Learning The Basics | Photography 101

Photo Credit: Mariah Julianna

Week 2 of mentorship has started and we dove right into photography. We talked about the 3 ways to control light through ISO, aperture and shutter. We also talked about, as photographers, how to approach our photoshoots by asking ourselves 3 questions:

1. What is the story I’m trying to tell?

2. Where is my best light?

3. How can I tell that story creatively?

Everyone got accustomed to learning their settings rather quickly. We are excited to dive in deeper over the next 2 weeks. We will be share more as we go on, so be sure to come back soon!

Photo Credit: Mariah Julianna

Journaling Session

Photo Credit: @_mariah_julianna_

It is important to dream, have hopes, and write down your goals. Today, our mentees learned the importance of journaling & storytelling. They wrote down the things that can sometimes pass through our minds. Every day we have success, but do you celebrate that success? Our workshop’s purpose was to teach gratitude for success, even if it is the smallest thing you succeeded in. Here are some of the topics our mentees were happy to be celebrating: “I am becoming more confident” and “I normally do not talk loud at school, but I notice myself starting to”.

Our mentees also were challenged with the idea of storytelling. They were asked, what is the story that they want to create about themselves? Every aspect of our lives become part of our story and who we are, so how can you shape that to be what you envision for yourself? We are so happy to hear all the things we can celebrate with our mentees, and grateful for another successful day of mentorship!

Photo Credit: @mariah_julianna_

Belief & Leadership

Photo Credit: @amieisfan

On Day 2 of mentorship, we had the opportunity to partner once again with @jaleelanthonytv for a Belief & Leadership workshop. It was so amazing to see how invested and engaged our mentees were. We love to see notebooks being filled up with knowledge learned from creatives we bring into the firehouse. Today, Jaleel discussed what leadership really means. His prompt LEADER helped the mentees reach deeper into their minds. LEADER represents, L- Love, E- Experience, A- Appreciate, D- Discipline, E- Environment, and R- Relationships. Discipline is something Jaleel heavily emphasized. Our mentees took home lots of new information and inspiration. We can’t wait for them to learn more throughout these next 12 weeks.

Photo Credit: @amieisfan

First Mentorship Of 2022!

Photo Credit: Mariah Frank

3...2...1...It's mentorship day! Today we had our first day of spring mentorship! How exciting?! This day was all things paperwork, technology, and guidelines. During the first half of mentorship, we introduced ourselves and shared some fun facts about each other, then we went over guidelines and expectations for our mentees. We filled out some paperwork, and assigned cameras and laptops! This week’s goal was to establish trust and partnership with our mentees. At the end of the day, our mentees shared an impactful story so we can learn a little bit more about them! We can't wait for our 10 mentees to learn all things photography. Stay tuned through our Instagram (@thefirehousedream) to see more behind the scenes and mentorship days live in action!

Photo Credit : Mariah Frank

Mental Health Intensive | Week 2

Photo Credit: Mya Rose

We recently started our Mental Health Intensive at TFD! This is a four week program designed to give access to mental health resources as well as support for the youth within our community. One of our 3 pillars is Mental health and we feel that it is very important to share our stories and normalize the topic of mental health.

The first week of our program was virtual, but this past Wednesday we were able to finally meet in person! Kathy of kathykhang.com led us in breath-work during the first half. During our time with Kathy, we are able to focus on the space and the present moment and clear our minds of unnecessary thoughts. The second half of our day consisted of Erika Aguirre & Erika Luna from Oasis Project teaching different coping skills. We first discussed challenging experiences, our feelings behind them, and how we managed those situations. Afterward, we moved to stations with different objects to help cope with overwhelming feelings of stress. There were things like painting, journaling prompts, play dough, sand, scented lotion or candles, essential oils, and much more. Erika & Luna explained the purpose and benefits of each of these things and allowed each person to try out these out to see what helps!

We can’t wait for the next two weeks! Thank you to our facilitators for coming together to help make this possible.

Photo Credit: Mya Rose