The Advanced Photography Spring Issue: Unmasked
by Andy Xie
As another year of school ends for many students at East Side Community High School, the Advanced Photography Class once again brings another piece of artwork to the table.
This group of 9th to 12th grade students diligently delivers another work of art to many friends, families, and East Side students. This spring semester had many new faces and even some old ones. Together, they snapped photos, peer edited, and designed each individual page of the spring issue.
One key feature of this issue of Unmaked is its length. Each student was given six pages to work with, giving each student more room to add photos to expand their creativity and explore different designs.
On February 8, 2021, students were assigned to take photos with their cameras, shooting at least 15-20 photos each week, based on a given list. The list contained many bullet point ideas of subjects, giving students room to traverse different areas of photography.
Days before, students were given certain photographers to look at in hopes of finding inspiration for their own photos that they were soon to capture. Those photographers included Marry Kang, Gabriella N. Báez, Dorothea Lange, Elliot Erwitt, Carrie Mae Weems, and many more.
With multiple ideas and inspiration from other famous works, students photographed each week, bringing in new works of art each class. There was no set theme for the spring issue, leaving it all up to the students' to decide what they want to convey and show in the magazine.
“I really thought we were gonna have drastically different projects. Everybody sounded like they were doing so many different things revolving around different topics. And I was like ‘Oh god how is this going to go together,’ but now after seeing it, it’s like matching so well together despite the fact that we have a wide range in topics,” said Angelie Rodriguez, a 10th grade student at East Side, during the launch of the spring issue.
Just like Rodriguez, every student agrees that this issue of Unmasked turned out better than expected and is very excited to have accomplished such work.
Charli Rodriguez, a 12th grade student at East Side thinks, “This is the best magazine that we’ve made so far. Over the years, each semester I feel like the magazine has progressively gotten better and better and I think that this magazine just shows a lot of people’s artistic growth. I think a lot of people have found their niche.”
As school comes to a close, the Advanced Photography Class brings one last issue of Unmasked for people to enjoy. The school year may be ending, but it also signifies a new beginning. As seniors who participated in the making of Unmasked and other past issues are taking their leave to expand more on their work, they leave behind new seeds for their underclassmen to tend to, that will hopefully sprout into flowers.
Stay tuned for more to come from Unmasked!
Celebrate the launch of the fourth magazine issue of Unmasked! Feel free to leave a comment: