Stetson Shutterbugs

Presentation at Cheltenham Camera Club

2012-02-22T13:49:00.000-05:00

Just some of the wonderful folks at the Cheltenham Camera Club!

Last night I had the honor of being invited to present my work as an artist and educator to the incredible folks at the Cheltenham Camera Club (CCC). They got to learn about me and my students and I got to learn about the great things they do. They were also incredibly generous and donated $150 as well as a carload of photo gear to our program so THANK YOU CCC!

Community Walk with Inquirer Reporters

2012-02-16T15:15:00.002-05:00

Last week Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Martha Woodall and photographer Rick Kaufmann visited us to do a story on the Shutterbugs. We took them for a walk around the neighborhood so they could get to know us and the neighborhood the kids come from as well as see the Shutterbugs in action taking photos. Here are some of the Shutterbug pics from that day. Keep an eye out for the Inquirer article when it is published on Monday, Feb. 20th!

Inquirer reporter Martha Woodall and photographer Rick Kaufmann.

Shutterbugs Article in Al Dia Dia!

2012-02-10T14:48:00.000-05:00

The Shutterbugs were recently featured in an article in Al Dia Newspaper, the largest Spanish weekly newspaper in Philly. Check it out!

Creating Crafts with Photos

2012-02-01T17:02:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Esperanza Altamar for coming out last week and doing an awesome worksop with the Shutterbugs where they got to make crafts from their photos that they will eventually sell at fundraising events. Thanks Espy!

Photo Day in the Snow!

2012-01-23T12:23:00.003-05:00

The Light Room hosted the Shutterbugs last Saturday as the kids braved the snow and spent the day in Fairmount taking photos and developing their first rolls of film. Thanks to Lightroom members Joshua Marowitz, Annarita Gentile, and Erin Yard for taking the time to work with us. Special thanks to member Al Wachlin Jr. who made this whole day happen!

Taking photos in park.

In Al Wachlin's van on the way to the lab.

Shutterbugs along with Lightroom members Annarita, Josh, and Al.

More Shutterbugs developing with Lightroom member Erin.

Christopher discovers Snapple ATM!

Rashawn about to be loaded into truck.

My High schooler's Franchesca, Jannomys, and Tania who continue to be in the Shutterbugs even after graduating from Stetson!

At the Sal y Dulce Festival

2011-12-07T14:08:00.019-05:00

The Shutterbugs and I were excited to be at this year's Sal y Dulce Colombian Holiday Festival which was sponsored by Acción Colombia. Check out the cool pix!

Closing Reception of 2 Cultures

2011-12-05T12:43:00.023-05:00

My Shutterbugs were on hand to help me celebrate the closing of my latest exhibition, "Two Cultures," at the Light Room Gallery. In May of next year the gallery will be hosting a show of the Shutterbugs' work along with their partners from Grupo Flormorado in Colombia. Stay tuned for more info!

Bake Sale!

2011-11-15T14:57:00.001-05:00

For a whole week the Shutterbugs had a bake sale to raise money for our trip to Colombia. Thanks to all the parents, teachers, and students who participated!

Shutterbugs Jashira, Aunna, and Seanna at our Bake Sale.

Wissahickon Walk

2011-11-12T13:27:00.000-05:00

After visiting the seniors at the Germantown Adult Center I took the Shutterbugs to one of my favorite places in Philadelphia, Forbidden Drive, which runs alongside the Wissahickon River in Fairmount Park. Walking along this path it is easy to forget that you are still in Philadelphia as here are no cars honking or whizzing by, just the peaceful sounds of nature.

Working with Seniors

2011-11-09T12:29:00.006-05:00

For the past 2 months the Shutterbugs have been working on an intergenerational project with a wonderful group of seniors from the Germantown Adult Center. In this exciting project the students will document photographically the life journey of their partner senior. Their final projects will be exhibited in the Spring along with other projects from around the city.

Students and seniors getting to know one another.

