Teens Capture Chanticleer in Photography Class

On July 14, ten middle and high school students met at the gates of in Wayne. They were there with John Welsh, the instructor of a weeklong class for 13- to 17-year-olds. Let loose to shoot whatever they wanted, the only rules were “Throw your plastic bottles out or bring them outside the gardens, and don’t go swimming with the turtles.” Despite the July heat and relentless bugs, the students dispersed across Chanticleer.

Welsh, a professional photographer, has been shooting in the Philadelphia area for the past twenty-five years. His subjects have varied from fashion to flowers, his most notable achievement being a seven-year shoot of Icelandic landscapes. Welsh taught the ten young adults about lighting, perspective, and composition. Thursday was the first day they were given free reign to explore their newfound skills.

Most of the students, such as Sami McAleer, cited nature and flowers as their favorite subjects to shoot; however, even in Chanticleer Gardens, there was furniture and architecture to work with. “I like working with nature a lot, and he challenged me to work with manmade stuff,” said McAleer, a freshman at Henderson High School.

As they spread out across the gardens, their artistic differences became clear. One student stayed under the same tree for almost two hours, photographing it and its surroundings from every possible angle. Others darted back and forth across the fields, looking for new chairs, flowers, and birds. The students ranged in their interest from aspiring professionals to those who were looking for “something fun to do over the summer,” such as Natalie Laible, a sophomore at Radnor High School.

Although Laible views photography as a casual hobby, she and her friend Rowan Grant, also a sophomore, agreed that the class was a good way to improve their talent. “I like taking pictures of my friends,” Grant said, her digital camera dangling from her wrist. “But you always turn away,” she added as an afterthought to Laible, laughing.

On the other hand, Julia Morris, a Phoenixville Area Middle School eighth grader, views photographer as a future profession. “I’ve loved it since a few Christmases ago, when I got my camera,” she said, snapping a flower with her Nikon D3000. “I want to have a future in the arts.” Morris makes the drive from Phoenixville every day for the class, one of several she’s taken over the past few years.

Their departure from a confined setting was fun for the students, a low-pressure way to apply what they learned in a small but varied setting. Perhaps some will eventually move on to bigger gardens.

“It would be fun to have my art in a museum, but I would also like it to be in newspapers and magazines,” Morris said.

Look at some of the photos they took in this gallery.