings pitched, averaging 2.07 strikeouts per inning.

Gregory-Alford has volunteered locally with the Cougars Care program at Coronado helping families in need and at Jackson Elementary School’s track and field day. He also has donated his time to the Black Educators Network Literacy Conference at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. “As a team pitching against Trey, we tried to mix up what we were throwing at him over these last two seasons, and nothing seemed to work,” said Max Cupp, head coach at Harrison High School. “No matter what we threw, he hit the ball hard. He was a good enough hitter that he was the only guy that we intentionally walked this year, and we did it twice with him.”

Gregory-Alford has maintained a 3.08 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to play baseball on scholarship at the University of Virginia this fall, but is projected as an early round selection in July’s Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.

Gregory-Alford joins recent Gatorade Colorado Baseball Players of the Year Walker Martin (2022-23, Eaton High School), Dallas Macias (2021-22, Regis Jesuit High School), Radek Birkholz (2020-21, Valor Christian High School) and Jack Moss (2019-20, Cherry Creek High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.

Pueblo high school 2024 graduations: Is your favorite senior in our photo galleries?

Over 1,500 graduates received diplomas from high schools within Pueblo School District 60 and Pueblo County School District 70 this year.

Pueblo West High School celebrated 283 graduates in 2024 — the most of any high school in Pueblo County. The Cyclones' intra-district rivals at Pueblo County High School had the second largest graduating class of 264 students.

The 193 graduates receiving diplomas from Central High School represented the largest senior class in Pueblo D60 this year. Dutch Clark Digital Online at Paragon, an alternative education campus in Pueblo D60, celebrated the largest graduating class in its seven-year history.

Dutch Clark Digital Online at Paragon graduated 157 students — more than brick-and-mortar East High School did in 2024. East High School's 141 graduates and Centennial High School's 177 graduates were the first scholars to graduate from new high school building's funded by Pueblo D60's 2019 bond.

Scroll down to view the Pueblo Chieftain's photo galleries from the ceremonies.

Pueblo County High School

Pueblo centennial high school, pueblo central high school, pueblo east high school, pueblo south high school, pueblo west high school, dutch clark digital online, pueblo d70 alternative learning academy, rye high school, swallows charter academy high school, dolores huerta preparatory high school.

Randy Gradishar: How Denver Broncos NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Randy Gradishar has family ties to Pueblo

Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached at [email protected]. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com

Color Scheme

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East Valley teen is the first Washington transgender athlete to win a state high school track championship. But controversy followed

Verónica Garcia did not hear the boos when the race started last weekend.

When she took the lead in the State 2A girls 400-meter run at the track and field championships in Tacoma, they grew in volume and became unmistakable as she reached the finish line to become the first transgender high school athlete to place first in state.

Such victories are typically a time for celebration but the East Valley High School junior’s win has sparked controversy.

People criticized Garcia all season for participating on the girls track team. Yet the jeers at Saturday’s meet were “a bit more severe,” she said.

Garcia cheered and clapped for her competitors as they received their medals. When the announcer called her to the podium, the crowd fell silent and the other high school runners at the podium did not acknowledge her as they stood with hands clasped behind their backs.

As she accepted her gold medal, a voice in the crowd could be heard yelling, “She’s not a girl!”

Garcia expected the chilly reaction from the crowd, though she was “somewhat hurt” her peers did not offer congratulations.

“I guess maybe I expected sportsman ship because I was cheering the rest of them on when they were called. So I gu ess I expected to get that reciprocated,” she said. “But I didn’t get that.”

While the national debate continues to rage regarding the fairness of transgender participation in girls athletic competitions, Garcia said what’s lost is that the subjects of these controversies are often teenagers just trying to have fun in a sport they love.

“I’m just a teenager. I wish people would remember that,” Garcia said.

State meet results

The 16-year-old Garcia pulled away from her opponents with a time of 55.75 seconds in the final – a full second ahead of the second-place finisher at the state meet at Mount Tahoma High School last weekend.

Her win helped the East Valley Knights win the 2A title. Garcia did not set a state meet record in the 400. That is held by Jai’lyn Merriweather, who in 2017 ran the 400 in 53.83 seconds .

Records were set at the meet by East Valley senior Logan Hofstee, who swept the long-distance races in the competition and set 2A records in the 3,200 and 800 races.

East Valley Athletic Director Eric Vermaire said he did not want concerns about Garcia’s participation to overshadow her and the team’s accomplishments.

“Verónica contributed – no doubt about it. But it was a group of girls that did something as a team, and they are elated,” he said, noting this is the first state championship for East Valley’s girls track team since he was hired at the school seven years ago.

State rules allow transgender participation

For 18 years, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has had a policy allowing students to compete in the division of the gender they “most consistently expressed.”

“All students have the opportunity to participate in WIAA athletics and/or activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity,” the 2023-24 WIAA handbook reads.

