Photography class helps capture a teacher’s vision

Paige Richmond

of the Gateway

For the past month, the walls of the Gig Harbor Civic Center have been decorated with large, framed photographs. Some are colorful close-ups of delicate flowers; others are unique portraits of young faces.

The pictures show a range of composition and camera tricks: Some images are artfully out of focus, while others demonstrate how a carefully timed exposure can capture movement.

As Mike Hunziker tells it, these photos are only this good because of the people who are taking them: The sixth- through eighth-grade students in his photography class at Key Peninsula Middle School.

In Hunziker’s experience, middle-schoolers inherently possess the creative eye needed to take an amazing photograph.

“You give kids some rules, teach them the basics, and then you get out of their way,” he said about how he teaches his classes. “(The students) are already more creative than you are.”

That sort of trust is what Hunziker’s students like best about taking his class.

Jessica Kahler, who will be a freshman at Peninsula High School next month, took the photography class at KPMS for two years. In that time, she’s learned that taking a picture is more than just “point and click.”

And if it weren’t for Hunziker’s teaching style, Kahler, 15, doubts she would have a photograph hanging on the walls of the civic center.

“When Mr. Hunziker says a new show is coming up, it really motivates you,” she said, adding that her teacher has shown her she can “go out of her comfort zone” and “take chances.”

Hunziker divides students into groups of three and gives them a camera with which to take photos and a computer with which to edit their photos. Hunziker explains each assignment he creates via PowerPoint presentation.

Once the students understand their tasks and how to perform them, their teacher, in his own words, “sets them loose” to learn by doing.

Those students who excel at photography have their pictures displayed in one of Hunziker’s shows, like the permanent collection hanging in the walls of the Gig Harbor MultiCare center. He has also displayed his students’ work at the Tacoma Art Museum.

Another part of Hunziker’s teaching style is honesty. He makes sure to tell his students “up front, it’s the best photographs” that make it into his shows.

Those methods, both Hunziker and his students agree, allow amateur artists to express their individuality.

“The pictures really speak for themselves of how the class is run,” Kahler explained. “They’re so free. They’re not your typical pictures.”

That freedom is typified in a slightly blurry photo currently on display at the civic center. Taken by Emma Canavan, 13, the out-of-focus picture shows a teenage girl sitting on the edge of a pond, her image clearly reflected on the pond’s water.

That result, though, wasn’t what Canavan intended.

“The shutter speed wasn’t set the way she wanted it to be, but she really got an incredible shot,” Hunziker said.

The experience taught Canavan more about composition, something she’ll use when she takes Hunziker’s class again next year as a seventh-grader. She hopes she’ll continue to have her photos — mistakes included — in Hunziker’s shows.

“I definitely think it does encourage you,” Canavan said. “It shows you that you really are good at what you do.”

Photos on display at GH Civic Center

Pictures by Mike Hunziker’s Key Peninsula Middle School photography class are currently on display at the Gig Harbor Civic Center, 3510 Grandview St.

Visit www.mrhunziker.com for more information on the class.

Reach Reporter and Columnist Paige Richmond at 253-853-9243 or by e-mail at paige.richmond@gateline.com.