We all want to find the best curriculum for our kids. As a parent of homeschooled teens I know firsthand that it’s not as easy as it sounds. There are fantastic in-person classes but distance and time can make it impossible to attend.
Curating your own curriculum is often a great solution but all that time digging through books, blog posts and youtube videos to create engaging content that builds … well I just don’t have time to do that for every single subject!
So what do we try next? Well I don’t know about you but I decided that online video classes would solve all my problems. Unfortunately the whole class was just a slew of videos to watch so my teen either quickly finished in a few weeks or quickly lost interest.
My next attempt at finding a solution was trying an at-home study course from local schools and universities. This proved to be the biggest headache of all as my teen and I had to navigate a complicated online learning portal, meet strict deadlines and have very little contact with a real teacher.
It felt like reading an online textbook and taking quizzes, in other words: public school at home. I knew we could do better, especially for engaging, hands-on topics like photography and the arts!
This is why I created the Photography for Teens course, a class geared at the specific needs of homeschool families like yours.
In this class your teens will experience a robust and flexible online course with the huge added benefit of working with a professional photographer to get the feedback, encouragement and pointers that will keep them motivated all school year long.
“My 14 year old daughter took photography from Marcie and had a great time. Marcie’s love of photography and youth is evident in every lesson. I loved to see my daughter spend the time to set up the “perfect shot” and then light up when it came through just the way she wanted it. She started taking pictures of everything and now, 3 years later, still has a love of photography that will last her the rest of her life.” Jen Cloward
One for each week of the school year or do two lessons a week for a semester-long course. Lessons can be either watched or read, your student can choose based on how they soak up information the best.
This is a robust course and will cover what your student needs to know to take pictures of people, objects and nature on any camera.
Each assignment is tailored to the lesson they just watched/read. The lessons are not fluff work, they are exciting opportunities to try out their skills and apply new concepts.
This part of the course will make all the difference for your teen! When learning a new art form it’s critical to have a mentor that can point out what you are doing right and give encouragement and direction to fix mistakes. Your student can email their photograph assignments to me (a professional photographer of 13 years) to receive personalized feedback and encouragement.
Your student can go back over any lesson and receive feedback on assignments for a full year from the time you purchase the course. I understand that sometimes life gets in the way and classes need to be flexible so I allow an entire year from the start date of the course.
This class is not geared at a specific type of camera! You can have the most expensive camera in the world and still take terrible shots if you don’t learn HOW to take beautiful pictures. Your student will be successful and grow their skills whether they are using a cell phone, point and shoot, dSLR or mirrorless camera.
“My favorite part was how personal the class was. Each week we got to take photos of what we wanted and got personal critique and praise on our work. -Maddy A.
This course is an introduction to photography and not to any specific camera or model. I will include helpful hints for SLR and cell phone users in many of my lessons and introduce them to what basic modes they will find on their camera but with so many different types and brands of gear it would be impossible to teach your specific camera.
A significant portion of this course will cover taking pictures of people and posing people. While we also cover still-life, nature, food, products etc there will be many assignments that will involve you taking photos of other people.
This class is geared as an introductory course. If you have taken several photography courses this may not be the class for you.
This is a course in natural lighting so we won’t be covering using external flash, continuous lights or strobes during this course.
“As I went through the class it made me aware of mistakes I was making in photography and I learned how to fix them. If you’re wanting to learn photography as a hobby or as the start of a career it’s a great class to lay down a firm foundation.” – Sam E.
When you enroll your teen in my course they will receive an email giving them their log-in information that will be active on the first day class opens up, September 5th.
Your teen can work through the lessons in the classroom portal, completing the photography assignment with the lesson.
Email your favorite 2-3 photos from the assignment to me when you have finished and every Friday I will respond with a friendly critique and personalized feedback.
“Marcie is a fabulous photographer with a great eye for capturing the true nature of people! The class provides a great foundation to build upon and strengthen your photography skills. Marcie has a fantastic way of being herself and teaching in a way that makes you truly love photography!” – Jamie Lesko
Your one-time payment gives you instant access to the Photography for Teens Course for 1 Full Year!
14-Day Money Back Guarantee
As a young mom I quickly learned the joy of digital photography and soaked up all the classes, books and blog posts that I could. Taking photos of my children (and the neighbors kids) on a simple point and shoot was my favorite hobby. This turned into a portrait photography business where I have captured families and seniors for the past 13 years. During that time I taught multiple one-on-one classes and group classes in the community to help others learn how to document the ordinary into something more extraordinary.
Now as the mother of teenagers I see how photography is more accessible than ever and I strive to help this age group see that photography can become a tool for sharing joy and capturing beauty and serving others. Not only that but by learning photography they are simultaneously training their eyes to see this world around them with more wonder and appreciation.
Photography has opened the door for me to increase our family’s income while being a stay at home mom and to teach and encourage others which is what I love best.
I love my iPhone 13 for all my cell phone photography and just retired my trusty Canon 6D (DSLR) after 10 years of use. I am currently learning new tricks with my brand new Canon R5 (mirrorless camera). I have the Canon 50 mm f/1.4, 24-70mm f/4L and the 100 mm f/2.8L in my lens suite but use the 50 mm about 80% of the time.
You will recieve 1 year access to the entire course at which time you can re-enroll if you choose.
You can contact Marcie via email whenever you want. She will respond every Friday each week.
