Youth in Focus

A young girl, carefully aiming for the perfect shot, captures "puppyhood."

Photo: Alejandro Tomas

For 30 years, Walter Bodle taught inner-city high school students in the Los Angeles area. Upon retiring to Seattle, he combined his ongoing concern for young people with his lifetime hobby of photography. What began as the Youth in Focus (YIF) summer program for 20 teens is now a year-round photography and youth services collaborative serving economically and ethnically diverse young people. YIF has its own facilities, the enthusiastic support of Seattle's arts community, social service leaders, foundations, and the mayor. Its students' work recently enjoyed an extended exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum.

Success hasn't spoiled Walter or blurred the focus of the program. It is still about giving young people a camera to explore the world around them. In the process, teens learn valuable life skills and build confidence in their abilities. Youth in Focus offers a variety of photographic opportunities for teens after school, evenings, weekends, and during the summer.

In each case, students are provided cameras to use, film, paper and a fully equipped darkroom. Instruction includes composition skills and the handcrafting of high quality black-and-white images from film processing to finishing touches on exhibition prints. Each student completes a self-portrait, artist statement, and a matted and framed image of their choice for public exhibition. Participants print photo postcards to use as invitations and thank you notes for mentors and sponsors.

Volunteers establish one-on-one mentoring relationships with teens and spend time outside of class on assignments, field trips, and special projects. Continuing students help with classes and practice advanced skills while working on portfolios and special projects. These teens learn leadership skills and earn service learning credits required for high school graduation.

Youth in Focus's success may best be measured by the 90 percent completion rate and the high number of peer referrals. It also can be seen in the portfolio of students like April, containing images of herself pregnant at 17; of Pioneer Square and the homeless people she once lived among; and landscapes of breathtaking beauty and hope. Photography, she told a local reporter, teaches her to be optimistic because it puts the good things in focus.