By 500 Pens Editors
“Programs like the Bronx Junior Photo League and ICP at the Point show that young image-makers are keenly aware of the world around them and how they wish to portray it,” wrote journalist and photographer David Gonzalez last year in the New York Times. “They know an outsider might see only menace or pain. They see a neighborhood.”
The Bronx Junior Photo League (BJPL) about which Gonzalez wrote is a free, after-school program at the Bronx Documentary Center that’s offered to sixth through twelfth graders. Through it, students are taught how to use photography to explore their communities, families and environments. In addition to lessons in photography and multimedia production, the teenagers learn to conduct interviews and write stories; they meet with professional photographers and visit museums; and, if interested, they are given guidance on applying to college.
Below are photos by BJPL students from an exhibition they held earlier this year, “Journeys: Immigration Stories.”



© Nailea Dominguez/Bronx Documentary Center


Cover photo: Bronx Junior Photo League students and their teacher. © Bronx Documentary Center
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