by Patricia Fry
“Grrr,” Shelly said.
Marissa stood awkwardly and hugged Shelly around the waist. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”
Shelly smiled down at the girl, then turned toward Savannah. “This is Marissa and Erin. Girls, Ms. Savannah is going to help with the class. Today, she brought her son, Adam, to join us.”
“Hi,” Savannah said, reaching her hand out to Marissa and then to Erin. “I see you brought your own camera.”
The younger girl’s face brightened. “Yes. Errie got it for me.”
When Savannah and Shelly glanced up at the teen, she said, “I found it at a thrift store. I charged the battery overnight. I hope it works okay. Which reminds me; I’d better get to work.”
“Still have that job at the new hamburger place, huh?” Shelly asked.
“Yes, twenty hours a week. I’m also taking classes at the junior college. Sure would like to buy an old car or even a bicycle—it’s awkward trying to work around the bus schedule, but it’s impossible to save much when I have to give most of my paycheck to Mavis.” Shrugging, she added, “Plus, I don’t know how to drive.”
“Can I give you a ride to work?” Savannah offered.
“Oh, how nice. No. I can hoof it from here. Thanks, anyway.” She turned to leave, then called out to Marissa, “Now take bus three to Johnson. From there, you can wheel around the corner to Sutter. The driver will help you put the chair on and off the bus. Okay, kiddo?”
“I can give her a ride home,” Shelly offered.
Erin thought for a moment, then said, “That would be great. I don’t think Mavis would get upset about that.” She turned sullen when saying, “But you never know with her.” She glanced at Marissa, then addressed Shelly, “Yeah, that would be safer, if you don’t mind driving her home.”
“Not at all,” Shelly said, smiling.
“Gotta go,” Erin said as she darted out through the door.
“Thanks, Errie,” Marissa called after her. She turned to the others and asked, “What can I do to help you guys?”
“I think we’re all set,” Shelly said. “Just visit with us while we wait for the others.”
The girl settled back in her chair and picked up her camera.
“Do you like photography?” Savannah asked.
Marissa frowned momentarily. “I don’t know. I like art and Ms. Shelly says photography is an art.” She smiled up at Savannah. “So I think I’ll like it.”
Adam held out his camera. “Your camera’s like mine…I mean like Savannah’s. She let me use it.”
The two children compared cameras for a moment before Marissa’s curiosity got the best of her. “Why do you call your mom by her first name?”
Adam glanced at Savannah. “Well, she’s my stepmom.”
“Oh,” Marissa said nodding.
“What do you call your mom?” he asked.
Marissa looked down. “I don’t have a real mom. The mother of the house where I live has us kids call her Mavis, only some of them are her real kids and they call her mom.”
“Oh,” Adam said. “Are there lots of kids there?”
“Six,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’m the last.”
“The last?” Savannah asked.
“Well, the last one to be…brought there. That was three years ago. Erin was the first.” She smiled. “She’s the nicest one there. My other family went to jail, I think. But they weren’t my real parents, either.” She seemed to brood for a moment, then asked Adam, “Do you know your real parents?”
Taken aback, Adam said, “Yes, I live with my mom and stepdad and sister. Right now I’m visiting my dad and stepmom and other sister.”
Marissa’s eyes widened. “That’s real nice.”
“Hey,” Adam said, pointing, “I saw a big spider over there. Want to go take a picture of it?”
“Okay,” Marissa said excitedly, grabbing the wheels of her chair.
“Do you need a push?” Adam asked. “I could push you.”
“Not right now.” Marissa looked at Adam. “I can actually walk, you know. Just not very good.”
“What’s wrong with your legs?” Adam asked, walking alongside the chair as Marissa wheeled it across the room.
“I don’t know. Mavis told me my legs were broken when I was born or after I was born and nobody could fix them.”
Savannah, overhearing this, turned away to stifle a flush of tears. Pull yourself together, she thought. You aren’t going to be any help if you fall apart. What is, is. Let it be. Deal with what you can and accept the rest, she silently chanted to herself.
