Forest Koslow, 15, has always been a creator. He started drawing years ago, but he felt like something was missing from his creative practice. 

“I noticed that every time I drew something, it always came from my mind,” he said. “I wanted to be able to capture something that was out of my control, something that I couldn’t create without other people and my surroundings.”

That’s how Koslow landed on street photography. Now, he’s learning more about the craft through a free one-week summer camp for teens hosted by the Cleveland Print Room in partnership with Cuyahoga Community College’s Creative Arts Academy. The camp, which ran this past week, is just one of the Cleveland Print Room’s youth programs. The organization provides free photography education to about 500 young people each year. The next free youth summer camp, focused on film photography, starts July 22. 

Street photography is exactly what it sounds like: capturing images of people and public spaces. It’s been around as an art form for nearly as long as photography itself has existed. In addition to technical and creative skills, street photography helps build social skills and tune students into their surroundings, said Lexi Deet, the Cleveland Print Room photographer who taught the camp.

For Deet, photography of any genre can help young people explore their identities through self expression. She was a teen when she found photography and immediately fell in love with the craft. 

“I was having trouble finding myself at their age,” Deet said. “So it’s really awesome to be able to sort of inspire them and just kind of give them permission to have fun and be creative.”

That’s why the Cleveland Print Room prioritizes youth programming. Photography encourages people of any age to think more critically about how they perceive the world, said Orlando Caraballo, the Cleveland Print Room’s education director.

“So much of photography is really about learning how to see the world, learning how to form a point of view and then wrestling with that,” he said. 

James Pleasant, 16, started photographing four years ago when a concussion sidelined him during football season at University School. He couldn’t play for a while, so he started photographing his teammates. Although he’s not sure if he wants to pursue a career in photography, he said he’ll always take photos as a hobby.

“I kind of find it peaceful because I can listen to music and just be by myself, like, kind of off to the side,” Pleasant said. “You can do it with friends as well, but I just like the idea of being alone and just taking pictures.”

For 14-year-old Casey Higgins, this camp was her first time working with a professional camera. She used to photograph mostly nature on her phone, but now, she’s more interested in photographing people. She never realized how photography could help her connect with people, she said. 

“I can capture a moment,” Higgins said. “[Photography] can capture things that sometimes your brain just can’t, especially the beauty of a place. Sometimes, the most dull things are so amazing on my camera.”