Teaching seniors how to edit photos and make slideshows.

Stetson Art Teacher Mary Pat Coyle teaches students and seniors how to make image transfers with liquid starch.

Below: Seniors show off their artwork.

Shutterbugs at Hispanic Choice Awards

2011-10-24T14:51:00.000-04:00

Members of the Shutterbugs and I at this year's Hispanic Choice Awards on Oct. 11, at the Kimmel Center.

Shutterbugs meet Colombia partners on Skype!

2011-10-05T20:07:00.003-04:00

Last week marked the historic beginning of the cultural exchange between the Stetson Shutterbugs and my students of Grupo Flormorado in La Florida, Colombia. The students got to meet and talk to each other for the first time using Skype. Starting next week they will be paired with a parter and start their exchange of words, photos, videos and stories! Check out this short video snippet of their first meeting!

Shutterbugs and Stetson in Puerto Rican Parade

2011-09-26T20:25:00.000-04:00

The Shutterbugs were proud to march alongside Stetson and ASPIRA staff at this year's Puerto Rican Parade!

Shutterbugs at Feria del Barrio

2011-09-18T20:19:00.000-04:00

The Shutterbugs were out in force at this year's Feria del Barrio, which was sponsored as always by Taller Puertorriqueño. Pictured from L to R are, Asia, Tony Rocco, Francheska Robles, Mary Pat Coyle, Walter Acosta and Jonathan Sanchez. Thanks to Ryan Brandenberg for the photo!

My interview at my first exibit

2011-05-12T15:58:00.000-04:00

When the guy interviewed me for his video about Northern Liberties that will soon be up on youtube it made me really happy because I know people are going to see our blog and start supporting us.

Get off my car

2011-05-12T15:33:00.000-04:00

During our exhibit we were outside and then a police car parked near a fire hydrant.So while the police guy was inside getting pizza my friend Gennyliz decided to give the officer a ticket for parking near a fire hydrant.I took this picture while she was putting the ticket with Rashawn and then the officer came and looked at them and smiled. I added the thought bubble because he looked like he was thinking "Get off my car" and I added the smiling face because he looked happy not mad.

P.S. thanks to all the people who came to our exhibit and supported us all the way and thanks to all the people who are still going to see our work at the Rustica Pizzeria.

our photo shoot

2011-05-12T15:21:00.000-04:00

when mr.Rocco was inside talking me & a couple of girls went outside with the camera & played model here are a couple of the pictures :D

An inivitation

2011-05-02T17:04:00.005-04:00

The Stetson Shutterbugs Photography Club will be showcasing their work this Friday from 4 - 6PM at Rustica Pizza, located at 2nd and Poplar Sts. The exhibition will demonstrate several of the photographic processes the students have learned, including pinholes, photograms, and digital imaging. The Shutterbugs would like to thank everyone that made this show possible, including Stetson Charter School, Arts Rising, The Light Room, Rustica Pizza, Christpher Co., Cheltenham Camera Club, and all the generous photographers who donated us equipment. We hope you can join us!

For more information about the exhibition email instructor Tony Rocco at chicodecali@yahoo.com.

look at my contact sheets

2011-05-02T16:43:00.004-04:00

Here is a photo of Ivelise looking amazed as she looks through her images on her first contact sheet.

Developing our first Film/Contact Sheets

2011-05-02T15:58:00.016-04:00

Here is Jashira practicing
loading film with her eyes closed.

Here is a picture of one of our first contact sheets.

Mr. Rocco took us out around the neighborhood with our cameras to take pictures of things that we see every day in our community. Then we developed our first negatives in our darkroom. After that we made our first contact sheets by shining light through our negatives with the enlargers.

The beauty of nature

2011-03-17T16:38:00.003-04:00

Mr.Rocco gave us an assignment to pick a picture so, I picked this picture from the Internet because it caught my eye when I first saw it. The elephants are just hanging out in the wild. Also the picture has a lot of bright colors and it makes the elephants pop out more. It looks so beautiful!