Washington is one of 16 states with policies that allows for full participation of trans, nonbinary and other gender-diverse students in school athletics. Other states may have more restrictive rules that prevent transgender student athletes from competing in their pref erred category or more restrictive r equir ements about their participa tion.

East Valley High School sits less than 8 miles from the border with Idaho, where state lawmakers have been attempting to restrict transgender students from participating in girls and women’s sports.

In 2020, Idaho became the first state to ban transgender participation in school sports. Dubbed the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” the law barred all transgender women and girls from participating or trying out for female sports teams, from elementary school to the collegiate level.

A lawsuit was filed, claiming the bill is discriminatory. The Idaho law has not been allowed to be enforced since its passage and is currently under consideration by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Unlike some states, Washington does not require transgender student athletes to undergo hormone replacement therapy or suppression of the hormones naturally produced by their bodies. Transgender athletes in Washington also are not required to disclose their medical information to play high school sports.

Garcia declined to disclose whether she has been prescribed hormone replacement therapy medicine or puberty blockers. Efforts this week to interview Garcia’s mother, Traci Brown, have not been successful. However, late last year Brown said she supports Garcia “100%.”

“I’m so proud of her,” she said at the time.

When determining Garcia’s eligibility to participate on the girls’ track team this year, Vermaire said he is following federal law, state law and WIAA rules.

“People feel like we’ve done something that we shouldn’t have done,” he said, “but we are doing everything the way it is laid out for us.”

Greater Spokane League Commissioner Paul Kautzman said in a statement that the GSL follows the WIAA guidelines and “supports all high school student-athletes regardless of gender or orientation.”

WIAA spokesperson Sean Bessette acknowledged the organization has received multiple complaints about Garcia’s participation in the week since her victory. In defending their policy, Bessette cited state law prohibiting discrimination and federal Title IX protections – both of which include transgender identity as a protected class.

“The WIAA considers numerous personal, political, and religious beliefs of communities that join the Association,” according to a statement provided by Bessette. “Many of these beliefs do not align, resulting in a conflict among the diverse groups the Association serves. For this reason, the WIAA Executive Board has been advised to follow state and federal law.”

Beth Daranciang, a Republican running for a state House seat from the Seattle area who has protested multiple sporting events with transgender athletes, attended the state track meet to support women’s and girls’ “sex-based rights.” She wants the WIAA to change its policy.

“It just seems very unfair,” she said of Garcia’s eligibility to participate in the competition. “Sports are based on physical competition. It’s not based on identity. So that’s why we should keep sports based on the physical distinctions between males and females.”

Signs in hand, Daranciang and several other protesters stood outside the fencing to protest Garcia’s participation in the state track meet. She said the competitors who lost to Garcia were being “bullied” by their school districts and the WIAA by allowing Garcia to compete.

“They were probably furious and hurt and feeling overwhelmed by the fact that they have no voice in this,” she said of the high school athletes.

Daranciang said she hopes Garcia receives treatment for gender dysphoria, which she called a “real” condition. But by participating in girls’ sports, she said Garcia was doing something deserving of criticism. Garcia was “belittling” and “stealing” from the other girls, Daranciang said.

“I don’t wish anything mean, but disagreeing with someone is not mean. Protesting something in civil language is not mean,” she said.

Following Garcia’s victory, several high-profile critics of transgender athletes rebuked the East Valley student. This includes Riley Gaines, who has spoken out against transgender people’s inclusion in sports after tying for fifth place with a transgender athlete in a collegiate swimming competition.

“Would you look at that … the thing that never happens happened again,” Gaines posted on X. She called Garcia a “boy” who “dominated” the event.

Garcia received support from Spokane’s Odyssey Youth Movement, which provides support and resources to transgender youth in Eastern Washington. Executive Director Ian Sullivan congratulated Garcia on behalf of the Odyssey Youth Movement and said transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse youth should have the “same rights and opportunities” as any other student.

“School activities and extracurriculars are designed for the growth and development of ALL students and we as a community should be working together to support & uplift every student in Washington State,” Sullivan said in a statement.

The negative attention and controversy could have a severely negative impact on Garcia, said Dr. Kellan Bryne, an executive director of Whitman-Walker, a national organization that provides health care to the LGBTQ community.

“It’s horrendous. There’s already a mental health crisis among young people in this country, trans or not, and to be attacked for wanting the same thing that every other teenager wants – which is to fit in, to belong, to participate, to be on the team, to play … That’s incredibly damaging, and it’s incredibly cruel.”

It is also particularly dangerous, he said, for transgender youth – who are at higher risk of suicide and self-harm compared to their peers.

Garcia on the controversy

Since beginning her gender transition last year, Garcia said she has received a “taste of how hard we as a species can be for absolutely no reason other than being a little different.”

