MENTORING
Mentoring Students with Analogue Photography— a personal journey By John Miller United World College Thailand I had been fiddling with film photography for about a year when a student approached me with a proposal for her MYP personal project. She was hoping to address the issue of body shaming and promote body positivity and positive self image using black and white film photography. I considered the immensity of the task, and after some initial hesitation I agreed to be her mentor and assist in the learning process. Initially I was baffled as to why a student her age would choose to pursue analogue photography, what many believe is a dead technology, in our digital era. The students of today are digital natives who have come of age with photography at their fingertips. As the technology behind smartphones evolves through the use of computational photography software, traditional cameras seem less relevant than ever before. For these reasons, I was surprised to see a student express interest in film photography. Whenever an old song or a bit of forgotten popular culture comes up in class, I generally look to social media to explain the trend. Sure enough, film photography is making a comeback on instagram and other photo sharing platforms, partially
40 EARCOS Triannual Journal