A photography workshop that turned into a youth movement.
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Step 1 Photography
A photography visual storytelling program and community of young creators
Skill building + Inspiration + Creative Community + Wellbeing all rolled into one cool program held on Wednesdays from 6-8pm NZT online. Free for ages up to 24 years old.
New Zealand's most award-winning photographers share their secrets.
Our award winning young photographers get a chance to share their methods and inspire you.
Improve your camera or cellphone photography game.
Live Feedback sessions from 7-8pm. Hear judges from the New Zealand Professional Photography Awards give you feedback on your images.
We also have a thriving chatroom where you can post imagery and ask for feedback.
Click Happy is free for youth under the age of 24 who live in New Zealand. If you are outside of this age group or live outside of New Zealand we ask that you be an awesome human and donate $15.00 a class to attend. This money will go to fund our school outreach program to teach the principles of Non-Violence and self-compassion through the arts.
Sign Up here to get our workshop zoom links
Become a Heartivist (Heart + Art + Activism) this June
Help us create a non-violent celebration of diversity and inclusion for the Auckland Festival of Photography this June.
We are creating monochromatic images and then combining them into a collective rainbow during the Auckland Festival of Photography. There is a great story behind this project. Click Here to find out more and join the "Rainbow Challenge" to submit your images
Step 2 Philosophy
Click Happy is an award-winning well-being program wrapped inside a photography workshop.
Principles of Non-Violent Communication, Design Thinking, and Positive Psychology are presented in a format that helps you to remove some of the barriers to your best creative work. You learn to look inside while you learn to look more creatively at your world.
We teach the Embodied Innovation Framework
Head Brain
- Where we get our best ideas and how to lay the foundations for them to arrive
- Creative problem solving
- Innovative thinking
- Critical thinking without killing our best ideas before they have had a chance.
Heart Brain
- Connection
- Collaboration
- Self-compassion
- Empathy
- Compassionate Critical feedback
Gut Brain
- Intuition
- Responsibility
- Doing the right thing at the right time
- Accountability
- Courage
- Mana
Ground Brain (Connecting to Papatuanuku)
- Grounding Taking our ideas from vaporous thoughts to manifested reality
- Understanding and taking responsibility for what we bring into the world and understanding its impact on others
- Iterating to the next better version of our idea.
Yahvi Dhabuwala – 13 – Wellington
“These 8 weeks have been a fantastic new experience for me. I was a little nervous at first to meet new people but I am very happy I got over that. There was definitely no reason to be
nervous! The contents of the coarse was great for a beginner like me, we learnt the basic techniques of photography and had a good amount of time to master them. The homework for
the coarse was challenging at times but it took up just the right amount of time. It taught me commitment and grit. Moreover this coarse wasn't just about photography, we talked a lot
about body image and compassion and we learnt to be kind to ourselves and others. Over all I am very glad to have participated, everyone was very welcoming and kind. Mandi, it was an
honour to learn from you, you are an amazing mentor! Thank you so much!”
Step 3: Philanthropy
Heart First Journalism
We are Heartivists (Heart + Art + Activism) and we use art and creativity to change our world for the better. This is philanthropy through action. Philanthropy means - the desire to promote the welfare of others.
Our Create Happy students from 2021 saw a problem in the world of media. They saw how media was feeding off of fear and was negatively impacting their mental health. They also saw how youth were misrepresented in the media as thugs, angry environmental protestors, or simply sports heroes and there was no room to tell the cool stories that they saw every day. So they decided to do something about it.
They volunteered to start their own magazine. A 13-year-old Lola Fisher and her group of Click Happy students have put together Create Happy magazine to tell a better more authentic story of what it is to be a teen in New Zealand. They ended up winning the Girl Boss award for Innovation in 2022.
Create Happy is a place where they can explore topics that are relevant to youth and learn a great deal about themselves in the process. In the process they are learning about writing, illustrating, graphic design, non-violent journalism, marketing, listening skills, and all the while building a powerful creative community of changemakers from around New Zealand.
Click Happy in Schools and Communities
Ah Cellphones...A parent and teacher's challenge of late. But what if we showed you how to meet students at their devices and how to turn endless scrolling into active creating?
Several times a year we wash down the Create Happy Caravan and hit the road. Mandi and Gritty the Irishdoodle K9 Youth worker bring the Click Happy program to inner city and remote communities around New Zealand. Funded by your donations and with the help of Creative Communities and COGS. We usually collaborate with libraries in a region and then invite schools to send their most creative students to a full-day visual storytelling workshop.