Virgin Mary Is Coming For You

2011-03-17T16:32:00.005-04:00

My assignment was to look for a picture on the Internet that caught my attention. I picked this picture because it caught my attention and I love how supposedly the image of Virgin Mary is almost coming out of a tree. The image has the same colors like the Virgin Mary. It looks like the Virgin Mary is coming for you out of a tree. If look at the light in the picture it looks like that picture was token on a cloudy day.

Taking A Break

2011-03-17T16:13:00.006-04:00

The reason i put the title Taking A Break is because we were walking around every where.Then we took a break and i thought since we're here lets take the picture.

The reason you couldn't see me or the person with me in the picture unless you look directly at parts of the picture.Is because We moved after a few minutes next to where we were sitting originally to make it as we were in both places at the same time. Thanks for your time.

favorite photo

2011-03-17T16:10:00.009-04:00

This was an assignment ,Mr.Rocco told us to find a picture we like and tell him what we admire about the photo. I love this picture because it shows my favorite bird in my favorite color.No human was in the picture and the focus was all on the bird that is why I love this picture.

My favorite picture assignment

2011-03-17T15:50:00.006-04:00

Mr.rocco told us to find a picture that we found interesting so i went online and. I picked this picture because well it's kinda hard to explain. It kinda reminded me about how beautiful nature truly is when it is uninhabited by humans it's such a peaceful moment. And i think it's so hard for a photographer to capture such a serene detailed moment. thats why i picked this picture.

First Friday in Old City!

2011-03-07T13:10:00.001-05:00

Today the Shutterbugs had their first art gallery experience when we went to First Friday in Old City to see an exhibition of photographs by Al Wachlin, Jr., co-president of The Light Room (which has donated much equipment and supplies to the Shutterbugs). First Friday is a FREE monthly event where all the galleries in Old City have openings showcasing new art. The event attracts thousands of people and creates a festival type atmosphere. Check out the images and video below!

Here are the Shutterbugs along with teacher Mr. Rocco and staff from Rustica Pizza in Northern Liberties. Rustica Pizza is a sponsor of the Shutterbugs (and has great pizza!).

Walter photographing some sculpture in Northern Liberties.

Shutterbugs with photographer Al Wachlin Jr. at his opening in Old City.

Artsy bike rack.

Cool photo of the famous Christ Church in Old City.

You meet lots of interesting people at First Friday. Isn't Christmas in December?

franchesca&tania

2011-02-03T16:34:00.006-05:00

I almost died doing this because my shoes kept on coming off so I had to run bare footed through the snow and I almost kinda cried and Tania thought I was laughing. lol

That was not my fault it sounded like she was laughing, what franchesca said was true. I had fun in the snow (I didn't, I hate snow now) even though I was freezing. What really stinks is that the picture didn't come out the way i wanted thanks to the chemicals & tania moving.

Pinholes in the Snow

2011-02-03T16:19:00.000-05:00

Today we took pinhole photographs in the snow. Besides having fun the purpose is for the students to have images to share with their Colombian partners. It never snows in La Florida and most of the students there have never seen snow so these photographs are particularly relevant.

SNOWW!!!

2011-02-03T16:08:00.004-05:00

Me and Rashawn decided to take the picture in the snow because we wanted to take a picture about the one thing we like which was snow.It is blurry because we were moving a lot. We were trying something new. thanks you for all your comments and have a wonderful day.

Kiara Morales Rashawn Pittman

Tania & Gennyliz ghost?

2011-02-03T16:03:00.004-05:00

No, we're not ghosts we just played with time by sitting still in one place for 5 out of 25 minutes. We made the pinhole stay for 25 minutes because there was not enough light coming through so it took longer to take the picture. The hard thing was sitting still for 5 minutes in one place. It took a good guess to make this picture happen. We are in the back under the letter "T' in "Stetson". We are very proud of this picture and thanks to Mr.Rocco's help for making this picture happen.