She said she has been bullied on and off the track, and has been the subject of what she calls “discriminatory comments” invalidating her identity as a transgender girl. Most of it has come from adults – not her classmates or teammates. Her track team has become “like a family” to Garcia, and their support has ushered her through dark days when she feels “like an outcast.”

“I can be myself and do things in a way that I was never really able to do. I kind of feel like I’m living my authentic self,” Garcia said of the past year.

Garcia said Vermaire has been her biggest supporter since coming out.

“Regardless of the situation, that is still a kid,” Vermaire said of the backlash. “It’s a polarizing situation, but we need to support kids. That’s what we do in education.”

It is in part because of such support that Garcia said she has come to love competing in track. She doesn’t race “for the medals.” She races because she enjoys it.

Garcia admitted there are “not easy answers” to transgender inclusion in sports.

But she wishes those who think she should not be able to compete would take their complaints to those who make policy decisions, rather than yelling at her.

“I’m just a teenager. It’s one thing if you want to advocate for whatever, but your message becomes deflated when you start insulting,” she said. “As soon as you start harassing transgender people, then I think your message starts to fall apart.”

“At the very least, give us respect, because I think the best thing anyone can do is, even if you don’t understand why we’re transgender, the very least is to be nice to us. Kindness goes a long way.”

This story includes Spokesman-Review reporting from 2023.

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Warsaw Community High School Has Commencement For Class Of 2024

June 2, 2024 at 4:49 p.m..

On Friday, May 31, Warsaw Community Schools (WCS) celebrated the commencement of the class of 2024. The ceremony, held at the Tiger Athletic Complex (TAC) on Fisher Field, was a culmination of years of hard work and dedication, according to a news release from WCS. The attendance of WCS, WCHS and WACC administrators, guidance counselors, teachers and the board of school trustees added to the significance of the night. Guided by the motto, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams" by Eleanor Roosevelt, the class of 2024 embraced the importance of overcoming challenges and emerging stronger, the release states. Under the leadership of Assistant Principal Paul Zakaria and senior counselor Peyton Scharpenberg, along with the support of counseling director Luisa Davis, the class made their mark on WCS. Commencement began with a multimedia presentation curated by Shashank Upadhyay, the senior class president, featuring baby and senior photos. The WCHS band, under the direction of Mark Ziegler with assistance from David Knouse, performed "Pomp and Circumstance" for the processional. Following this, the festival choir, led by Joshua Hren, delivered a performance of the national anthem during the presentation of colors by the JROTC. Grace Ganser, student body president, delivered a welcome address. Principal Troy Akers delivered a speech highlighting the resilience of the class of 2024. He praised their ability to overcome numerous challenges, including the pandemic and academic hurdles. His speech was complemented by inspirational quotes from Winston Churchill and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. During the ceremony, a moment of remembrance was observed for Jill Jackson to honor her impact on the class of 2024. Akers, along with Kyle, Landon and Logan Jackson, honored her memory. Immediately following, the festival choir performed a rendition of "Imagine" by John Lennon, arranged by Jay Althouse. Student speaker Shashank Upadhyay spoke about overcoming fear and embracing hope. He encouraged his peers to not let fear control their lives and to pursue their dreams with courage. Shashank emphasized the importance of hope and community support, urging everyone to seize the day and live life fully. Student speaker Doondeeshwar Patnala delivered a humorous yet profound speech, offering advice on life and the future. He highlighted the importance of getting enough sleep, cherishing youth and maintaining strong relationships. He encouraged his classmates to live passionately and unapologetically, reminding them that they have the power to change the world. Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert addressed the graduates, reflecting on WCS’s mission and reminiscing about their first day of kindergarten. Hoffert acknowledged the legacy that the class of 2024 has left in the 179-year history of Warsaw Schools, commending their high standards and achievements. He expressed pride in their accomplishments and assured them that their story will continue to unfold as they navigate new paths and embrace the opportunities that lie ahead. Finally, Hoffert approved the recommendation of Akers and Warsaw Area Career Center Director Ben Barkey for the class of 2024 to the WCS School Board. WCS school board members Heather Reichenbach (president), Randy Polston (vice president), Elle Turley (secretary), Tom Westerhof, Matt Deuel, Brad Johnson and Denny Duncan presented diplomas to the class of 2024. WCHS’s top students wore honor cords symbolizing their academic achievements. Orange cords represented Cum Laude honors for a GPA of 3.75-3.99, white cords indicated Magna Cum Laude honors for a GPA of 4.00-4.24 and gold cords exemplified Summa Cum Laude honors for a GPA of 4.25 and above. WACC National Technical Honors Society graduates wore silver cords, while National Honor Society students adorned stoles. Those recognized for achieving a Certificate of Multilingual Proficiency wore medallions, highlighting their language skills and cultural understanding. The presentation of the class of 2024 diplomas commenced with the “turning of the tassels” led by Upadhyay, officially marking their transition from students to graduates, and the evening concluded with a fireworks display.

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