On the Ground

Do you remember the snow storm of 2010? These pictures were taken in early March, mere weeks after the heaviest snowfall this area has seen in 15 years or more. Can you tell? I can not. The subject of this photo essay is 'Things found on the ground in Hazelwood.' As you can tell, there is a wide variety of things that fit this description. The photos are posted in the reverse order in which they were taken. View them from the the bottom to the top.

Feet on the Street

These pictures, taken in the Fall on a neighborhood walk-about, are the work of a 12 year old girl who attends the YMCA. They appear here in reverse order of the sequence in which they were taken, but I think the spirit of the moment is still captured.

Don't miss out on all of the fun this coming Thursday, Feb. 4th, from 6-8 pm. There will be music, poetry, art and food! And it is all free. We hope to see you there. Bring a friend.

Pictures, Pictures

When we first decided to organize this blog, we discussed various ways to get kids expressing themselves creatively. Photography was one form of self expression that I was particularly excited about seeing from a "kid's eye view." One excercise that I tried was having kids look through coffeetable books of photography and pick out photographs that caught their attention. Then I asked them to explain why they noticed each photograph in as many or as few words as they saw fit. I selected two books from the library:

The 70th Anniversary Collection from Time Magazine

And Harry Benson's America

Here are some of the results.

From Time Magazine's 70th Anniversary Collection

"Because it has a boy and his dog" Shyana, age 9.

"Because it has a dog in it." Shyana, age 9.

From Harry Benson's America

"I like this page with the girl playing the violin because I think it shows how music can bring joy." Christina, age 10.

"I like this one because it shows a family with a man that because president and lives in peace." Christina, age 10.

"I like this one because this woman shows her inner child." Christina, age 10.

"I like this page because this is my favorite pop star." Christina, age 10.

"I like this one because it shows a romantic couple enjoying the garden." Christina, age 10.

Walking In Hazelwood II

It has been far too long, but I am finally posting the second part of "Walking in Hazelwood." One week after the first pictures were taken, I again brought my camera in to work, for the walk to the garden (I think the date was Aug. 19th). We were celebrating our 'End of the Summer,' and I let the kids share my camera, taking pictures of whatever they wanted. Many pictures were taken of each other, yet there were many that captured the essence of what they saw as we walked through the neighborhood. I had to narrow down this post from almost 200 pictures, and I won't lie; these are my personal favorites. Maybe one day, I will have the kids pick their favorites from this same set, and write a paragraph explaining why. But for now, I will just let you look. All of these pictures were taken by children between the ages of 9 and 12. It kind of makes you want to be a kid again. Well, at least you can see the world through a kid's eyes...

I took this one...

Back to the kids' photos

Mr. Patrick (one of our own moderators) and his crew

My T shirt, taken up close by one of the kids.

My feet...I love this picture.

Another favorite...

I would love some feed back on the pictures that these kids have taken...