Eighth grader Samantha Child stands in front of her photograph, which is displayed in the hallway at SJHS.

Kara Dunn
SJHS Staff Writer

Students at Springville Junior High have many different fine arts classes that are available to them. One of these classes is a photography class, in which students learn how to use a camera and take different pictures and digitally modify their pictures. According to Mr. Mitch Cudney, the photography teacher at Springville Junior High, any student who wishes to take this class needs to have patience and be willing to work hard.

“I chose to take this class because I thought it would be fun, and I like to learn how to use a camera,” Andi Dockstater, a photography student at Springville Junior High said.

In the photography class, there are many different projects that students are required to do as assignments. Their projects vary from anything from taking pictures of emotions, to pictures of different objects.

“One of my favorite projects was when we had to take pictures of clouds.” Andi went on, “I also enjoy using Gimp, a computer program where you take a picture off the internet and change it into something else.”

“I like teaching photography; its challenging, but it’s also a lot of fun,” Mr. Cudney said.

Kenia Martinez
SJHS Staff Writer

There’s a new professor teaching the fine arts at Springville Junior High. Mr. Mitch Cudney replaced Mr. Jethro Gillispie as the art and photography teacher.  Mr. Cudney has been teaching for four years, but this is his first year teaching at a junior high.

According to Mr. Cudney, there’s probably more good art work coming from the Springville High School, but it’s still too early to tell. He hopes to get students more excited about getting creative and excited about all the different kinds of art.

Mr. Gillispie transferred from teaching at Springville Junior High to teaching at Maple Mountain High School, which just opened this fall.. He is now teaching more advanced classes than what Springville Junior High provides.

Besides teaching art, Mr. Cudney enjoys practicing art himself by painting in his free time. He said that drawing and painting are more his favorite and that he mostly paints for himself, though he hasn’t had much time to do it lately. But besides painting for himself, Mr. Cudney has also received painting or drawing requests from various people, with the cost depending on quality and size of the painting or drawing.

Winners of Mr. Gillespie’s “Photo of the Week” contest:  Maddi Dayton,  Carli Sorenson, BreAnna Elzinga and Aleks Newman.

Nikki Drake
SJHS Staff Writer

Mr. Jethro Gillespie, photography and art teacher at SJHS, does something neat every week for his photography class. He calls it “Photos of the Week.”  Mr. Gillespie chooses two photos from each of his two photography classes, totaling to four photos to display in the hallway as “Photos of the Week.” He chooses the ones that are on time, and go with the topic best. When it’s too hard for him to choose between all the good photos he has his classes help him choose.  Many of his students really try, and most succeed. “This semester, I’ve had more students competing than any other time,” Mr. Gillespie said.

Mr. Gillespie chooses topics that the students will enjoy, such as portraits, landscapes, babies, water, windows, signs, and free shoot to give the students a little more choice. The students who turn them in on time, get full credit, and if their photos get chosen for photos of the week, they get 10 points extra credit.

Four students, who had some of the best photos, had something to share.  “It’s really cool when my photo gets chosen, because it makes me feel important and that I’m going to do well at something I like to do,” Aleks Newman, eighth grader, said. “It was super neat. It made me smile every time I saw it hanging up,” Maddi Dayton, eighth grade student at SJHS, said.

Some advice these students had to share might help future photography students. “You always have to try your best, even if you don’t think you’re good, you could be far better than you think. If you don’t try, there is no chance of accomplishment.” Aleks Newman shared.  Maddi Dayton had some different advice though, “Take all photos possible, and then you can edit them. After you’re done, just choose the best one.”

On Thursday, November 20th, Mr. Jethro Gillespie’s 6th and 7th period photography classes went to Brookside Elementary to talk to the kids they would be creating books for. Groups of three students will work together to create a children’s book for a Brookside student.

The photography students will use a program called Gimp 2. Each photo album is four inches wide, and six inches long. The albums contain 36 pages, and were fairly cheap in cost.

The books will be centered on the student’s level in reading, learning discerning shapes, etc. Many books are alphabets with a picture and name for each letter of the alphabet. Some are full of shapes colors and letters. Mr. Gillespie’s photo students’ creative ability has been greatly challenged.

The books should take several weeks to complete and must be 20 pages minimum. The project is worth a whopping 200 points on the students’ grades. However, Mr. Gillespie hopes that it will be more than just another assignment. “I think it helps my photo students to be motivated to come up with a tangible product for a real, cute, little kindergartner,” he explained.

As for publishing cost and technicalities, the books will be printed at Costco for about five dollars each. The books will be paid for with the photography budget. A ten dollar fee that the students paid at the beginning of the year created this budget.

This project is sure to be a great success, and the students at Brookside will appreciate their books for a long time into the future.