This time, the “Junior Photographers” program was held at Sakuragaoka Elementary School in Akaiwa, Okayama Prefecture. The school is located at a corner of a new residential quarter in the mountains, surrounded by greenery, and provides an ideal opportunity for children to appreciate familiar nature. On that day, the temperature went up to 30 degrees, and it was very muggy, but the children ran about the schoolyard cheerfully and enjoyed taking pictures.

Children from two classes gathered in one classroom, and the photography course began. First, photographer Hikaru Nagatake introduced photos hitherto taken by other children. The children who were attending the course looked at those excellent works in surprise. It seemed that they gradually gained confidence to take photos successfully, and they listened intently to the explanation on how to operate a digital camera.

In this program, their large schoolyard was used as a photography site. Adjacent to the schoolyard is a slightly elevated area called Minami-yama, and a roller slide coming down from the top of it is set up for children to play. By taking a fresh look at different things, the children could make discoveries at a place they were accustomed to. Each child took photos with a digital camera to cut out a fragment of nature.

Upon coming back to the classroom, the participants chose their favorite photos, put them in picture frames, gave them titles, adding text or pictures to the frames to complete their works. After they were finished, they appreciated all the works, and a representative of each class gave a presentation of the works at a meeting. Everyone seemed to be shy about showing their works, but they confidently presented their selected works and titles.