The Gratitude Gallery 9.0 | ginnykoppenholphoto

Brain Hacks
Sept 21 - March 22
www.culturecoop.co.uk

Welcome to ‘Lightbulb Moments’, an online exhibition showing the 170 images created using smartphone photography by OLCC students from years 9 through to 6th form.

The ‘Brain Hacks’ project has been funded and supported by the Culture Coop, facilitated by photographer Ginny Koppenhol and supported by Miss Rowan (OLCC), Zia Khan (Culture Coop) and Ant Briggs (Culture Coop). The exhibition was first shown in school in February and thanks to More Music and the support of the Morecambe Artist Colony (MAC), it will now be available to view at More Music in Morecambe until the 4th May 2022.

The photographers:

Serenna Davis & Niamh Dalgleish from Year 9

Aaliyah Wright, Holly Cunningham & Ana Burgin from Year 10

Beth Hughes, Jess Wallbank & Milo Hutchinson from Year 11

Angel Cheang & Charlotte Smith from 6th Form

We started with a couple of questions, back in September:

Is it possible to boost our mood by trying to focus on the good stuff in our day?

Can our phone cameras help us to do that through the capturing of daily photos representing things we appreciate?

Despite some initial scepticism about whether phone photography can influence our mood for the better, 10 pupils were willing to take part in a 5-week phone photography skills course and also agreed to take daily photos that have a positive focus.

The range of photos created is diverse and each one tells a story that’s meaningful to the photographer.

Some of the comments made by young people who participated in the Brain Hacks group – Feb 2022

“I realised all of the things that might not seem interesting but given another thought they can become very beautiful things.”

“I’ve been making more memories of the people I love most and I value all the photos.”

“I’ve had a few lazy days where I haven’t done much, but I’ve got up specifically to take pictures.”

Please take time to enjoy the images and wonder about the stories behind them.

Maybe you could even try your own daily photo challenge for a week, a month, or maybe a year?

Each young person has chosen a favourite image to tell you about below, but make sure you check out the full gallery of photos too.

Find out more about the project at The Culture Coop's blog and my own info page.

The Midland

I like the view and that the Midland looked crisp and nice.

I like the shadows of me and my family in the bottom of the photo. I took the photo on Snapchat and liked how it turned out. It was a nice day and I got ice-cream.

Niamh Dalgleish

Reflection

I loved how the clouds were slightly pink and how the sky and buildings reflected on the water.

Sunsets have always been my favourite thing to look at and in this moment, I thought it was the most beautiful sunset I had seen!

I appreciate how beautiful nature can be sometimes and this photo lets me do exactly that.

Jess Wallbank

Locked

This photo is taken behind my school on a snowy day.

I am trying to capture the collapsed bin through a different perspective and bringing out an atmosphere of being ‘locked’. The bin (background) is in focus while the ‘cage’ is being blurred out.

Angel Cheang

Happy (AKA The Duck)

I was at the park with my family and I love all animals especially ducks.

I felt like the duck was in a happy mood it was just swimming around, but I love the way it looks and I feel it really fits in with the background – the background is natural, whilst the duck stood out with its bold colours.

Ana Burgin

Reflect

Walking across the river Lune made me grateful that I live in such a green and beautiful city – Lancaster.

I loved the combination of the sunset and the bridge, all reflected in the river.

A calming and tranquil feature of my home.

Beth Hughes

Pup

This photo of my dog Roxy is my favourite because it captured one of my favourite memories of all time.

That day was when we first brought her home and we were all so happy to have her as a member of our family.

That picture is the only one I had of her sat still as she was constantly jumping for joy and excitement. It was such a good day.

Aaliyah Wright

Double Exposure

I took this photo as I appreciated how serene and peaceful my daughter looked. During the session we learnt about double exposure and I really liked the effect.

Miss Rowan

Row

I took this photo as the houses were in a straight line and the sky was really pretty.

This image makes me happy and brings me back to that moment.

I used the grid method we learnt about on the course, to try to make it straight, putting the houses at the bottom third of the picture and the sky in the top two thirds.

Serenna Davis

Moss

A photo of moss between tile cracks, edited to seem abstract – the same shapes almost seem like a brain scan.

Zia (Culture Coop)

Falling

This image is one of my favourites as it started as quite a picturesque photo but after editing it became a sort of embodiment of one of my big fears, basiphobia (fear of falling), but in a way that I can appreciate.

Charlotte Smith