The Photography Program here at Winter Springs has a large student count on campus that includes 12+ class periods all together. One major part of the program is the Photography Club that is sponsored by Ms. Julie Athos.

Ms. Athos has been sponsoring the club for three years, making it a great place to learn about different aspects of photography and to explore its diverse field.

When talking to Ms. Athos, she said that “some people in Photo Club aren’t even in a photography class at Winter Springs,” so she just wants each member to take away something new to hopefully share with others. In the club’s weekly meetings, Athos gets the students “divided up into their levels of knowledge.”

Depending on what each student wishes to learn more about and what their general knowledge is of that area of photography, that is where the student will be placed that day. Typically, students could be a part of a group which is learning more about Photoshop, studio work, or working in a dark room. It fully depends on the student and how they want to spend the meeting.

In past years of Photo Club, the meetings have often been more structured, almost as if you’re attending a class, but this year that is going to change. Athos’ main goal of this year is to make the meetings more exciting.

“I don’t want students to dread coming to the club,” Ms. Athos joked. The club ultimately plans to have a lot more fun during the meetings and work towards a bigger project this upcoming year.

In addition to Photo Club, Winter Springs has an overall large photography program, including different classes that students can pick from depending on which field of photography they are most interested in. Winter Springs Photography students are not only dedicated within their classes, but they often volunteer to photograph school sports events and other extracurricular activities outside of school.

When asked about her favorite part of the program, Iliana Payne, a sophomore at WSHS, said that it is “how much freedom you get to be able to take the photos you want and edit them in your own style.”

Even though the school’s program is so large, due to lack of events and visibility, it doesn’t get as much recognition as the drama or athletics departments do.

“Since I’ve been here the past three years, I’ve seen we have started to get noticed a lot more, but because we don’t have events and we aren’t out there selling tickets, we aren’t being shown as much,” said Athos.

Despite the lack of discernibility throughout the campus, there are attempts being made to widen the program’s audience by coming up with ideas for more events, whether that be at a larger scale, or a smaller event in the courtyard.

Overall, there is a lot of effort being put into improving the photography program as whole, but in regards to Photo Club, there are many exciting events in store for this year, and many opportunities for students anxious to learn and progress in photography!