Llanelli Coedcae Comprehensive and Maes y Morfa Juniors

Once again, it was a great pleasure for me to start a new project in different schools. This time, we're in two Llanelli schools, starting in the morning with Coedcae Comprehensive, then going on to Maes y Morfa after lunch. The class were so delighted with their cameras and couldn't wait to start snapping each other in the room. As usual, I introduced the ideas about landscape, with which we will be working, such as 'don't forget the big things'.



Above: Half the Maes y Morfa children happy with their cameras

That means, of course, the sky, the sea, the ground; and then there are all the things in the landscape that make each one special, like trees, roads, buildings, cars, people. We've got to think about why the things in the landscape are actually there. Why was the castle built on a hill? Why did they put the road in the valley? What do the hedges do? These questions will help us to take better landscape pictures.



Above: The Coed Cae class with the new cameras

Then we looked at how to hold the camera when framing and shooting. What are the important things? Keep it steady, hold it in two hands and squeeze the camera to operate the shutter. This way you help to stop blurry photographs. So, we practiced that by taking pictures of each first, then going out to the school grounds and snapping the trees, walls and buildings – not forgetting the people!



Above: The other half of the Maes y Morfa class with their new cameras

I was very pleased to see everybody's best three shots at the end of each session. It was a very good start to the project, with some interesting work. Next time we will go on our first field trip. Let's hope for nice weather!

Ken Day, photographer