BARRHEAD – As Frank Sinatra sings in his signature song, New York, New York, If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.
Barrhead Composite High School (BCHS) portrait photography students are not sure about that, but they know the city is very photogenic and countless educational opportunities abound.
Starting on the Victoria Day long weekend in May, a 17-member contingent from the BCHS (15 students and two chaperones) departed for New York for a seven-day photography trip.
Com-Tech/Photography teacher Bruce Tyrrell noted that the trip marked the 13th excursion. Most of the trips have been to New York or Vancouver; however, the portrait photography students visited London, England, last year.
Students fund the trip primarily with the money the program raises through photography sales.
Unlike other schools that hire professional photographers to take the standard graduation photo in a mass one or two-day event, the portrait photography class takes grad photos during multiple sessions throughout the year. About half of the funds raised go towards the annual trip, while the other goes towards subsidizing the purchase of equipment for the Com-Tech program.
As part of the trip, Tyrrell often arranges to have the students talk to or participate in shoots with working professional photographers.
This year, the students met with Ben Norman, a freelance photographer most known for his work with the New York Times and a photography instructor at New York University.
Other photographers students have met and worked with include Pooya Nabei and Dave Brosha.
Nabei is a highly sought-after Canadian photographer known for his work in fashion, portraits, celebrity and advertising campaigns, while Brosha is a landscape and portrait photographer.
One of their first stops or excursions was to Yankee Stadium, where the students saw the hometown squad defeat the Chicago White Sox.
It also allowed students to photograph the stadium, replicating many of the original Yankee Stadium features.
“We were caught off guard by the sunshine,” said student Mitch McGarva, adding he got sunburn as part of the process.
However, he noted that the sun also helped him capture one of his favourite photographs of the trip: a Yankee hitter at the plate, which he shot using a larger telephoto lens.
“[Security] allowed people to bring in their cameras, but they took away most people’s longer lenses. However, I was able to smuggle mine in,” McGarva said.
They then went to Hamilton Park in New Jersey and did a night shoot of Manhattan across the Hudson River.
The next day, the students walked through Central Park, taking a path that Tyrrell had never taken on previous trips, passing some waterfalls before going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
“I loved the Met,” McGarva said, saying his favourite area was the weapon section. “Especially their pistol collection. It was crazy because it was all artisanal. The ivory carved stuff was really impressive.”
His classmate, Keira Butler, said her favourite was the statues.
“The Egyptian section was particularly cool,” she said.
Tyrrell agreed, noting Egypt donated the contents of an entire Egyptian temple to the museum.
A new addition to the section was a projection that overlayed hieroglyphs, which were difficult to see in colour, onto the temple walls.
“It was really beautiful,” Butler said.
The next day, they met with Norman, who told them what it was like to be a freelance professional photographer in New York before reviewing the students’ photographs.
“He was impressed by the quality of the photography,” Tyrrell said. “He said the kids’ photos were comparable to his students.”
Another one of Butler and McGarva’s favourite sites was the Rose Main Reading at the New York Public Library.
“It was very quiet, and the roof was stunning, with the painting of the clouds,” Butler said.
Tyrrell said his favourite part of their visit to the library was seeing the original stuffed toys from Christopher Robin Milne, the son of A. A. Milne, the author of the Winnie the Pooh stories and the basis of the Christopher Robin character.
The BCHS contingent went to Brooklyn Bridge Park and the Brooklyn Bridge for another golden, blue hour and night shoot.
“We got some really good shots, “Tyrrell said, adding several students walked on the bridge and took photographs of the bridge’s towers.”
The next day, the students visited the 911 Memorial before taking the Staten Island Ferry and the Statue of Liberty.
Tyrrell said he and Barb Sabiston, also a BCHS teacher, spent a lot of time filling the students in about the significance of the 911 Memorial at the new World Trade Centre complex as they were not alive when acts of terrorism occurred.
He added that just to the west of the memorial is a piece of the Berlin Wall.
“We talked a lot about liberty and freedoms, what it means to certain people and what it means when taken away,” Tyrrell said.
Butler said it was her favourite day of the trip.
“We got to learn a lot of history and just being that close to the Statue of Liberty.
What struck McGarva the most was the scale.
“Everyone is so used to seeing the pictures, but when you are there in person, at the base, you realize the detail and how large it truly is,” he said.
Another favourite memory for Butler and McGarva was attending the Broadway show, Hamilton.
“I watched it when it first went on Disney, but it did not resonate. Seeing it in person was a totally different experience. Especially since it is set in New York, we had just discussed the history beforehand and visited Hamilton Park … where [Alexander Hamilton] was shot,” McGarva said.
Tyrrell added that although he did not mention it to the students, there was much more police presence in the city than on his previous trips, especially in the subway.
“There was a real increase in crime, so the mayor and the governor brought in the National Guard to supplement the police,” he said.
Tyrrell noted the group never felt unsafe during the trip but said that might be partly due to the size of the contingent.
“Which is a fairly formidable-looking group, especially if you are all carrying tripods,” he said.
The students also had the opportunity to visit the Museum of Modern Art for what was supposed to be a private tour. However, it was after a torrential rain storm, and by the time they were able to dry off, they had to settle for a group tour.
The following day, they visited Rockefeller Centre and explored mid-town Manhattan before conducting another image review.
On the final day, they visited the American Museum of Natural History.
Butler’s favourite display was the animal section, while McGarva’s was Lucy—one of the most complete skeletons found from the early hominids that flourished between four and two million years ago. The skeleton consists of bones from a single individual, presumably female, who stood well under four feet tall. Discovered in 1974, she is named after the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.
The students wrapped up their trip with a farewell dinner at an Italian restaurant on Amsterdam Avenue.
“We were really fortunate. Most of the places had been booked up for weeks. It was a Friday night, and getting a table for 17 people was difficult. I had to beg and plead with the owner to take us in,” Tyrrell said, adding the following day, they had a quick tour of Grande Central Station before returning to Barrhead.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
