Have you ever wondered what your life as a New Yorker looks like through someone else’s perspective? In Poly Prep’s Advanced Photography class, students discover new aspects about New York every time their camera clicks. Despite being just two-years-old, the year-long course has become quite popular with 38 students enrolled for the 2025-2026 school year.
Advanced Photography is taught by Visual Arts teacher, Adina Scherer, who has expanded the photography curriculum to what it is now.
In Advanced Photography, Scherer highlights how her students learn to “deepen their understanding of digital photography, learn how to do darkroom photography, shoot black and white film and develop it and scan it to use it digitally”
11th and 12th grade students with an interest in photography have the opportunity to take this class to build upon the skills that they learned in the Digital Photography One class. The Advanced Photography course is one of the two photography courses at school, and it builds on how students can view anything with a more artistic eye.
This course not only helps students expand their skills with a camera, but also helps them view New York and their day to day surroundings in a new way. Scherer sees this discovery in her students’ work because “they have to go take photographs of everything that’s part of their life.” Scherer also learns from her students, noting that she is able to see how “New York has lots of variety,” since all of her students “live in different places, so they make photographs of their neighborhoods that are all very unique.”
Walking through the Poly hallways, students can view the first exhibit of the Advanced Photography class and see the variety of photos taken. The photographs range from photos of themselves, to photos of houses, nature, streets and other people. The photos illustrate Scherer’s point that no one photograph will be exactly the same as the next.
Abigail Mangerson ’26, who is currently enrolled in Advanced Photography, explains that this course has helped her see New York in a new way, even when she is not actively taking photos for the class. If she notices something interesting walking on the street, she will “try to frame it in a perfect photo.” Mangerson has also become “a lot more observant about the little things,” especially the “quirky details that no one really notices.”
Ella Schoenburg ’27, another student in Advanced Photography, sees “a lot more” of the city than she would if she hadn’t taken the course, and she “notices things that [she] didn’t really notice before.” Schoenburg builds on the idea of how this course doesn’t solely refine photography skills, but also helps students think in a more abstract or different way that they haven’t before, therefore also helping them view the city in a fresh light every time they go outside. Next time you walk down the halls in Poly, take a moment to look at what New York City looks like through the eyes of your classmates.