2011-02-03T15:56:00.000-05:00

Kiara, Rashawn and Jonathan

2010-12-14T16:15:00.001-05:00

This picture was taken with a pin-hole camera. We decided to take the picture in front of John. B. Stetson Charter school because that is our school. This picture first was a negative but was made into a positive by contact printing. In this picture is me (Kiara) and my friends. I hope you like it.

my neighborhood

2010-12-13T16:32:00.000-05:00

I love this picture because it shows me and what I love about my neighborhood. The shutterbugs and I made our first pictures with pinhole cameras. We had difficulties at first but we finally did it. My head is blurry because ether me or the camera moved. We have to decide how much exposure time we need by how much light there is. My name is Jashira.

My pinhole camera picture

2010-12-13T16:20:00.000-05:00

This is my pinhole camera picture. If you are wondering why are there three people in this picture and why he's getting lighter each time its because i moved the camera two times to the right. The reason is that the later you get in or move the camera the person thats in it gets lighter. That's the reason my picture is like this. Thanks for viewing :).

franchesca & rashawn

2010-12-13T16:03:00.005-05:00

Franchesca & Rashawn

Rashawn decided to take a picture in front of the church, so we did. We made a simple mistake, he got into the picture 15 seconds late so he came out like this, which I think was a good mistake. I'm blurry because I moved too much but I don't really care because it looks awesome and love it.

Pinky and I

2010-12-13T16:03:00.004-05:00

I chose to take this picture because it shows me and my crazy friend Franchesca. This picture is black and white because we used pin hole cameras. This is like back in the day technology but now cameras are mostly digital and advanced. The real deal to this is easy, the light goes in through a little hole in the pin hole camera and the picture goes on the special photo paper (like film) and depending on how much light goes in is how dark or light your picture comes out. So that's how come it's black and white. The picture is a little blurry because Franchesca moved too much during the picture while taking. Hope you like my picture, Enjoy.

Pinhole Cameras Part Deux

2010-11-18T10:09:00.000-05:00

Now the student's cameras are ready to be loaded with a piece of photographic paper in the darkroom which serves as the "film." The students then take their cameras outside and remove the paper and tape covering their openings and let the light expose their paper for 2-5 minutes, depending on how bright a day it is and how large their pinhole was made. Then the students return to the darkroom, open their cameras, and develop their pinhole images. The images they get are actually negatives and are upside down and backwards, see illustration of the concept below.

The students should be posting their first images in the next few days, please give them some feedback!

Making Pinhole Cameras

2010-10-08T09:57:00.000-04:00

Our first project this year is making pinhole cameras. These can be made out of pretty much any used household container that has a removable top. The students learn how they can make a basic camera by making the container light tight (blocking light entry with black tape and painting it black inside to minimize light reflections). Then they make a hole in the box using a pin or small drill bit. The opening is covered up with a piece of black paper held onto the camera with tape.

Below is a pict of 5th grade Stetson Shutterbug Rashawn Pittman with his pinhole camera and first image.

Darkroom Video!

2010-07-30T11:06:00.000-04:00

Here is a special treat, my students' first time in the darkroom developing their photograms. Those people who have been in a darkroom before know the magical experience of watching your first print appear in the developer. Now, thanks to our new night vision-equiped video camera, you can experience it along with them. You also get to see the entire development process from start to finish.

My first Photogram

2010-05-05T08:50:00.000-04:00

This a photogram that I did in our darkroom . What this is supposed to remind me of the beach. With the shell like figures and in the corner are seashells. My first experience at the darkroom was great because Mr.Rocco showed us step by step how to make a photogram

My first photograph

2010-05-05T08:49:00.000-04:00

This is my first photogram I have done. I used a half a plastic scarecrow a big square and a hexagon. My first experience was kind of cool and it was really fun. This picture was suppose to look like someone laying back with a bag of chips.

