Summer Nature Day Camp with a Photographic Twist

This year the Friends of Tryon Creek added Nature Photography to their Adventure Camp series. For the first time ever, campers in grades 5 – 7 had the opportunity to spend their week of Nature Day Camp capturing the colors, textures and natural beauty of the park  and nearby environs using digital cameras.

With camp counselors "Fungi" & "Clover" leading the way, Nature Photography campers explored how to use light, composition, landscape photography, and close-ups in an effort to capture unique images. The experience was decidedly positive. As one excited camper reported, “I didn’t know the forest could be so beautiful!”

Over the course of the week campers hiked on numerous park trails and took field trips to Washington Park's Rose Garden and George Rogers Park, among other places. They covered a lot of ground on their expeditions and discovered a variety of flora, fauna and fungi. Snails and slugs were frequent subject material, as were the sweeping trunks of trees towering high above. Campers photographed the occasional bird, bright berries, colorful flowers, and the gnarled bark of some of Tryon Creek’s oldest trees.

At the end of the week, campers selected their favorite photos. We think they are remarkable and are pleased to share them with you:

"I chose my picture because I liked how carefully I had to use zoom, and how it was unique to the other pictures that my fellow campers chose." - Eliana

"I chose this duck picture because it looked best and because it was the only picture of my top five that had an animal in it." - Ethan

"I chose this picture because I like the vivid colors and detailed background. The colors remind me of a sunset and the rose is of a variety that are particularly lovely to me. This picture was taken at the Rose Garden at Washington Park." - Edme

"I chose my landscape picture because I like the relationship between the fern cluster and the logs and the creek. This picture was taken on a bridge over a creek in Tryon Creek State Natural Area." - Lucy

"This is a fern fiddlehead. I didn't expect to see one that was still curled up so late in spring, and it was really cool looking with all the tiny leaves in a spiral shape. The green color was also vibrant against the darker brown forest floor." - Anna

"I chose this photo out of my favorite five because I think it represents my mom. She's bright, blossomed and pretty. I also took the picture because my mom loves the color yellow. I took this photo at the Washington Park Rose Garden." - Selina

"I chose this photo as my favorite because of all the shades of green with the red spores on the fern at the center. It shows the textures of the different leaves and since the leaves overlap you can see through the fern. This picture was taken in the Shakespearean Garden of Washington Park." - Zoe

"I chose this photo because the grey in the stone and the green in the bushes and grass makes everything pop out. Also, it has a creepy graveyard theme with the rock color." - Lindsey

"I chose the picture of the flower because it had a cool spiral thingy on it and it was pink. I took the photo at Washington Park Rose Garden." - Logan

 

Summer Nature Day Camp campers engage directly with the natural world around them. This connection is a key element in cultivating a lifelong relationship with nature and with the Earth. The Friends of Tryon Creek believe that a healthy environment is essential for the wellbeing and sustainability of ecosystems and inhabitants and are pleased to provide opportunities for children, families and adults to connect with the natural world using Tryon Creek State Natural Area as a living classroom. 

For more information on the Friends’ Nature Day Camp Program please visit www.tryonfriends.org.

 

Cultivate a relationship with nature with the Friends' Summer Nature Day Camp

Human health depends upon a healthy environment. That is the underlying principle which has guided the Friends' mission - to connect people to Tryon Creek State Natural Area and cultivate a lifelong relationship with nature - for more than 40 years.

The Friends believe that we need to "know" the land upon which we depend for survival. We need to understand how its ecosystems function and how they work together. We need to recognize the relationship that inhabitants have with the land, be they the fox, the robin, the newt, or the human being. If we know the land, we can understand it. When we understand it, we are compelled to conserve, protect, steward, and respect it.

Access to that knowledge begins the moment each of us first sets foot upon a forest path, in a mountain stream, or in a country meadow.

Tryon Creek State Natural Area is the ultimate outdoor classroom. In this classroom, knowledge of the land is awakened and encouraged. With regular cultivation that knowledge flourishes. It grows and expands and fills the human mind and heart with inspiration, peace, energy, and a sense of connectedness to the natural world. Connectedness becomes familiarity. Familiarity becomes "knowing". We experience a sense of purpose that helps ground us as we experience the awe, majesty, and transcendence that occurs when we realize that everything - all of it - is interwoven. We realize that each of us plays a part in it and each of us has a responsibility for the part we play.

Every summer, the Friends of Tryon Creek share the experience of Tryon Creek as a living classroom with children through our Summer Nature Day Camp program. Each child that participates, be they four or 12 years old, comes to the forest innately ready to connect deeply to the natural world around them. Through play, activities, hikes, and hands-on experience with nature, campers gain a sense of themselves in the wild world, of their sense of place and their relationship with all living things.

Give your child the experience of a lifetime and enroll them in the Friends of Tryon Creek's Summer Nature Day Camp today: www.tryonfriends.org