By: Madison Krzos

Let’s take it slow. 7,000 frames per second slow. In mid-October Argo students got the opportunity to use a professional grade slow motion camera. This gave interested photography and film students a chance to use high quality equipment while capturing great shots.

Mrs. Garrett and her classes spent weeks prior brainstorming subjects to film. There were obvious ones like water balloons and pumpkin smashing but they knew they had to take advantage of this opportunity and think outside the box. Photography and film student Sam Solis knows this all too well, she says “Since we knew the slow motion camera was such a big opportunity, we wanted to capture the most unique shots and I think we did that successfully.”

Sam ended up getting globs of paint thrown at her. Other things that were slowed down included: bubblegum being popped, weight-lifting, blenders blending, welding torches sparking, hurdle jumping and cymbal crashing, just to name a few.

To get these shots were no easy task. Setup included framing the shot and lighting it properly and this didn’t just take a few minutes but rather around 15-20 minutes each shot. The camera only captured 30 seconds of slow motion footage at a time and then we go into saving the film, which would take another 15-20 minutes. Sam says “I didn’t expect it to take that long to save but when you see the finished product the wait is well worth it.”

There was a lot of interest from the student body says Sam. The cheerleaders, track team and culinary classes are just a few that got involved. Sam tells me “This was one of those times that everyone came together and seemed genuinely excited.” When a shot was done filming everyone would immediately gather around the computer for playback. The students definitely showed an undisputed interest in the camera.

With the help of Mr. Lettiere and Mrs. Garrett Argo students were able to experience something that not many high schools are able to. In fact, Argo is the only high school in Illinois that has had this opportunity. The camera brought the student body together and produced some awesome shots. A slow motion highlight reel is available to view on Argo’s media site.