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Arts & Entertainment

Weho Seniors and Youths Capture Venice Beach in Photography Show

The Village showcases pictures taken by students in a West Hollywood class for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender seniors and youth.

What happens when you take a class full of seniors and youths, teach them photography and then give them free rein to shoot? You end up with a photo exhibit that illustrates the world from a wide array of perspectives.

Currently on display at The Village in Hollywood is the Senior/Youth Photography Project, an artistic collaboration among gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender seniors and youths of West Hollywood. The project is displayed in a gallery full of photographs of Venice Beach resulting from a senior/youth photography class sponsored by the city of West Hollywood’s Senior Advisory Board and the Senior Activity Programs of the West Hollywood Comprehensive Services Center.

“There are seniors and youths in the class. It’s a community building project, as well as a photography class,” explains teacher Jennifer Browne. The center offers the class once a year and at the end of every session, a showcase is held. 

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This year’s showcase kicked off Wednesday. Crowds gathered at The Village to enjoy refreshments and food catered by Wahoo Fish Tacos, chat with photographers and admire the photography of their neighborhood seniors and youths.

“The classes took place here, so we were very restricted by space and lighting,” said Browne, noting that the photographs on display were the result of an afternoon outing.

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“The students picked a location where they wanted to go and they picked Venice. It was cold and cloudy and not quite raining, but we’d done all the classes and worked on composition, lighting, framing and it went great.”

Dante Brown was among the youth photographers in attendance at the event. He pointed out his four shots in the show, explaining that his picture of the waves crashing along the beach was his favorite.

“I tried to incorporate several themes into my pieces,” said Brown. “I chose nature, people and objects. I had a variety in my photos.”

Browne laughed as she explained that she had attempted to give the students a theme to follow, but was pretty unsuccessful.

“On the drive down there, I asked each person what they were interested in and tried to give them a shooting area of focus," she said. "For some people it was portraits, for others it was landscapes. And no one really listened. They just shot what they liked.”

The exhibit captures the essence of Venice Beach from many different angles. There are shots of interesting people on the boardwalk, various aspects of the ocean, and palm trees under the sky. Close-ups of graffitied walls, flowers and people in action are also among the subjects in the photographs.

“It was great working with this batch of seniors and youths,” said Browne, who said her class was made up of “great students who are focused and tried and listened with care ... [and] did wonderful work.”

The Senior/Youth Photography Project is free, open to the public and will be on display until June 3.

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