- Home
- Link to KHS School Photos
- Ok Camera Club 2012 Competition Print Division 4 of 5 First Place Awards
- OK Camera Club 2012 Competition Digital Division 5 of 5 First Place Awards
- OK Camera Club 2012 Additional Winners
- OK Camera Club Winners 2013
- Photos 2011-2012 School Year
- Photos 2010-2011
- Photos2 2010-2011
- Photos 3 2010-2011
- Photo Alums
- Activities
- History
- Honors
- What's New
- Guestbook
- OK Camera Club 2010 Competition
- More 2010 Outstanding Photos
- Untitled
- New Page
- Photo Awards
- 2015 2016 Photos
- 2016 2017 Photos
KHS Photography Program History
The KHS Photography Program has been sponsored by Dr. A. J. Johnson for more than thirty five years. In the early days, the program was responsible for using 16mm film to record football games and for providing candid photography for the school yearbook.
From the beginning, the program had its own darkroom which was originally a part of the "old high school" chemistry lab. It was then moved to an area at the top of the school’s south stairs. The darkroom was small and cramped but, nevertheless, students were able to make literally thousands of black and white prints, many of which can be seen today in back issues of the KHS Yellowjacket Annual.
For many years, the photography program worked with the KHS Librarian Glenna Schnell to produce video tape programs. Over a period of about eight years the video production portion of the photography program created hundreds of hours of television cable broadcasts. From football games to 1st grade plays, the community was able to tune in to cable television and see what was happening with the Kingfisher Schools. Unfortunately, during the extreme state budget crisis of the early 80s, the program was eliminated and not restored until 2008. Beginning with the 2008-09 school year, video returned to the KHS Photography program as digital video cameras and iMac computers were added to the photo lab.
When the high school moved to its current site in 1995, the photography program was fortunate to have a custom designed darkroom which included both film processing and paper processing labs. Both labs were "wet" and chemical photography continued until it was replaced by digital photography at the beginning of the 21st Century. The darkroom was remodeled into a digital lab by eliminating the plumbing and removing walls to make a single large "L" shaped room. The room has nine digital production stations along with black and white laser and color ink jet and color laser printers.
Now the program is able to quickly produce photos that are displayed throughout the school as a morale boost for students and as an indication of the excellence of the school.
Through digital production and printing, photos are available in a matter of minutes and can be produced up to a size of 13" by 19". Large prints can be made commercially and many can also be seen decorating the walls of the school.
Today, the photography program is entirely digital with both still and video production possibilities. Obviously, such a program can be expensive and the KHS Photography program gratefully acknowledges the constant and unwavering encouragement and financial support of the Kingfisher Schools' administration and Board of Education. Their support has enabled the program to help produce successful student photographers who have been recognized at the state and national level for their excellence and who have also found employment in the field.
The KHS student photographers have also traveled extensively in pursuit of their training. Annually, students have traveled to such places as Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Monument Valley, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, Red River and Taos, New Mexico, and Washington, D.C. During these photo expeditions, students have studied lights, “painting with light,” landscape photography, wild life photography, portrait photography and a variety of other styles and techniques.
For the future the program intends to continue with what has been successful in the past and will introduce new activities including video production. Using state of the art equipment, the latest lenses and digital cameras, KHS student photographers will continue covering school events for the local newspaper, the school newspaper and the school yearbook as well as providing school hall and classroom decorations. They are also creating an archive of digital photos that are stored in the school vault and will be available for future generations.
The student photographers will also continue in the visual arts producing fine personal photographs and display works. And, they will continue entering contests seeking recognition and critique of their work; always learning and always seeking improvement.
Above all, however, they will continue to provide photography services to the Kingfisher Schools in a manner unique in the public schools of Oklahoma. Few schools can boast such a program.
In 2009, the program expanded by dividing the video production program into a separate class which focused solely on capturing and editing video images.
In 2010, the photography program moved from sharing time and space with the newspaper class into its own class period thus enabling many more students to enroll in the class. This change permits students who are only interested in learning photography to take the class alongside students who form a staff of photographers who record school events. Advanced photo students acted as "Peer Instructors" and assisted the instructor in individualizing the course.
During the 2011-2012 school year, the program continued to grow with more than 30 students involved in beginning and advanced photography. The program developed a new photo viewing site associated with Smugmug.com which had nearly 100,000 individual photo views by school year's end. (Connect to this site on the home page.)
The school year 2012-2013 saw continued excellence as student photographers filled the school halls with examples of their work. In addition, they held a show and sale at the Kingfisher Arts Festival. The photo staff continued to provide exciting images of school activities which were made available to patrons through the web site.
This school year also saw the purchase of additional equipment so that all staff members were issued either a Canon 7D or Canon 60D camera for their work. Photo students chose partners and were issued a digital rebel. The task book was also expanded to over 200 pages that included both specific tasks to be completed as well as helpful photography articles and examples of outstanding student work.
Since 2013, the program has continued to expand with the addition of a Canon 5DSR high resolution camera for large group photos and many other additions of equipment. The program continues to receive grants from the Kingfisher All-Sports association, the Kingfisher Educational Foundation, and many private individuals to help with projects, activities and acquiring equipment.
The program has also been a frequent exhibitor at Kingfisher County events, especially the annual Kingfisher Chamber of Commerce Banquet. Also, Kingfisher photography students continue to compete in the annual Oklahoma Camera Club Youth Photo Contest where they tend to win the majority of awards in competition with dozens of high school programs from across the state.