Director of Photography

Create a digital visual record of your high school years by becoming the official Director of Photography at your high school. Sort and upload photos, create collections and help your friends and classmates remember the highlights of their teenage years.

High school is full of events big and small that should be photographed. Think sporting events, drama productions, academic competitions and even every day life in the classroom. These days everyone has a camera, but it’s rare that a single person - much less a student - takes responsibility for creating a collection of photos for everyone to see.

How do I get started? If you love photography, and especially if you’re good at it and want to get better:

• Download our PDF for some helpful tips on how to launch your project

• propose the Director of Photography role to an art teacher and the school administration

• plot out which school events - sports, homecoming, prom, competitions - are photo-worthy

• create a common account - through Dropbox, Google Photo or another photo sharing app

• start snapping.

You can enlist and manage a team of other creative and talented people and assign events for people to document. You can also designate an editor, that is: a person to sift through the many photos and tag the best ones into an online collection. You could even create an online yearbook for your class.

How much time will this take? Similar to a lot of community impact projects this project will take as much time as you devote to it. You could spend minutes or hours a month on it. Keep in mind that the more you give to this project, they more you’ll get out of it (in terms of impact on your community and impact on your resume).

How do I expand this narrative arc? Sell JPEGs of the photos to students and parents to raise money for a great cause, or even to fund your school photography program.