Camp Counselor Amy?
At some point this past winter I told my family I was considering holding a summer camp for kids. (enter cricket noise) I slowly started planning and researching and eventually reached out to some community education programs around the area. Proctor/Hermantown Community Education was the first to pick up my camp. I decided to offer two dates and to my surprise the first date capped out with the max of 12 students attending.
Truth be told, going into the week, I was a little apprehensive. I had a full camp! This was my first time leading a camp, and while I’m comfortable behind a camera and around kids, combining both, plus drones, felt like a whole new adventure. I kept wondering: Would the drones cooperate? Would the kids be into it? Would someone accidentally fly into someone else or something? (Spoiler: no one got hit by a drone!)
But deep down, I held onto one thing; I loved camp as a kid. I grew up Methodist and I used to wait for the annual summer camp booklet to arrive that outlined the camps around the state I could try and convince my parents I should attend. I still remember the excitement of meeting new friends, inside jokes, and when looking back, potentially learning something new while laughing the whole time. That spirit is exactly what I wanted to bring to this camp.
Each morning started with A LOT of high energy and curious minds. We began with drone safety: talking about how to be responsible pilots, the basics of FAA rules (in kid-friendly language), and how to respect both space and people when flying. Then we got those little quadcopters in the air and practiced flying through obstacle courses and landing on targets. We even had a few daredevil flips and epic saves by the end of the week.
All week I was going over safety and the rules of flying drones. Each day, almost every hour. Flying drones safely is no joke and I wanted to make sure they knew that. Our drones never left the inside of the school, but we talked about if we were to fly outside what we would need to watch out for and how we cannot fly on someone else's property. At the end of the week, I brought my own drone in. As a licensed drone pilot, I know the rules and regulations and while I wanted to pop my drone up to take a quick picture of all the campers outside on school property, I also know I needed permission. I had talked with the principal in advance that I would like to bring the campers into his office and have them hear me ask for permission. He gladly accepted. Into the principal's office we all went. He did a wonderful job of acknowledging that they always need to ask.
Learning to fly through multiple obstacles.
Practicing slow and controlled flying.
Kids and Cameras
On the photography side, I decided to pull out my fun gear and let them experiment with it daily. We had an afternoon with fun on the green screen and used Canva to create some fun backgrounds. I set up my black screen and used my grandbaby's Bluey bubble machine to capture some dreamy, artistic portraits that the kids absolutely loved. And of course, I had to go back to my roots where it all started for me, sports photography. My son in-law is on the boys basketball coaching staff for the school we were at, and I learned there was going to be some summer games between a few of the schools. What a great opportunity to have hands-on learning for sports action shots. Court safety for them and the players was vital to review. It was extra important that they paid attention to what was happening on the court so they could move fast if needed. They practiced on capturing jump shots, dribbling, and motion blur like pros. They got hands-on with shutter speed techniques and learned how to freeze action, turns out, photographing a basketball player is way cooler than just talking about it! They also practiced taking pictures of non-moving objects such as a miniature Eiffel Tower and plants. Some realized they liked taking pictures of people rather than objects, while others preferred objects. The last day of camp, I brought in my photobooth and let them have fun taking pictures with their new friends.
Photobooth fun!
Hands-on practice shooting boys summer basketball. The kids were surprised how loud it is on the court with the squeaky shoes.
An image from the sports action class. Have to give this kiddo credit for getting the ball in the air, player off the ground and the player's face. For never shooting basketball before this 9 year old did pretty good!
Final Thoughts
The first day of camp, we went around the room and discussed what everyone wanted to take away from the camp and what they were most excited about. Overwhelmingly, drones are what the kids really wanted to do. On the last day, I told them I was running the camp again next month and what should I add in or take away. No one had comments on what to take away, but a few kids suggested I take them on the nature paths and to the pond area that is on the school property for photographs. Say what??! I am not that familiar with the school I was running the camp at and never knew it had nature paths and a pond. So we spent one of the final hours at camp discovering the nature trail. I can't wait to incorporate that for the next session! Overall, it was a fun week. Lots of learning... on my part as well. I'll admit, my personal bubble space is larger than the kid's bubble space. I am not used to 12 kids crowding around in a small area waiting instruction on the next item. While they are now experts at flying drones through obstacles, I can now say, I am closer to being an expert at running a drone and photography camp. If each session I can continue to incorporate something that they want to see added, this camp will continue to fly-high!