“Savannah,” Shelly said quietly, “you okay?”
She took a deep breath and nodded; her eyes following the two children as they headed across the room.
“It’s sad, isn’t it?” Shelly whispered.
“Yeah,” Savannah said. “But don’t tell her that. She’s a ray of sunlight. She just sparkles.”
Shelly pressed her lips together and nodded.
Once all the children had arrived and were supplied with cameras, Shelly asked them to sit and listen. She introduced Savannah and then addressed each of the children. Savannah tried to focus on their names, but her mind wouldn’t cooperate. Her thoughts were with Marissa. She gazed at the child and noticed that Adam still sat next to her. She smiled when she saw him show Marissa something on his camera and they both snickered quietly.
“Marcus, tell us about your experiences with photography,” Shelly invited.
The rotund dark-skinned boy with a wild crop of black hair said shyly, “My tia lets me take pictures with her phone sometimes.”
Brad, a bespectacled boy with spiked blond hair chimed in, “That’s not photography. She means with a camera, stupid.”
“There will be no name-calling,” Shelly said sternly. She then asked, “Brad, have you had the opportunity to use a camera?”
“Sure,” he said, “a real camera. I took a whole bunch of pictures of the neighbor’s dog.” He looked down at his hands. “…and got in trouble for using up the battery.”
“There’s a battery in here?” a slight brown-haired boy asked while examining his digital camera.
“Sure, stu… I mean…sure there is. How do you think it works?” Brad asked sarcastically.
“Tell us about your experiences with a camera or a phone camera, Chuckie,” Shelly urged.
“I get to use my sister’s phone to take pictures sometimes.” He turned to Brad. “There is a real camera in there.”
Shelly nodded. “Indeed there is.”
Chuckie continued, “But I don’t know how to take pictures with this camera you let me use, Ms. Shelly. Will you show me how?”
“Yes.” She then announced to the class, “Today, Chuckie is using one of my digital cameras. Marissa has her own digital and so do Marcus and Adam. Next time, someone else can use my extra digital camera and maybe Ms. Savannah’s. We don’t have enough digitals to go around, so we’ll take turns. Those who don’t have a digital camera can use a disposable camera today.” She then asked, “What about you, Charm…have you used a camera before?”
“Yeah,” the large black girl said, “one or two…maybe four times.” She paused, then said excitedly, “I took pictures at my mom’s wedding!”
“That’s cool,” Shelly said. “How’d they turn out?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Never got to see ‘em.”
“So do you think you’d like to learn how to take good photographs?”
Charm nodded.
“Selene,” Shelly said, addressing a girl with stringy brown hair hanging in her face, “ever get a chance to use a camera?”
“Naw,” she said, “never did before.” She turned the disposable camera in her hands a few times and inspected it carefully. “I hope yer gonna show us how.”
“We sure are. How about you, Arturo?”
The small Mexican boy shook his head. “I never had my own camera. How does it work?”
“We’ll show you in a few minutes.” She turned toward Marissa. “What’s your experience with photography?”
“None. I’ve never used a camera…only had my picture taken once or twice, maybe. I have a lot to learn here,” she said, smiling brightly.
The two women also smiled.
Shelly said, “Spence isn’t here yet. Hopefully, he’ll make it. And Adam is joining us just for this session. He’s in fifth grade, too, like most of you, but he goes to school in another town.”
“I’m in sixth grade,” Brad said, raising his hand high in the air.
“That’s right, we have one upper classman. Thanks for reminding me, Brad.” Shelly then said, “Okay, I think what we’ll do is break into groups. Ms. Savannah will work with half of you and I’ll work with the other half. We’ll show you how to operate the cameras and give you a few ideas for things you can photograph inside the room. After you’ve shot a few pictures in here, we’ll take the cameras outside for a whole different photography experience.”
Several of the children responded. “Yay!”
“Yeah, that sounds fun.”
“I want to take a picture of a butterfly.”
Shelly smiled. “If it warms up enough, you might see a random butterfly, Selene, but you’ll need to be alert.” She addressed the class, “Those of you with the green cameras—those are disposable. Once you’ve used up all twenty-four of the pictures, you can take one more disposable camera. Make sure we get them back at the end of the day so we can have the pictures developed for you to see at the next class. Be sure to write your name on the disposable cameras so we know who took which pictures. Those with the metal cameras—those are digital cameras—you can take as many pictures as you want as long as the batteries hold a charge. Turn those cameras in to us at the end of the day and we’ll download the pictures for you to see. You can choose which pictures you want printed.”
“Today?”
“Today what?”
“Today, you’ll unload our pictures?” Chuckie asked.
Shelly nodded. “Possibly we can download one or two of the digital cameras, if we have time. Otherwise, you’ll see your pictures on Friday.”
****
Ninety minutes later, Shelly approached Savannah. “How’s it going?”
“Great. We have some rather unusual photos of Selene’s ear, a squirrel’s hindquarters, a leftover sandwich, and,” she made a face, “…a pile of dog doo-doo.”
Shelly cringed, then said, “I think I’ll take the digital cameras and download the pictures before we dismiss everyone. Seeing some of the results of their efforts will encourage the students, don’t you think?”
“Sure do,” Savannah said. “This seems like a rather creative group, actually. They saw possibilities I didn’t even consider.”
Shelly snickered. “Like the doggie pile?” She then called out, “Okay, Chuckie, let’s download your pictures, shall we?” When he handed her the camera, she said, “Wow, you took thirty photos. Good for you. Let’s see what you got.”
“I wanna see,” Brad said, pushing his way toward the computer screen.
“Me, too,” Charm complained.
Savannah stepped forward. “All right, there’s room for everyone. Taller children in back, smaller ones in front. When she noticed Marissa and Adam hanging back, she instructed the others, “Make room for Marissa’s chair.” She motioned for the girl to wheel up to the front. “Adam, you stand in the back row with Charm and Marcus. Brad, you’re tall; come stand next to Adam. Now, can everyone see the screen?”
“Yeah, if Selene’s head wasn’t so big,” Brad grumbled.
That’s when Shelly turned around and glared briefly at the students. “Okay, people, make it work, will you? Now here’s Chuckie’s first shot.”
“Hey, what’s that?” Brad called out.
“It’s a brick out there on the sidewalk—see, it has a name on it and a picture of a bird. I think it’s a bird.”
“Did anyone else see that brick?” Shelly asked. When everyone responded that they hadn’t, she said to Chuckie, “Very creative of you. A rule of a good photographer is to see what others don’t see.”
As Shelly clicked through the photos, some of the students suddenly shouted, “Eeewww,”
“Hey, that’s gross.”
“Is that dog poop?”
“Creative, right?” Chuckie said, grinning.
Shelly turned toward the others and asked flatly, “Did anyone else get that shot?”
Her question was met with frowns and a lot of head-shaking.
“Let’s see what else you got here,” she said as she continued to click through the pictures. “Oh, now this is nice. See how the pine bough is backlit by rays of sunlight? You took that picture just at the right time—when the sun peeked through the clouds.”
Savannah agreed. “Yes, you might want to consider enlarging that one and framing it, Chuckie. You could give it to someone for Christmas.” She glanced at the other children. “That’s something you might all be thinking about.”
“Why?” Marcus asked. “Aren’t adults supposed to give kids gifts?”
“Yeah,” Brad said, “not the other way around, dimwit...oops, sorry.” When Shelly turned and looked squarely at Brad, he whined, “It slipped out. I didn’t mean it. I said I was sorry.”
Ignoring Brad’s remarks, Savannah asked the children, “Why shouldn’t kids give gifts? Christmas is for all ages and giving makes us feel good.”
“Not as good as getting,” Chuckie said, giggling.
“Have you ever given anyone a gift?” Savannah challenged.