My primera fotografia

2010-05-04T15:53:00.000-04:00

Esta foto fue hecha con objetos que encontramos en el 4th piso. Use cucharas, tenedores,boradoras, 1 boligrafo y zacapuntas. La esperienza fue increible, trabajar a oscuro fue impresionante. Nosotros primero usamos un paper en blano, luego pusimos cosas ensima para crear un diseño. Despues usamos unas maquinas especiales. Cuando empesamos a usar los chimicos se empezo a descatar la foto.Espero volver aserlo mas amenudo.

this is my first photogram

2010-05-04T15:45:00.000-04:00

This is a picture of Sailor Moon my favorite anime show of all time. When I got back to the darkroom i just wanted to make her so if you look at it sideways it kinda looks like her. And next time I'm gonna try to make sailor Venus or Neptune. My first experience well first of all i never been in a dark room before and my experience was like WOW and i was really exited.

my first photograms

2010-05-04T15:31:00.000-04:00

This is my first photogram that I put together. I was happy and excited finding things to make it. It was fun we should do them again. My first time in the darkroom i was nervous, i didn't know what to do but Mr Rocco showed me how. And what i like about it is that we picked our own stuff to use on our pics so thats cool and we wouldn't have learned this stuff without Mr. Rocco thank you

My First Photogram

2010-05-04T15:26:00.000-04:00

This picture looks like a monster. I used rulers, rubber bands, erasers, and computer cyber chips, etc. We searched the whole 4th floor to find stuff for our photograms. When i first looked at the picture, i was amazed. I love doing photograms and i wish you'll do it too. I was amazed when my blank pice of paper got its color. It was fun doing the photograms.

Darkroom Up and Running!

2010-04-28T15:55:00.000-04:00

After what seems like an eternity, our darkroom is finally operational! For our first lesson the kids created photograms using objects they found lying around our unused 4th floor. The kids were very excited about their experiences and look forward to posting their first images next week. Stay tuned!

Thank You / Gracias!!!!

2009-12-17T16:52:00.000-05:00

Here is a video of my students writing thank you notes to all those who have helped us. In their own words they show their appreciation.

Donations!!!

2009-12-09T00:16:00.000-05:00

Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to Karen Miller, Joanne Elliot (and family), and David DiDonato for their wonderful generosity of darkroom equipment and cameras. Because of them we are well on our way to having the necessary equipment we need for our students. We still need more, however. If you have any photo or darkroom equipment you are not using we will put it to good use!

Painting with the Whole Group

2009-12-03T14:06:00.000-05:00

We are finally making a dent in the painting now that the whole group met today for the first time.

Paint it Black

2009-12-01T11:31:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we started painting our darkroom. Our first day it was just the boys. Guess what color we picked?

Ready to Paint

2009-11-30T13:58:00.000-05:00

Here is part of the group in our completely cleaned out space. We are now ready to Paint!

Cleaning Up

2009-11-22T14:41:00.000-05:00

The darkroom we are rehabbing has been used for storage for as long as anyone in the school can remember. Pictured are Stetson Shutterbugs Jacob and Walberto moving all the stuff out so we can put in our sink and start painting.

Cameras and Darkroom Equipment Needed!

2009-10-26T15:22:00.000-04:00

This darkroom hasn't been used in over 10 years.

The Stetson Shutterbugs of Stetson Middle School are in need of cameras and darkroom equipment. We are rehabbing an ancient and closed up darkroom in our school and will be offering classes on traditional B/W photography, digital photography, and film making to our students. We would greatly appreciate the donation of ANY photo equipment, but are particularly looking for manual film cameras, enlargers, trays, tongs, chemistry, and other miscellaneous darkroom equipment. So if you have some old (or not so old) cameras or photography equipment you are not using we could definitely use it! Please contact Tony Rocco at chicodecali@yahoo.com.

Keep checking in on our blog for progress reports on the rehab of our darkroom and for photos from the students.