Three NHS Students End An Internship With An Exhibit

By Eliza Hallabeck

Photographs taken by three Newtown High School students lined a wall of The Art Spot in Danbury on December 6, along with photographs taken by four other local high school students.

The opening reception of “Heartstorm,” a photographic exhibit which was the student’s culmination of their internship with local photographer Laurie Klein, for just a few hours Saturday afternoon.

“It was incredible,” said Ms Klein. “The kids they just got so much out of it.”

Ms Klein said the students basically put on the exhibit, because they had to do everything.

NHS students Alex Israel, Annie Donnelly and Rachel Fatse exhibited with three Bookfield High School students, Samantha Rolen, Katie Stiles and Leigh Ann Carmignani, and one home schooled student, Nicole Cudzilo.

About 150 people attended the exhibit, according to Ms Klein. During the exhibit, she said, visitors engaged each of the students in conversations about their work.

“The kids were just in their glory,” said Ms Klein.

Art Spot allowed the exhibit to take place there, but before the photographs could be shown, Ms Klein, said the students had to each create a portfolio of work.

To begin their internship, the students spent the first meetings of the internship going over how to use a camera, and after ten weeks the students had a portfolio of work established for the show.

Ms Klein said she has always tried to give back to high school students, because when she was in high school she found photography. With the support from mentors and professional photographers she grew in it.

“I felt like I wanted to give back to high school students,” said Ms Klein.

Last year she also held a internship program that took students from Newtown and Brookfield High Schools.

One requirement of the internship is that students must find a theme around which to create their photography, because once a theme is established clarity is achieved in the process.

The students were asked to shoot photographs every week, roughly the equivalent to what would be one roll of film or 36 shots. By the end of the internship the students had to have a minimum of 20 images printed for a portfolio and for the exhibit at Art Spot.

“It all went pretty well,” said Annie, a junior at NHS. “We had a great turnout.”

Annie said she heard about the internship from an e-mail that was sent out from Peg Ragaini in the NHS Career Center, and she applied. Alex and Rachel found out about the internship the same way.

Annie  said she likes to photograph people, and she is drawn to urban-like things. She combined lyrics from different bands and songs with her images for the exhibit by having the words on the mattes for her photos.

“I would really recommend this for anyone who is interested in photography,” she said.

Last year Annie took a photography class at the high school, and the internship with Ms Klein helped her to further her appreciation of photography.

“Laurie is a really great mentor,” said Annie.

Rachel, a junior, said the exhibit on Saturday helped her to talk about her photography with people who wanted to know how she got the certain shots and why.

“My internship with [Ms Klein] was my first real professional experience with photography,” said Rachel, who has always been interested in photography because her mother also likes photography.

Her photographs, she said, focused on capturing the moment and catching the things people would not want to forget.

Rachel said Ms Klein really helped her to further understand photography.

“She would teach us how to take the picture,” said Rachel, “but let us decide for ourselves what we liked about it.”

Overall, Rachel said, the internship was really rewarding. Before this internship, Rachel participated in a photography program at Yale University, but the internship with Ms Klein taught her what goes into photography beyond the use of a camera.

Alex, also a junior, said the exhibit at really went well. Drawn to photographing abstract things, her theme for the exhibit centered around the word Think.

“I’m a pretty analytical person,” said the budding photographer.