New Photography Class at OCCTAC

I'm excited to have the opportunity to teach photography to an under-served population in Santa Ana, CA and we could use your support. Starting this week I'm sharing my experience with and enthusiasm for photography to teens enrolled in an after-school arts program at the Orange County Children's Therapeutic Arts Center (OCCTAC). OCCTAC is a local non-profit (501c3) organization dedicated to education, empowerment and therapy of at-risk youth and children with limited resources. Learn more about the center here: www.occtac.org

If you're interested in learning more or contributing in some way, Please contact me regarding how to make a donation to the Shutter Release Project, which is dedicated to collecting photo equipment for use in these types of programs. This is a perfect place for used photo equipment to make a huge difference, right now, we have nothing... we're hoping to collect any used digital SLR camera equipment so we can have something specifically for use for the participants enrolled in this class. Please help us make a difference and get the appropriate equipment into the hands of these teens. Thank you for your support!

To get in touch with me, please email: caseylarae@gmail.com

Santa Ana Library Project

Good News! I've been working with some teens from the Santa Ana Library on a photo project funded by a state grant. The teens and the volunteering adults are enjoying the project so much we plan to do another one this summer. We could use more equipment so don't hesitate to contact me if you have something you can donate.

For this Project, our teens had the opportunity to take a digital camera and walk around downtown Santa Ana and snap away. Each participant got to choose their favorite photo to print and submit to the OC Fair Photography competition. Teens chose a poem, lyric or book excerpt to explain their photo and the results are so cool, this is a great community ready to explore photography further. Here's what four of the participants created: