Youth Program with the Bronx Documentary Center

Written on October 30, 2020, posted in News

Ashley Gilbertson of VII Photo teaching at the Bronx Documentary Center. ©Michael Kamber for the Bronx Documentary Center

Bronx Documentary Center
Fall 2020

Most of our pro­grams at the VII Academy are aimed at visu­al jour­nal­ists who are either embark­ing on their career or who work in the media already but need the boost a more for­mal edu­ca­tion can pro­vide. However, this autumn we’re reach­ing out to a new group of young peo­ple and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers with a com­mit­ment to pho­to­jour­nal­ism, with the goal of engag­ing them with the inte­gral skills of jour­nal­ism and ethics.

This fall, we part­nered with the Bronx Documentary Center in order to reach young adults who showed promise in the BDC’s pro­grams and who want­ed to extend their jour­nal­ism train­ing. The Bronx Documentary Center pro­vides free edu­ca­tion pro­grams for mid­dle and high school stu­dents as well as a pro­fes­sion­al edu­ca­tion pro­gram for his­tor­i­cal­ly under­rep­re­sent­ed adult Bronx-based pho­tog­ra­phers.

Sept. 18, 2020 Bronx Documentary Center Bronx residents in a class of photography and writing by VII photographer Ashley Gilbertson and BDC founder Mike Kamber. The class focuses on longterm photo projects with an emphasis on writing as well. Gilbertson and Kamber, both with decades of experience as professional photographers and writers, will lead the students through intimate photo projects with an emphasis on using the written word to support and flesh out the projects. Photo credit Bronx Documentary Center
Sept. 18, 2020 Bronx Documentary Center Bronx res­i­dents in a class of pho­tog­ra­phy and writ­ing by VII pho­tog­ra­ph­er Ashley Gilbertson and BDC founder Mike Kamber. The class focus­es on longterm pho­to projects with an empha­sis on writ­ing as well. Gilbertson and Kamber, both with decades of expe­ri­ence as pro­fes­sion­al pho­tog­ra­phers and writ­ers, will lead the stu­dents through inti­mate pho­to projects with an empha­sis on using the writ­ten word to sup­port and flesh out the projects. Photo cred­it Bronx Documentary Center

Ashley Gilbertson of VII Photo Agency and Michael Kamber, direc­tor of the BDC, are run­ning a work­shop over eight weeks to train ten par­tic­i­pants in the fun­da­men­tals of photojournalism—not just how to shoot, but why to shoot, how to write, and then how to run a busi­ness doing exact­ly that.

Made up of nine women and one man from diverse back­grounds in the New York City bor­ough of the Bronx, the course is in its sixth week. Future top­ics include edit­ing, and busi­ness prac­tices and ethics. The course will end with a final project from each stu­dent, who will choose a focus ear­ly in the course to devel­op with Ash and Mike.

“There are so many inspired ideas from the stu­dents,” Ash says, “It’s great to see aspir­ing Bronx pho­tog­ra­phers have access to an expe­ri­enced photojournalist–a uni­ver­si­ty lev­el pho­to­jour­nal­ism class for free.” Mike adds.

“I always like all these things about pho­to­jour­nal­ism,” says Maria, one of the par­tic­i­pants. “I love when I do it–it’s often hard to make time because I work, but I can say the hard­est days, the most pro­duc­tive days, are my favorite.”

Students listen closely to tutors Michael Kamber and Ashley Gilbertson. ©Ashley Gilbertson/VII
Students lis­ten close­ly to tutors Michael Kamber and Ashley Gilbertson. ©Ashley Gilbertson/VII