Source: Michigan News
Alexia Stephenson. Credit: Denille Reid.
Krystan Jones plans a photography career after college. Credit: Denille Reid.
While waiting for the People Mover with other photographers in a summer program, Krystan Jones was drawn to a bronze statute of a man reading a newspaper and zoomed in.
“I like how realistic he looks,” she said as she angled around the sculpture “Catching Up” of a man reading The Detroit News from 1987 by J. Seward Johnson. “He looks frozen in time.”
Jones and a dozen other student photographers are part of Coaching Detroit Forward, the nonprofit arm of the Detroit Writing Room founded by University of Michigan alumna and journalist Stephanie Steinberg in 2019.
While other students waited to start shooting until they arrived at their destination on the Detroit Riverfront, Jones plunged in. She’s been dabbling in photography since the pandemic. She’s studying graphic design at Henry Ford College, but wants to be a professional photographer.
Students capture the Detroit Riverfront as part of a summer photography camp run by Coaching Detroit Forward. Credit: Greta Guest
Steinberg partnered with another U-M alum, Sacred Overstreet-Amos, on the nonprofit to coach students interested in careers in photography. So far, 200 students have gone through the summer programs in writing and photography.
The course is free for students and they get coaching from Overstreet-Amos along with visiting professional photographers including Erin Kirkland, who worked for a number of publications including the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times before joining U-M as a staff photographer.
“It’s very welcoming. I can tell they really thought about the curriculum,” Jones said.
Students heard from a number of coaches throughout the two-week beginner session learning about real estate and food photography, for example.
Alexia Stephenson, 17, who starts her senior year at Cass Tech High School this fall, said the camp expanded her view of what photography could be. “I was stuck on sports photography, but now I am more open to other types of photography. I’m just being open-minded, and not being afraid to try new things.”
Alexia Stephenson. Credit: Denille Reid.
Stephenson plans to study law, but will use her photography skills as her senior class historian and other pursuits. “It’s not just a hobby for me.”
And last year, an advanced photography camp was added.
“It takes the techniques even further. The whole goal is to give them a trade, not just photography as an art, but more like a trade where they’re learning something that they could possibly feed their families on in the future,” Overstreet-Amos said.
“On top of that, we end up offering kind of on the job training. After they finish this program, if I have jobs that come up and people were on a budget, we’ll hire our students to shoot the event and we’ll go with them to mentor them.”
When she launched the Detroit Writing Room, Steinberg realized she wanted to provide writing and photography workshops for Detroit students at no charge. Around this time, she met Overstreet-Amos at the Build Institute where both were looking to build arts-focused businesses.
Overstreet-Amos, owner of Moon Reflections Photography, was running Young Creators Arts and Enrichment summer photography camp. They became friends and Overstreet-Amos became the first coach to lead the Coaching Detroit Forward’s photography camp.
Steinberg secures grants so that the students can attend the workshops for free. Students are also provided with cameras and laptops during the program. They can purchase their cameras at a discounted price if they wish to keep them.
Every year, the students’ photos are printed in the non-profit’s award-winning publication Perspectives Magazine and showcase their work in photography exhibits.
Several students also have won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for work published in Perspectives.
“It’s a very hands on learning experience for students. I think they find it challenging in a really fun way,” Steinberg said. “The photos they end up taking are amazing and they are winning awards.”
Stephanie Steinberg, center, celebrates two awards for student who participated in Coaching Detroit Forward summer camps. Alan Greason, left, took 2nd place for sportswriting, and Elizabeth Townsel took 3rd place for feature writing at the Society for Professional Journalists Awards in May 2024.
