Photography Programs
Your Space
Program Description: Teens take photos of their room or the space they feel most
comfortable.
Materials/Cost:
$ 3 Construction paper – acid free
$ 5 5 - Glue sticks
$10 Gel scrapbook pens (Optional)
$10 Assorted acid-free stickers (Optional)
$8-28 Total cost
Note: Acid-free construction paper is available from a variety of sources. Try Lakeshore
Learning or Corporate Express’s “Superbright Sulphite Construction Paper.”
Instructions:
Teens take a photo of their room or the space they feel most comfortable.
They can either bring in a print of their photo or the photo saved on a CD/flash drive,
etc. so that it can be printed at the library.
At your program, teens frame the photos with acid-free construction paper, write
captions, etc.
Finally, teens use their photos to create a display around your teen space or on the
teen bulletin board.
A Book About Me
Program Description: Teens take photos of places, people and things that define
themselves and scrapbook them on themed pages.
Materials/Cost:
$ 9 6 packs - Acid-free black construction paper (Lakeshore Learning)
$ 2 2 rolls - ¼” white ribbon (Walmart)
$10 Acid-free stickers, assorted (Michaels)
$10 Gel pens (Michaels/Walmart)
$ 4 Colored pencils (Walmart)
$ 5 5 – Glue Sticks (Walmart)
$ 5 3 packs - Acid-free construction paper, assorted colors (Lakeshore Learning)
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Photography Programs
$10 Decorative edge scissors (Michaels)
$50 Total cost for 20 teens
Note: This is another program where you can spend as much or as little as you have
available. For the no-frills program, cut out the gel pens (teens can use the colored
pencils instead) and the stickers and pay $30 for the complete program cost.
Staff Prep:
At an earlier teen summer program (maybe a photography workshop?), announce
the goal of this project to your teens. Let them know that they’ll need to bring in
photos of places, people and things that they feel define themselves. The photos
can be print outs from the computer or the real thing.
Make 30 scrapbooks for teens:
- 3 hole punch the 6 packs of black construction paper.
- Separate out the construction paper into piles of 15.
- Thread a 6” piece of white ribbon through each punch hole and tie.
Using one pack of acid-free construction paper, cut out with Ellison dies. Some dies
that are popular with teen scrapbookers are the TV, various flowers, beach themed
dies, celestial objects, pets, the open hand, etc.
When teens arrive:
Give each teen a scrapbook
Let them at the supplies!
They can paste the photos into their scrapbook by themes or randomly. The themes
might focus on aspects of their personality (crazy, quiet, sporty, smart, funny, sweet)
or places (home, school, library, mall, favorite place to eat) or ???
All About Me – A Collage
Program Description: Teens create a collage out of pictures and things that reflect their
personalities. This is a cheap alternative to the scrapbook program above.
Materials/Costs:
$3 1 pack - 12” x 18” construction paper – assorted colors
$6 Crayola markers
$5 5 glue sticks
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Photography Programs
FREE Old magazines
FREE Scissors (as many as you can snag off your co-workers desks)
$14 Total cost for 20 teens
Staff Prep:
At an earlier teen summer program (maybe a photography workshop?), announce
the goal of this project to your teens. Let them know they’ll need to bring in photos of
places, people and things that they feel define themselves. The photos can be print
outs from the computer or the real thing.
When teens arrive:
Let them at the supplies!
They can cut up their photos and arrange by themes or randomly. The themes might
focus on aspects of their personality (crazy, quiet, sporty, smart, funny, sweet) or
places (home, school, library, mall, favorite place to eat) or ???
Consider posting the collages in your teen area for the summer.
Photography Contest
Program Description: Teens submit photos to fit your chosen theme for a photography
contest (see p. 50 of manual for more ideas).
Materials/Costs: This one is an easy one. The only supplies you really need are prizes.
If you’re able to get prizes donated, then this can be a free program. If not, check your
budget and determine how much you can afford. See below for some possible prizes:
- Camera
- Photography lessons
- Gift certificates to an online photo processing company
- Gift certificates of any kind!
Staff prep:
Decide if you’d like to have a theme for your contest. Themes can help focus teens
and help you choose a winner.
Determine whether you need a release form for the photo submissions. You may
need one for both the teen submitting the photo and any people in the photo.
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Photography Programs
Who will judge your contest? Local photography teachers make good choices and
may help you get buy in a your local schools. Try the high school, middle school,
community colleges and private photographers.
Write up guidelines (see p.55 of manual for a sample). Some things to include:
- Submission deadlines
- Photo content guidelines (i.e. what’s acceptable, if you have a theme, etc.)
- Format of submissions (i.e. can they just print out the photo? Or does it have
to be on photo paper? Can they submit it digitally?).
- How should photos be submitted? Digitally or a physical copy.
Promote your contest. Don’t forget to send info to high school and middle school
photography teachers before school ends.
Wait for the submissions to come in!
Submitted by
Jennifer Lawson
San Diego County Library
(jennifer.lawson1@sdcounty.ca.gov)
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