Student Photographers Venture into Ethiopian Wild

High School photographers took their learning into the field in February, exploring and capturing wildlife in Ethiopia's natural environments.

Teacher Joshua Smalley took students on a safari through the mountainous outskirts of Addis Ababa, offering them an opportunity to photograph hyenas, camels, warthogs, birds, primates, and beyond.

"As students took their first steps in Dera's Arsi Mountains Park Block 1, it was clear that the theoretical, note-taking experiences in the classroom were now being applied to a very real situation," Joshua said. "Students were tasked with utilizing the composition rules they were learning in class to vary rapidly changing wildlife and nature encounters. As a result of the trip, students further developed their photography skills, specifically in the area of seeing everything through an artistic and design lens. Furthermore, they learned to automate this thinking to make it second-nature and just a natural part of taking photos."

Check out photos from Teachers Joshua and Erik Hathaway's photos from their trip in the slideshow above!