Summer Camp Photos

Quartz Mountain students experience a different kind of summer camp

It's not the norm for Ho, a homeschooled student from Broken Arrow . He said he usually practices in silence.

But as his tuning fork sounds and his D string is brought to its perfect pitch, the front porch of his cabin in southwest Oklahoma is now his stage, complete with a full-moon spotlight.

“Tuning is a lot like taking pictures,” he said.

“You just have to know what you're looking for.”

Inside the cabin is what you would expect from a typical summer camp — a raucous common area, complete with a spirited game of cards in one corner while others sit on their bunks talking about that day's events: breakfast, girls, the evening dance show and girls.

But the abundance of musical instruments lying around is just the first of many clues that the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute , held each June at the Quartz Mountain Arts and Conference Center near Lone Wolf, isn't your average summer camp.

Creative environment

Starting with its first camp in 1977, the arts institute has been committed to giving high-school-age artists from across Oklahoma a creative environment to help hone their crafts.

The two-week fine arts camp, now in its second week, accepted 270 students into this year's program in disciplines ranging from classical ballet to filmmaking.

Christina Cheng , 17, was accepted to play in the orchestra; she has been first-chair violin at Putnam City North High School for the past two years.

But she said she was surprised when she was asked to rotate in as first chair at the institute, to which the students sometimes refer casually as “Quartz” or “Quartz Mountain.”

“I am so nervous now,” Cheng said during a reporter's visit in the first week of camp. “Here people are so good, and I have to live up to their expectations. It's a challenge.”

Mood to dance

Like Gordon, Reagan Collins from Jenks High School also has been through the program before.

This is her fourth year to study dance at Quartz, and she said it has been quite challenging.

“I've been trained in ballet where every step is a process, and we are learning to move a bit more this year,” Collins said.

“I really like the change, and it's definitely different, and it's really gotten me into the mood to just dance,” she said.

As the sun begins to set behind the rock hills, the students make their way across a long wooden bridge to the performing arts center.

Summer Camp photos for sale - Photo Community - MyShutterspace

So I've been asked to take some photos at a horse camp of the kids and sell them to the parents.  I am trying to figure out the best way to go about doing this.  Time to spend on it, what to offer - package or individual pricing - how to present it to them - let them pick or just put together like 10 of the best shots of their kids, how much to charge, etc.  Any ideas would be appreciated!  I'm thinking the more simple the better - kind of like they do for childrens sports photos.  So I know that a group shot and one shot with the horse would be the easiest.  But I kind of LOVE the idea of action shots and candids too.  Help

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Summer Theatre Camp - photos, 1980