At Chapman, there are a small number of professional cameras that are distributed between the newspaper and yearbook staff for various uses. They are regularly used to photograph school events and sports games.

Currently, there is no official photography class. All of the photographers have to take it upon themselves to learn about photography on their own time. They have to learn how to operate a camera, frame their shots, compose an image, use effects and filters post-processing and many other things without a formal course.

If Chapman were to add an official photography class, it would benefit both the newspaper and yearbook staff along with exposing more students to the idea of photography.

Along with explaining how to use a camera, a photography class could also teach students how to work with photo editing software and video creation. This would be beneficial to students who wish to go into the more artistic aspect of the tech industry by providing them the ability to learn how to use software such as Photoshop or Adobe Premiere.

There was previously a media arts class that taught students how to work with audio files and edit videos. It was discontinued, but it proves that the concept of a class focused on the usage of editing software could work.

With the benefits of a photography class, I’m sure that adding this class at Chapman would be well-received.