Teens today have a clearer idea of what they want to do than I did when I was in high school.  And a lot of them want to do something creative, such as photography.  So not only do they want wonderful photos taken of them for their senior portraits, but they also want to learn everything they can about photography.  And Sandi Gentry, of Sandi Gentry Photography, was lucky enough to take what she knows about photography and turn it into a class for teens!

Sandi shares her experience on photographing teens and teaching teens about photography below.  Check out what she had to say and be inspired to teach teens in your area!  Thanks for sharing Sandi!

Tell me a little about yourself…where are you from?  how long in business?  married? kids?  I was born and raised in Orange County California, long before anyone called it the O.C.  I met my sweet heart on Valetine’s Day over 19 years ago.  We have been married for 18 years now with six children.  Their ages range from 17 to 5.

How did you begin your career in photography?  Naturally, with that many kids, I was taking lots and lots of pictures.  Trying to capture ever little moment.  I was tired of taking them in to get their pictures taken only to get images with forced smiles.  So I learned how to take the images I wanted to capture.  I then started taking pictures for friends and my business was born.

What percentage of your business would you say is high school seniors? I would say lately, over half of my shoots are with teenagers, whether they are Seniors or close to it.

What is your favorite thing about shooting high school seniors?  I absolutely love photographing Seniors.  They are so fun to spend time with.  For one thing, they are fun to talk to.  Another wonderful thing about teens is that they WANT to get their pictures taken.  They are willing to take direction and they will let you take all the time you want.

I also believe each Teen is photogenic and each is beautiful in their own way.  I take it as my job to capture images that make them feel beautiful.

You not only photograph seniors, but you had the pleasure of teaching teens about photography!  Tell me about how that started? I had a lot of requests to teach classes whether it were for Mom’s or teens.  I personally knew so many teens that had an interest in photography.  I thought that would be a fun thing to do and personally less intimidating then teaching adults.  So I decided to take a stab at it.

What was it like teaching these teens?  I had a blast being with them.  They had so much energy, creativity and willingness to learn.  I loved it and hope they did too!

What was taught during this class?  They each came with a nice dslr camera to use, whether it was their own or their parents.  My goal was to teach them to shoot manually and really know how to use their camera so that they could capture the images they had dreamt up in their heads. We also went over lighting, natural and studio lighting.  One day was dedicated to just using studio lighting and setting up a backdrop to get some fun shots.  I laid out the supplies before the girls and said go at it.  What can you dream up? Now make it.  They came up with the waves and had fun with the feathers.

We also worked on shooting at different angles, using different perspectives.  Also, I wanted them to think up concepts for shoots.  This was one of my favorite parts of the course.

In addition to teaching, you had a portion of the class where the teens practiced what they learned.  Tell us about the photo shoot portion.  For our last class we had a big huge shoot that we called the Photo Shoot Extravaganza.   The girls were to come up with atleast three different concepts.  We would set them up and we would get models.  During this shoot the girls could go from scene to scene to capture images and practice all the things we had been learning throughout the course.

What was the concept/theme of the shoot?  The first scene was set up in my back yard.  They had set up a table of sweets.  We had five of the cutest little children ever to pose.  The table was covered with apothecary jars filled with candy.  But I had set other props out there as well such as a tee pee and skate board for some impromptu shots.

In the front yard we had a more vintage set up.  A blue velvet chair, with antique frames and books laying around. We had teen girls come model for this spot.

It also worked out nicely that one of the boys who came to model brought his old Volvo.  The teens piled on to model around that.  They got some fun shots involving the car.

The third spot was set up in my Studio Room.  In this room the girls could use the studio lighting.  We had found the idea of melting crayons onto a canvas from Pinterest.  The girls thought it would make for a fun backdrop.  This was prepared by the girls at an earlier time.  Also in this room, I had recently painted one of the walls in chalkboard paint.  This proved to be a fun backdrop as well.

What was the main thing you wanted these teens to walk away with from this class?  I really wanted these girls to feel confident with their cameras.  To give them an outlet for their creativity.  To feel like they had learned a new talent or at least strengthened the talent they already had.  It was fun to see them come up with an idea and then for them to make it happen.  It was fun to see them grow as photographers.

What did you learn during this process?  I learned that teaching is hard.  But hanging around creative teenagers can really fuel my creativity as well.

Will you be offering this class again in the future?  I would love to do it again.  Although, I have not decided if I will or not, only due to the lack of time.

What advice would you give other photographers who may want to teach teens all about photography?  Find out where the teens are in their level of photography and cater to their needs.  Let them use their creativity.  Be patient but mostly have fun!

Question for Emily, who took this class from Sandi…What was your experience like learning about photography from Sandi?

Learning from Sandi was nice because she is easy to talk to. I felt comfortable with her and she made the class fun. I looked forward to the class everyweek and loved taking pictures and receiving her opinion on them so I could see what I had to do better.

What was the biggest thing you learned from this class?   I learned much more about my camera. Before the only setting I could use was auto, now I am capable of setting my own lighting and focusing my pictures to get the effect that I want. Through the course of this class I also gained a better knowledge of placing, instead of always having a shot with the person in the middle of the screen, I offset them and I love how it looks.

Sandi Gentry is a mother of six very busy and fun children.  They keep her on her toes.  She fell in love with photography when her Mother gave her an old polaroid camera to play with when she was 10 years old.  She started shooting professionally four years ago.  Lately she is focusing on putting together the Sandbucket Magazine.  You can see what she is up to at www.theSandbucket.com