Description
A student holds up a photograph of her own back porch at six in the morning and explains why she waited for that particular light. That is what a year in this class does.
Photography & Digital Technology is a live online photography class for high school that walks your student through the whole process: planning, shooting, and editing. First semester covers the fundamentals of composition, lighting, and camera settings, applied through weekly projects in different genres of photography.
Second semester goes deeper into the technical side and into digital editing, visual artistry, and storytelling. Along the way students keep a photo journal, take part in themed projects, learn basic graphic design and photo presentation, and finish with a portfolio rather than a camera roll.
Angela Ferrell teaches it live each week, with beginners and experienced photographers in the same small class, pushing each one toward a personal visual style instead of a template. The tools are deliberately free: students work in Canva and Photopea, so no expensive software is required.
All they need is regular access to a phone or digital camera.
Photography is also a discipline of paying attention. Students close the year reflecting on how an image can be used to pursue truth, goodness, and beauty, which is a different question than how to collect more likes.
Angie Ferrell is a licensed teacher with a master’s in education and curriculum design who teaches history, writing, literature, psychology and photography. She is also an award-winning photographer: she has won two local wildlife photography contests, and the City of Vandalia hosted a private showing of her work following a local artisan competition.
“I really enjoyed this class! I think it would be easy to enjoy and learn at any level of photography. It was never overwhelming or difficult and I learned a lot, and I think my skills have improved immensely from before. It covered a wide variety of photography basics, styles, and skills and was all very interesting! -student”
— TNHA Student
Class details
– Teacher: Angela Ferrell
– Day and time: Mondays, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. CST
– Term: full year, 2027-28 school year
– Grades: high school; motivated middle school students are welcome
– Credit: 1
– Required materials: a phone or digital camera, a free Canva account, a free Photopea account
– Live, small-group class on Zoom
Reserve a seat. True North Academy is Cognia-accredited, and we handle grading and transcript credit for you.
TNHA Student –
My review of this class is I give it a 10 out of 10 I have learned a lot form mrs Sarah she is very nice and understanding If you have questions or have internet don’t we all lol so I suggest if your family or kid wants to learn form her definitely take this class.
TNHA Student –
I really enjoyed this class! I think it would be easy to enjoy and learn at any level of photography. It was never overwhelming or difficult and I learned a lot, and I think my skills have improved immensely from before. It covered a wide variety of photography basics, styles, and skills and was all very interesting! -student
TNHA Student –
I really liked this photography class! We watched cool videos on techniques for taking photos, we created fun projects in Canva, and we stretched out photography skills a lot! I can definitely see that I am a better photographer at the end of this class than before I did it. It was a great experience. – student
TNHA Student –
This photography class was a really cool experience and I learned a ton from it. I had so much fun being creative. This class helped me find my style of photography and what I like to photograph!