WHY WE WENT
DIGITAL
By: Hanna Roshak
As the whole world moves
toward a completely digital society, Ralston Valley High School
kept pace by eradicating the film
photography class, transforming it
entirely to a digital entity.
RV’s new photography teacher,
Troy Pfitzer, previously from
Arvada High School, is very
experienced in teaching digital
photography. Although he enjoys
teaching film because it’s very tactile and hands-on, he is excited to
lead photography students in a new
direction.
“I enjoy teaching digital because I am able to teach more,
much more quickly” said Pfitzer.
“It is very fun to work in the darkroom, but with digital, students
walk out with much more up to
date knowledge.”
The switch to digital was
influenced by Pfitzer, but it was
a decision made by a whole
bunch of people including the
principal, Mr. Gavan Goodrich, and the art teachers.
Jefferson County is ultimately working towards becoming completely digital.
Ac-
6
cording to Pfitzer, 90
to 100 percent of Jeffco
schools offer at least a
digital portion to their
photography class, though RV
is one of the first to become completely digital.
Although a new addition to the
Ralston Valley staff, Pfitzer envisions himself at RV for many years
to come.
“I foresee the photography
curriculum to become more established and getting equipment and
the program up to speed” Pfitzer
said. “But the way in which I teach
in five years will be much different
than how I teach now. The photography industry is fast moving and I
will work towards keeping up with
it.”
Even today, shifts in digital photography are surfacing. With the
digitalization of magazines, fine art
photographers are forced to change
techniques and learn new mediums
of advertising.
For example, Pfitzer predicts
GIF’s will be the next form of
digital art.
A GIF is a moving picture; a
series of similar photos, played at
a fast pace
to
form
a short
video.
Pfitzer is
already teaching his students the
way of GIF’s, hoping to familiarize
them with modern forms of art.
The previous photography
teacher, Heather Munoz, likes the
direction the photography program
is going but will miss film.
“I believe students responded
better to film because it was something different,” said Munoz. “All
of them have familiarized themselves with digital but not a lot of
them have experimented with film.
It was magical for them to watch
their photos develop and come to
life in the dark room.”
Munoz decided to become solely a ceramics teacher, not because
she didn’t enjoy teaching photography, but simply because she wanted
a change.
“I have taught photo for 10
years, and before that I studied
photography since I was,” Munoz
said. “I have only been interested
in ceramics since I was 21, and I