Yosemite Sierra Summer Camp

I have been pretty much completely silent on this blog and my facebook photography page, so I thought I would leave an update on what I have been up to.

This summer for the second year in a row, I am working at Yosemite Sierra Summer Camp as a Camp Photographer. My basic responsibilities include photographing camp activities and uploading at least one picture per camper every single day, which ends up being between 100-200 pictures a day. I also shoot video, create Mid-session and End-session video/photo recaps, and create a yearbook for every two week session.
All the staff here go by nicknames for the extent of the summer, so everyone here knows me as 'Slick"; a nickname I earned from tumbling down a steep rockface after slipping on a slick spot. I make sure to remind everyone of this by stumbling and falling on even the most smooth of surfaces...completely on purpose and not because I am really clumsy, of course!

Anyways, I thought I would share a few of the pictures I have been taking. For the most part, I take pictures of the various activities the campers do, which includes ropes courses, slip and slides, lake activities and much more.

My absolute favorite activity to photograph is banana boating! Heck, that is also my favorite activity to do myself. It is fun! And I get some great shots with kids just having a blast, with the occasional epic falling picture. My new 7d is really handy here for its 8 shots per second to just get that perfect falling off moment 

 

 

Another fun camp activity to photograph are the various night games. The staff get super silly and dressed up, and then the campers have to chase them around and accomplish some objective or another. This year, the summer theme is Wild Wild West, and all of the night games are somehow related. One of the best night games is called Cattle Roundup, where the campers must figure out how to collect various staff members that are dressed up as cows, pigs, mice, you name it! But watch out for the wolves, cause they will make your animals stampede away!

  

 

 

Camp also has a great tradition of an offcampus all day long Capture the Flag game. The boys go off on the first Thursday of the session to play at what they call "Outpost" and the girls leave on Sunday to play "Uzemahti" (warrior princess theme). As a girl myself, I only take pictures of Uzemahti. It is super epic with a Capture the Flag field that goes across creeks and streams, through forests, and across ravines over several acres. Then at the end of the day, we have a massive mud fight!

  

  

Then, there are various other events: Flower Sunday, in which everyone goes around giving each other flowers accompanied by a meaningful compliment; Yosemite Day, where the youngest campers head over to Yosemite National Park to go on various hikes such as the pictured Vernal Falls, and a wide variety of camp games, camp songs and so much more.

 So basically, this is the best place ever and I am having a blast! Hope you enjoyed the photos!