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LEARNING TO SEE BETTER
A B&W PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS FOR KURINJI TRUST, COONOOR

OVERVIEW
A two-day black and white photography workshop designed to shift how high school students see. Moving them away from habitual image-making toward a more intentional, observant way of engaging with the world around them.

DAY ONE: Theory Session
The workshop opened with a structured classroom session covering:

  • The evolution of photography and its enduring relevance
  • Black and white as a creative and perceptual tool- how the absence of colour focuses attention on light, form, and feeling
  • Core composition principles: rule of thirds, framing, figure-to-ground, leading lines and layers.
  • The language of light: hard light, soft light, sidelight, and silhouette- and how each shapes a photograph

Students were engaged and quick to absorb concepts, responding with curiosity throughout.

DAY TWO: Photo Walk & Group Critique
Morning: Lower Coonoor Market A hands-on outdoor session where students worked directly under mentorship- receiving on-the-spot guidance on composition, proximity, and the confidence to photograph people candidly.

Afternoon: Edit & Critique Session Back at the school, each student presented a shortlist of ten images. The group sat together to review and discuss the selections- examining what made certain photographs work, identifying compositional strengths, and understanding what to avoid. Strong images were recognised, but the emphasis was on the quality of feedback: every student left with a clearer sense of why a photograph succeeds.

What was evident through the critique was how well the students had absorbed the previous day's concepts and applied them instinctively in the field.

OBJECTIVE
Never having worked in black and white, most students arrived photographing sunsets, flowers, and self-portraits. The workshop aimed to expand that vocabulary — to cultivate a keener, more creative eye and a willingness to look closely at the unnoticed and the everyday.

The images presented here are the students' work created during the workshop.