Students look at the artwork displayed in the Los Angeles Street Collective: Transitory Reverberations. Camila Carmona (’28), a student who went on the field trip, said “[field trips] spark new ideas — it is important to be able to learn from people who have been doing those types of projects.” (Photo courtesy of Marya Alford.)

Exploring street art and photographing downtown L.A., students in the Introduction to Photography classes explored the Grand Central Market and the Los Angeles Street Collective: Transitory Reverberations Exhibit Thursday, May 8. The purpose of this field trip was to commemorate their street photography unit. The field trip was originally meant to take place in the fall during the intro class’s street photography unit but was pushed back to after the unit’s final project due to scheduling issues.

Photography teacher Marya Alford said even though the field trip needed to be pushed into spring, it ended up working out nicely with the timing of the exhibit they visited.

“It timed up beautifully that the L.A. Center of Photography was having the street photography show,” Alford said. “I was already trying to plan a tour slash photographing downtown, I was like, ‘Oh, this is beautifully paired.'”

Alford said street photography is part of her curriculum because it is exciting to get out into the world and photograph and document what’s around us, which aligns with the field trip. She said that it hard to plan field trips, but ultimately rewarding.

“Field trips sometimes are very difficult to plan, and students should know that,” Alford said. “Any teachers that take you on field trips — it’s a lot of planning and organization, but when you’re finally there and you’re seeing art, it’s great.”

Photography student Camila Carmona (’28) attended the field trip and said she enjoyed going because it helped her come up with new ideas for her own work and projects.

“It also sparks new ideas, seeing different perspectives on everything, especially at such a professional level,” Carmona said. “I think it’s important to be able to learn from people who’ve been doing those types of projects.”

Edie Wyles (’27), another student in the Introduction to Photography class, said her favorite part of the exhibit was being able to talk to the artists of some of the works.

“I thought it was really cool to hear why the [artists] took [the photos and] the stories behind them,” Wyles said. “They would talk about their day and how they got to that point, and I thought that was really cool.”

Wyles said she liked the street photography unit because it allowed her to appreciate certain parts of her neighborhood in a way she wouldn’t have otherwise been able to.

“I took photos of architecture, looking at the architecture and really admiring it in a way that I never had before, because I get to learn about the history and how important it is to where I live,” Wyles said. “Because I go all the time to these places, I get to look at them in greater detail than just passing by.”

Alford said her favorite part of taking students on field trips such as this one is being able to see her students practice their photography skills in action, especially since the majority of their work for class is done on weekends.

“So many times, students are leaving the classroom and they’re doing their projects over the weekend, and they’re photographing over the weekend, and then they come back to the class and edit,” Alford said. “I don’t get to be with them a lot of times when they’re shooting, unless it’s in the lighting studio or just here on campus, but the excitement of a new space that either they’ve seen or haven’t seen yet before, and then being able to document that with the camera — it’s just so fun to be able to see that in their face and the excitement for them.”