“Uh, like to who?” Chuckie asked.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Savannah said, “your parents, a friend, a teacher…”
Before he could respond, Chuckie looked at the computer screen again and noticed something. “Hey, I didn’t even take that picture. I don’t remember taking that picture. How’d it get in there, anyway?”
“Maybe you pushed the button accidently,” Savannah said. “Sometimes we get our best shots by accident. That’s one of the beauties of photography.”
“That’s right. This is very nice, Chuckie.” Shelly turned to the boy. “Do you like it?”
“Sure, yeah, it’s okay, I guess.”
“Which ones would you like us to print out?” she asked.
He thought for a moment. “This one you like, the one of the tree branch, and…the squirrel.”
“Sure.” Shelly addressed Savannah. “Want to make a note?” She then faced the children. “Marcus, would you like us to download your pictures?” When he nodded, she said, “Come on and sit by me. Chuckie, you can squeeze in there next to Marissa. You took twelve pictures,” she said to Marcus. “Did you delete some of them?” She turned to the others. “That’s another neat thing about digital cameras; you can look at your pictures on the camera screen—I’m sure Ms. Savannah showed you how—and you can delete those you don’t want even before you download them.”
Marcus shook his head. “No, I didn’t undo any of them. I just didn’t get very many. I couldn’t find things to take a picture of.”
“Well, let’s have a look.” Shelly motioned toward the screen. “Now that’s a cute picture of Brad taking a picture.”
Marcus laughed. “I thought he looked funny, so I took his picture.”
“And here’s one of housetops and mountains, one of the playground. That’s a nice shot. You caught some children playing on the swings. It’s an action shot. Good job, Marcus.”
Savannah chimed in, saying, “You seem to be interested in human-interest pictures, while Chuckie took more close-up, intimate shots. It appears that you also like landscapes. Marcus, you might enjoy working with a wide-angle lens.”
Shelly nodded. “I think they have disposable wide-angle cameras. I’ll see if I can find a couple for you students to try.”
“Sweet,” Marcus said. He then asked, �
��What does it do?”
“You can just get more of the landscape or scenery into the picture,” Savannah explained. “It takes a wider picture. Those cameras are fun to work with.”
“Marissa, let’s take a look at your pictures, shall we?” Shelly suggested. “Do you want to sit in this chair next to me? Or we can move the chair out of the way to make room for your wheels.”
“Whatever’s easiest,” she said.
Shelly pushed the chair aside and invited, “Well, roll on up here, then.” Within a few seconds, Marissa’s pictures began to appear on the screen. “Oh, that’s stunning. You got a neat close-up shot of a pinecone lying on a bed of pine needles. Good job. And a picture of a spider. Look at the detail on his back.”
“Yeah, he lives right over there in that corner,” Adam said, pointing.
“He does?” Brad asked, starting to head in that direction.
“Just never mind,” Shelly said. “We’re looking at Marissa’s pictures. Who can identify this picture she took?”
Everyone was quiet and then Charm raised her hand. “It looks like somebody’s chewed up gum.”
Marissa chuckled. “Yup. I saw it in the bushes and took a picture.”
“Does anyone know what this is?” Shelly asked after clicking to the next photo.
Several of the students had an opinion: “Melted chocolate?”
“Grease or oil.”
“It’s dirt.”
“Close,” Marissa said. “It’s part of a shoeprint in the mud—that’s the design on the bottom of Adam’s shoe.”
Chuckie sneered. “Why would someone take a picture when no one knows what it is?” “Ever heard of modern art?” Adam responded.
“Yeah, or abstract art?” Marissa said. “There’s lots of kinds of art.”
“Photography isn’t art, silly,” Brad said with a guffaw.
Chuckie invited Brad’s high-five.
“Okay, settle down, class,” Shelly said. “I have news for you. Photography certainly can be an art form. Keep that in mind as you think about what you might want to photograph next time we meet. Those of you with cameras at home, I’d like to challenge you to find interesting shapes, colors, and designs in, perhaps, something recognizable, and photograph it so it is not recognizable. If you don’t have a camera, be thinking about something common that you could photograph to fool the rest of us.”