Photo classes allow MHS students to capture career in photography

The Career Technical Education program at Maricopa High School offers students a variety of class options to prepare them for entry-level employment after they graduate.

Students take CTE classes in addition to the traditional curriculum and graduate with a high school diploma.

Digital photography classes are popular with students who want to explore their creative side while learning a skill, students say.

Senior Ben Taft said he chose the class because “you get a chance to express yourself. You really don’t get to do that in other classes like math, where there is no room for creativity.

“(In photography) you are not memorizing facts — you are creating things,” Taft said.

Senior Lestat Thompson said he decided to take digital photography because he wanted to graduate from high school with credits in both fine arts and CTE. 

Thompson said he enjoys the class because “you get to be you and express yourself.”

Photography teacher Charles King said students take his class one period a day for the school year. The program started about seven years ago as an off-shoot of the graphics design program and prepares students for entry-level photographer or apprentice jobs when they graduate.

“Some of my students are shooting weddings right now,” King said.

Michele Shaffer, CTE coordinator, said several students take digital photography classes for two to three years.

Junior Anica Goette, exchange student from Switzerland, said she “really likes photography and took pictures in her home country.”

Digital photography is not taught in high schools in Switzerland.

Senior Diana De La O said she likes “the idea of being able to be creative, but I can’t draw.

“I like to recreate pictures I see online,” De La O said, referring to techniques such as close-ups and types of subject matter. “It’s cool to see what you can do and that makes me feel accomplished.”

Shaffer said the students photograph subjects on campus, print the photos and learn to frame their art.

Senior Rosie Naranjo said she first got interested in taking the class to learn how to develop photos in a darkroom, but later found out the class was strictly digital photography.

“Photography excites me because it’s like an art form,” Naranjo said. “I walked into class and saw everybody’s beautiful photos on the wall and I wanted to be on the wall, too.”

Senior Alexa Martinez said she “has always been around photography.”  Alexa added that she’s in dance and that includes recital photos.

“My grandfather has tons of cameras and he gives a lot of cameras to me,” Martinez said. She took the class to learn how to use lighting and the elements of a photo.

Martinez plans to earn a business degree from Arizona State University or the University of Arizona.

I am thinking about opening my own studio,” she said. “I like taking portraits.”

***ADVERTISEMENT***The program is designed to prepare students for entry-level jobs, but students are encouraged to go on to higher education, King said.

Other CTE programs at the high school include marketing, culinary, film and television, information technology, graphic communication and Air Force (JROTC).

Shaffer said the school is adding engineering, the construction trades and automotive next year.