Scavenger Hunt

I teach a weekly photography class at a local girls’ school. Been teaching it for about 2 years now, it’s a fun little side hustle that helps keep me sharp. Also teaching is the whole reason I went to grad school so hey, gotta put that degree to good use. Due to safety reasons, the girls aren’t usually allowed to leave campus just to shoot, which makes it a bit difficult to teach photography on site, and doesn’t really make for a wide variety of subject matter. I mean, how many photographs of the parking lot can we really take amirite?

(Side note: I have taken to teaching very rudimentary controlled lighting in class, and this has helped expand our subject base immensely. Wheeeeee tape / foam / cellophane / flashlights ~!)

20. Something that looks like a memory (10 pts)

A month ago, I took my kids out for a field trip at the Parks and Wildlife Center so that we could finally spend some time off campus. It was super fun, my teaching partner and I planned a scavenger hunt for everyone as our main activity.

12. Water (5 pts)

When I was doing research for the scavenger hunt, I had a bit of difficulty really finding good mechanics and a good list that I could repurpose for my class. So i decided to write one myself.

3. Different types of leaves (5 pts)

For any other photography instructors out there looking for outdoor class activities, a scavenger hunt is a great way to get younger students excited about shooting, and gives them a good baseline for what they themselves interested in photographing. I find that sometimes the hard part is just getting people to start shooting when they’re under pressure, and having a list relieves that pressure.

Feel free to use our shooting list! You’ll find it at the end of this post.

17. Photograph an emotion without using a face (10 pts)

We incorporated some of our previous lessons into the shooting list, such as visual design elements or the history of photography. We wanted to include some specific object as easy pickings, and some more complex, abstract objects for variety.

The photographs in this post are mine from the day :)) It was an overcast day for the most part so everything looked kind of sad. And as you’ll see at the end of this post, I did NOT make it to 100 hahahaha.

26. The inside of something (10 pts)

I felt like the girls responded well to the activity! We got some really unusual and beautiful images from the day out. I’m still thinking about whether or not I should be posting student work on this blog.

(For now I won’t, because I feel like part of what I liked about being a young photographer was being able to show off my own work, so I’ll let them do that. Maybe I can link to some of their accounts if i can get my students’ permission!)

15. Your reflection in an unexpected place (5pts)

I got 45pts!

Photographic Scavenger Hunt! A Field Trip Activity
Your goal by the end of the session is to take 100 points worth of photographs.

1. Leading lines (10 pts)
2. Forced perspective (10 pts)
3. Different types of leaves (5 pts)
4. Colorful rock (5 pts)
5. Something tall (5 pts)

6. An animal (5 pts)
7. Nature selfie (5 pts)
8. Unique texture (5 pts)
9. Something round (5 pts)
10. Your favorite color (5 pts)

11. Feather (10 pts)
12. Water (5 pts)
13. Seed (10 pts)
14. Something noisy (5 pts)
15. Your reflection in an unexpected place (5pts)

16. Something little (5pts)
17. Photograph an emotion without using a face (10 pts)
18. Recreate a scene from a movie (10pts)
19. Something energetic (5 pts)
20. Something that looks like a memory (10 pts)

21. The letter Q in nature (10 pts)
22. Ansel Adams-inspired landscape (10 pts)
23. Edward Weston-inspired photograph (10 pts)
24. Something that begins with Z (10 pts)
25. Photo of an instructor without him/her noticing (10 pts)

26. The inside of something (10 pts)
27. Something funny (10 pts)
28. Someone looking unusually small (10 pts)
29. Light (5 pts)
30. Movement (5 pts)