NSU High School Workshop

The Northern State University Art Department’s High School Workshop took place on November 4th of 2025. So while I’m a smidge late to writing about it, I’m bringing it up now. The workshop included a few different sessions that taught a different art medium. There was screen printing, green screens, clay, marquettes, and a few other things. The visiting high school students chose which ones they wanted to participate in, and there were general awards at the end.

I did both photo and video during the event, as my “volunteer” position. The professor who usually does the photos was out, so I got to step in.

For the majority of the day, I highkey followed around my friend Aly. I took a very documentarian approach to photos (and videos). I will be honest, the day is a bit of a blur now, we were wandering around and interviewing quite a few people. Our favorite question to ask was, “Are you afraid of the high schoolers?” As both a joke and a serious question. All of the professors said no.

In my opinion, these kinds of events are fun to photograph. They give me a chance to really step into documentation and observatory modes. That style is generally what I try to focus on. Nobody was purposefully posed. The whole goal was to capture the moment as is.

As someone who’s pretty shy, I feel like I blend in and go into observation mode very easily, however, since I am a little socially anxious, I do worry about how others would observe me. For the most part, no one cares, everyone knows you have a job to do. I’m sure I did get a few side eyes.

At this Aberdeen, SD event, the biggest takeaway (photo-wise) was a lesson in how to document an event. Every single time I take photos I learn something new, no matter what.