Kids Camp
Crossroads Community Church Kids Camp
On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to photograph the Crossroads Community Church Kids Camp in Goshen. The evening was filled with laughter, fun activities, and a strong sense of community, capturing the essence of what makes this camp a special experience for children and their families. My goal was to capture the split-second moments of kids’ joy and fun, along with the overall feeling of the camp.
Kids at the Rock Painting Station
This was my first time shooting a kids camp and I didn’t really know what to expect. I kind of figured it would be fast paced and kids would be moving around a lot doing games and stuff. That was correct, but Crossroads had to adjust because of the weather, which was very hot and muggy and I didn’t think they wanted all these kids out in the heat. So they set up stations inside the Church and broke the kids up into groups to move to each station, which was very organized. I was really expecting it to be chaotic with kids moving from place to place and Camp helpers chasing kids down everywhere, but it was nothing like that. It was very structured, the kids enjoyed themselves and had fun at every station, and the evening sped right by and no major issues.
Youth holding a Ping Pong Ball in the air for the run to your state game they had.
This was my fifth or sixth event with Crossroads Community Church. In December of last year I was contacted by Kristin Hogue from the church to shoot their Time to Shine Event, which needs it’s own blog. They liked my work and hired me to do more events, like their Eggstravaganza for Easter, Sermon in the Park, and pictures for marketing their recover group and kids new play area. Kristin surprised me this past month requesting me to be the Church’s official photographer for the rest of the year, covering around ten events and being first choice for any events they schedule. When she sent that email to me I almost cried, they were my first client to hire me exclusively and I was happy. It’s hard to put it into words the feeling I had; I was happy they liked my work, I was like yeeessss my business is slowing starting to grow, and how I conducted myself was a huge part of why they wanted to work with me. That tells me I’m doing the right things, acting professional and more than anything, just being friendly with people.
Main room Scavenger hunt photo
Probably the most difficult task I had for the evening was covering the Church’s main assembly area where they turned the lights off and had the kids do a scavenger hunt. I thought to myself, how the heck am I supposed to get photos in the dark? I took a few shots and they were not coming out, almost completely black. I tried a few adjustment on my camera and that didn’t work. Then I thought to myself, what light do I have, and as I watched the kids walking around with flash lights, it hit me. Once I figured that out, it was a matter of adjusting the settings to get the best look and I got a couple of really great shots in the dark.
My shot of the day I got two minutes after I turned my camera on. It seemed like a pretty simple shot, one girl walking around with a little cape on, but the shot was a pretty good marking photo as the cape she was wearing was almost perfectly placed to show the entire events name. Sometimes those photos you think were just a simple shot end up being the best ones for some small, minimal thing, and for me, in this shot, the cape was the key.
Kids Camp shot of the day