So if you are a teacher, run a homeschool group, or are a librarian who would like to have Click Happy come to visit just give us a shout.
To register your interest for your group or school just go here.
@clickhappyadventures A collaboration with the Randiora library, Grow Waitaha, and Click Happy. This project will be extended out into a local storytelling project done with the students. #creativecommunity #Waimakariri #clickhappy ♬ Monsters, Inc - Gustav Lundgren & Unit
Amber13
I've of course become more confident in my photography skills but also I have learned persistence and becoming a more strong and independent person.
Amber - 13 - Caramel College
Kriya14
For me Click happy was a great way to extend further outside my comfort zone. I have never really been somebody who liked posting pictures of myself but Click Happy has been a really great space in experimenting with self portraits and other various skills. I have learned that perfection isn’t everything and that even if I don’t finish something, tomorrow gives me reason to try harder and create something new and inspiring. I am not afraid to fail, I am more experimental and I have gained more experience through this course.
Kriya - 14 - Carmel College
Hazel12
Now when I take photos I think more about the story, angles, composition and lots more that makes a good photo instead of just pushing down the button.
Hazel - 12 - Royal Oak Intermediate
Sariah16
I am more confident in my photography skills and less afraid to step out of my comfort zone, to make mistakes and take risks.
Sariah - 16 - TKKM ō Te Kotuku
ArianaJones12
Everyone there is so kind with great positive feedback also to help improve, and i've learnt so much about photography since the beginning
Ariana - 12 - Chilton St. James
Skyler11
I had a wonderful experience with the Click Happy Program , I didn't expect it would be like this at all , there's a lot of learning and I need to go back to my presentation files and read them again to grasp all the learning as its not just about photography but it teaches you important life skills
Skyler - 11 - Royal Oak Intermediate
Scarlett13
I feel that I have became more confident in taking photos in general. It used to be quite scary taking photos in public but I have grown the confidence to that now.
Scarlett - 13 - Nga Tawa
Gin15
I am grittier and am more confident that I can complete long term goals and tasks like this course. It made me persevere and find new ways to problem solve and think outside the box. I liked the PAD challenge, & even though sometimes I edited all my photos at once I’m very very proud of myself for taking a photo every single day - 42/42!!
Gin - 15 - Waiopehu College
Dani16
I’m more confident in my control over the outcome of an image through using manual settings and have become more free in the way I make my images.
Dani - 16 - Homeschooler
Jayden13
"Getting me into the community a lot more than what I'm used to and I loved how it made you more aware of the beautiful scenes around us that we don't realize on a day to day basis. I also like the way Click Happy along with Mandi was so helpful when I was at the bottom of the grit pit"
Jayden - 13 - Te Kura Kaupapa O Pohutukawa MSWA
("the grit pit" is when you stretch out of your comfort zone and find yourself struggling or in a free fall as you transition between what you know and what is unknown but where good growth lies. I showed this in a diagram but the kids labeled it themselves "the Grit Pit")
Jun18
Thanks to Click Happy, I'm not afraid to be myself, and to express my creativity through photography.
Jun - 18 - Graduate of Papakura Highschool
Humaira16
I've developed my creativity and grit and learned more about some important concepts in photography.
Humaira - 16 - Zayed College for Girls
Sydney15
My skills have definitely gotten better. I found out a way that I can sorta tell a story within photography which I find really useful.
Sydney - 15 - Taupo Nui-a-Tia College
Jumana13
I've become more confident in my photography skills. I am grittier. I am not afraid to fail forward, and I have met a lot of new people who are passionate about the same things I am.
Jumana - 13 - Hamilton Girls' High School
Jessie12
I used to be a very shy and nonindependent person, Click Happy helped me learn that I can be myself, I know that i have Definitely grown as a person this summer. I enjoyed Meeting new people, having such a great teacher and student mentors (Mandi you are always so supportive and positive. You give me feedback that makes me so happy and feel like I have accomplished something). I also really liked doing new challenges eg things u would never do.
Jessie - 12 - St Josephs (2021) St Kevins College (2022)
Our wonderfully amazing brilliant funders & sponsors
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And Youth Librarians! We had no idea how amazing these community treasures are until recently! Thank you to all of the Youth Librarians who have seen the beauty in the project and have invited us to bring it to their region and who are helping to spread the word. You have halved our work and quintupled the number of youth who get to experience this program. What gifts! |
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