TEACHING

COMING IN THE FALL OF 2011….. I GET THE OPPORTUNITY TO TEACH AND SHARE ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY AT MY CHURCH’S NEW “SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS” (SOFA).

POMONA FIRST BAPTIST, AN OVER 100 YEAR OLD CHURCH IN POMONA, CALIFORNIA, HAS BEEN A LONGTIME LEADER IN COMMUNITY OUTREACH, OFFERING AN EXTENDED HAND TO THE COMMUNITY OF POMONA AND SURROUNDING AREAS FOR MANY YEARS.  FROM AFTER-SCHOOL TUTORING, TO FIXING CARS FOR SINGLE WOMEN, FEEDING THE HOMELESS, REACHING LOCAL PRISONERS, AND ON AND ON……..  it had long been a vision of Pastor Jay Walden to have a school of fine arts to nurture the artist in all of us that so desire to learn and who might be held back from costs and even insecurity.  We know, as a society, that the arts in public schools are the first to get cut and he believed there could always be a place of which to nurture this and do it “for free!”  When his vision came to fruition, in the fall of 2010, he started with several talented musicians, volunteering their time, every Monday evening.  Talented musicians of all types (including real music teachers), from the church, plus a drama and dance teacher.  He never knew it would be so exciting and that so many adults and kids would come out and want to learn how to read music, consequently playing the guitar, piano, bass guitar, some horns, etc., and performing in two recitals!  (including dance and drama).  My husband, who has been a longtime upright and electric bass player did not think he was a “teacher” and I was amazed to see how excited he was and how he couldn’t wait to get out the door, on Monday night, and share his gift with his “students” and watch them grow!  What a total “win-win” situation and I CAN’T WAIT!!!

UPDATE: as of October of 2011 I have been teaching a photography class at PFB’s SOFA and I’m happy to have the opportunity to mainly try and get people to use their cameras in manual mode and learn how to appreciate “getting off of program mode” and start understanding how to carve out an image, in the way that they see it, a bit better.  We go over composition, light, and have some fun assignments.  I share everything we talk about and what I’m trying to teach on the SOFA website, I created, for this class @www.sofaphotography.wordpress.com.  You are welcome to follow along, but it’s more fun to just show up on Monday evenings at 6.  We only have 2 sessions a year, right now and they are in the fall Oct/Nov., and the winter, Jan/Feb.  For more information on registration, please contact Pomona First Baptist @909-629-5277 ~ also, like I said above,  if you have an interest in learning or improving your music reading skills there are several talented musicians donating their time, as it’s mostly a school for music lessons right now.