Ambergate Photography Exhibition 2023
Pupils at Ambergate Sports College have held their second annual photography exhibition.
The event took place at Ambergate on 31st March 2023 and raised over £330 for the school’s photography department.
Photography is a popular subject option offered to the 14-16 cohort at Ambergate. Lead by Carly Whitbread, the pupils learn a range of digital camera skills, the history of photography and how to work independently with the equipment.
By the end of the course, pupils are taking photos of sports day, the annual school photos and any other big events that need covering, such as the leavers events, end of year parties and prom.
Throughout the year, pupils take part in a variety of practical topics to test their skills. The best work from each topic is then chosen and displayed by the children, ready for the exhibition in March.
Mrs Whitbread said: “One of my best days of the year is the exhibition. Watching the team showing off their work, explaining how the photos were created and using their social skills makes me so proud.
“From taking the photos to choosing their ‘wow’ work, mounting it, making decisions on pricing, and decorating the corridors, the pupils do it all.”
The event took place on the last day of term and saw the photography team welcome pupils and staff and guide them around six extensive walls of work in the photography corridors before inviting them to see their shop in the main classroom.
Mrs Whitbread added: “Some of the work they create, such as Light, Flowers and Small World, make for incredible photos and merchandise such as bookmarks, framed photos and note cards.
“This year we also had the addition of a 2023 calendar, created by one of our pupils and exhibition badges, designed in a competition and won by Year 11 pupil Ethan Mcleod.”
As well as gaining qualifications, pupils also learn a range of life skills whilst planning and taking part in the exhibition.
Mrs Whitbread explained: “Preparing our children for life after school is a key consideration in everything that we do.
The skills they learn include working as a team, making decisions, learning how to manage nerves, communication skills, eye contact and talking to people about their work.
“They also experience the enterprise side of things in ensuring they have enough stock for their shop, handling money, deciding what they need to buy and getting it made in time.
“I felt incredibly proud this year when, in the run-up to the show, we were looking at the prices for our shop.
One of my groups suggested that, due to the cost of living crisis, we should revise our prices for this year.
They told me that the impact of rising costs would make it harder for everyone to afford to buy something from the show, and that they wanted to make it fair for everyone.
“This showed that they were applying their knowledge of current affairs to the photography show, considering how it may affect other people and giving suggestions on how to make the right decisions for everyone involved. Their consideration of others in the current financial climate made me so proud.”
Now in its second year, the show also attracted the attention of local professional photographer, Ruth Clements. Mrs Clements saw the adverts for the exhibition on GANF’s social media pages and got in touch with the school to share her pride in what the pupils were achieving.
Commenting on a post showing the pupils advertising their upcoming show, she said: “My eyes lit up when I saw the post, what a fantastic idea! I loved seeing that the pupils had been working hard to promote their event. Seeing the smiles on their faces as they displayed their posters really touched my heart.”
Mrs Clements also donated to the schools’ photography department, breaking their previous fundraising record before they had even started!
Mrs Whitbread said: “To get the attention of a professional photographer was incredible. The children were all feeling a little nervous the day before the show and to hear the lovely words of Mrs Clements left them feeling amazed and really energised for the following day.
“We look forward to working with her in the future and are so grateful for her kind donation towards more resources.”
After a busy day of showing off their work, talking to staff and peers and selling their merchandise in the shop, photography pupil Arthur Cook said: “This has been an incredible day, look at how happy everyone is to be here! We all make a great team.”
Mrs Bennington, GANF School Governor said, “I went to the event in it’s first year last year and due to the success of that I wanted to get there early! I arrived at 9.30am and it was already packed out. It was so wonderful to see the children full of pride in their work and ready to show it off. What a successful day. Congratulations to Mrs Whitbread and the team for another wonderful event!”.
