Te Kura Whakatipu o Kawarau – Primary School – Visual Poetry Jam (4 April 2023)

We were invited to work with one of the newer schools in Queenstown region – Te Kura Whakatipu o Kawarau – Primary School
The school was immaculate and new and I was even offered an expresso at their expresso bar that served as a fundraising tool in the mornings serving the parents. It was a state of the art school backed by the beautiful Remarkables. An absolute lovely spot to teach photography.

We had 28 students and a teacher take part in the workshop with the principal dropping in to cheer everyone on. We had a rule that the imagery of the students could not show their faces for publication. However the principal did approve the Tiktok video we made to celebrate what the kids did on the day.

We created a TikTok video of the behind the scenes of the day (@Clickhappyadventures) https://www.tiktok.com/@clickhappyadventures/video/7218426693667638530

The larger class size meant that we ran the workshop in waves and sent a group out while we were instructing another. This is fine for teaching but limits the number of images that I can take on the day to showcase what we did.

The students were fully engaged from start of the day to the finish to the astonishment of the teacher. Their favourite part was when we brought out the dress ups in the end for the rainbow challenge. They aren’t really dress ups but when given full scope to do what you like inevitable the boys will put on dresses and start fashion shows. Typically the blokier the boy the more likely we are to see them dressed in a dress by the end of the day. I think it is a kiwi fancy dress thing…not sure. But they have fun anyway.

I think my favourite part of the day was seeing the boys who were skeptical in the beginning being the last ones back in because they wanted to really nail a shot. There was a lot of interest in how to photograph moving objects as several of them were into winter sports and motocross. These skills will support them as they document their adventures.

It was a lovely enthusiastic bunch of kids in a beautiful setting. What isn’t to love.

Support provided by
Central Lakes Arts Support Scheme (CLASS)
Queenstown Lakes Creative Communities
COGS Central Otago
New Zealand Lotteries