By JOANNE L. PAPAIANNI

The Photography and Literacy Project at the Bradley Elementary School in Asbury Park started its second year this week with selected second and fourth grade students. Local photographer John Meyerhofer began the project six years ago in New Brunswick as a way of reaching elementary students “at risk” for low literacy. Last year Meyerhofer, an accomplished, published photographer, saw a need for the program in Asbury Park and approached the Arts Coalition of Asbury Park (ArtsCAP) to get the program into one of the city’s schools.


During the 25-week program, Meyherhofer teaches concepts of basic photography, including terms and techniques. Students receive a camera each week which they take home to photograph their homes, families and neighborhoods. After the pictures are developed the classroom teacher works with the students to write stories about their pictures, while improving grammar, vocabulary and sentence structure skills. After providing almost all of the funding for last year’s project, Meyerhofer is getting assistance for this year’s project through ArtsCAP. According to Mark McDonald, President of the Board of ArtsCAP, the group has already obtained much of the $13,000 in funds needed, but is still seeking another $4,000. Funding will go toward the purchase of cameras, photo development, enlargements, photography supplies, film, framing, the end of program reception and most importantly the publication of each student’s book as the culmination of the project. Each book, said McDonald, costs $30 to print. There are 35 second and fourth grade students involved in the project this year. McDonald said the books will be published through an online publisher and will be hard cover, bound books. “They are really beautiful books,” and that, said McDonald, is the focal point of the project. “They become published authors – this is a project about literacy.”


After the project has ended the books are put in the school’s library for all students to read. McDonald said part of the funding for this year’s project is coming from 12-year-old Haley Peckman, of Wall Township who is donating the proceeds of a calendar she created to the project as part of her Bat Mitzvah project. Haley attends Temple Beth Miriam in Long Branch and will celebrate her Bat Mitzvah in the spring. Haley, who according to her mother Sue has always had an interest in photography, took a course in Belmar last summer, where she discovered she had a special talent for the art form. “She got a lot of positive feedback,” said Sue Peckman. Haley will donate all the proceeds, estimated to be about $700, from the sale of her calendars to the Asbury Park project. Haley, read about the project in an article sent to her from last year’s Coaster.


According to Sue Peckman, Haley took “common interest” pictures, such as animals and landscapes for her calendar and is managing the financial end of her project as well. “She’s a lot better than I was at that age,” said Sue. Haley found a publisher on the Internet, had business cards made and has sold several of her calendars already. In December she will sell her calendars at a craft show in Brick Township. “She has spoken mostly to people she knows, this way maybe we can plant the seed and other people will think to do something like this,” said Sue Peckman, who believes her daughter has found her calling in life. “She wants to do everything about photography now.” At the end of the program the students work is shown at a local art gallery, with a reception featuring food, drink and music, and attended by community leaders, parents and the new “writers/photographers.” Students photographs are also currently displayed in the hallways of the Bradley Elementary School, as well as the office of the Commissioner of Education in Trenton. “This is a total experiential program,” said Meyherhofer. “It works because it’s something these kids can relate to. This is their life and they get excited abut capturing it on film and writing stories about their life.”