Photo Shop

In the grand tradition of fusing art and technology, we have here at Design IT Studios are giving the Northside teens a lesson in Photo editing. This introduces them to a new computer program they can add to their collection of acquired skills that will hopefully help lead them to a career in the IT industry. With the help of Eric, our resident computer guy we installed and learned to use Photoshop; we then intern introduced this to the teens.
For our first activity Eric and myself looked for pictures of well know monuments from around the world. The teens would chose from these wonders and with a few directions from us, place themselves somewhere in the picture.
We found that working one-on-one with a few teens each session produced better results that if we were to give a group presentation. This also allows us to get to knowthe teens on a more personal level.
The best part of this project was when Salazar, an 8th action start image grader at J.P.ElderMiddle School saw some of our sample pictures and was so amazed that we could do such things with a just few pictures and a computer. He felt learning to do this himself would bean impossible task. Salazar wanted to have himself hang from the top of the Statue of Liberty to give him the without the actual danger. He was utterly amazed when his picture was finished and he had
indeed learn to use Photoshop.
I feel that projects which have a real world use and popular appeal are the best to bring to these kids and to the community. Shorter sample type projects are great for introducing a new idea technology or program. Once the teens have become familiarized with such programs they can then delve deeper into the program and challenge themselves with more complex activities.