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Through the Shutter: The Snapshot Program at Magic Sky Ranch


Snapshot arrived on the Sunday all eager for camp to begin, cameras at the ready. All the campers began checking in, making their way down to their home for the week- Cassiopeia, and they met their awesome counselors for the week; Pikachu, Red tail, Kodiak and Snoopy! The first night went by so fast as it was so filled with planning for the week, deciding on what activities we wanted for the week as well as games and then opening campfire where all the counselors performed skits.


On Monday, the first full day of camp, we had such a busy day.  We began the day with Dance and Drama with Cinderella where we played improv games. Then it was time to head over to the Archery field, we learn how to shoot and then we all got to shoot 3 arrows each.

After lunch we had nature and science with Ladybug where we did jelly belly-ology. We learned about classifications of living things and then we got to classify jelly beans, we also got a chance to take photos of all the interesting things in Ladybugs room.

Then after dinner we had an introduction to photography, we got to learn about different types of photography, and basic techniques and terms, for example aperture, exposure and shutter speed. Then we got to practice what we learned, by going around camp and taking an alphabet of photos. For this we each took a photo to represent each letter of the alphabet, we were as creative as we wanted to be. Finally we concluded the evening with s’mores.


Soon enough it was Tuesday, or otherwise known as inside out day for our unit, so we all headed to breakfast with our clothes inside-out. After breakfast we had nature and science with Ladybug, we learnt about zodiacs and made our own using paper. We then made our own lava lamp using water and oil, which operated on the principles we learned regarding the difference in mass of things. We then had arts and crafts with Ash where we got to make pop can tab bracelets.

After lunch we had nature and science again where we did strawberry DNA, in which we extracted the DNA from a strawberry. After this we made marshmallow men using different DNA variables.

We then had a pack out dinner followed by a sunset hike to look out point, it took us about 30 minutes to get there, but once we did it was so pretty as it looks like you can see for miles. We took lots of photos here, we also got to use the Polaroid camera and Lomography camera. After some time at lookout point, we began our descent back to camp, and got back to the cabin just in time for bed.


Then Wednesday came about, and we were having character day so we all got to dress up as our favorite characters or even ones we made up. To start the day we had dance and drama with Cinderella where we did improv dance.

Then it was time for all camp, which was Disney stations. We stayed in the activity centre where all the stations were set up. The stations included face painting, Disney talent show, balloon animals, princess crown making, and dress up relay race.

After we had lunch we stayed in the dining hall for a piggy party, this means we got to eat chocolate pudding, in which we had to find a gummy worm. The catch was that we couldn’t use our hands. So we all got very messy.

It was then time to go to the climb wall where we all got to climb and we all met our personal goals we made ourselves.

Then after dinner we went back to our cabin for a spa night, so we all showered and got clean, and did our hair. Some of us even painted nails.


We woke up on Thursday for the last full day of camp and 80’s day, so we all dressed in neon, side ponytails and baggy clothes. We began our day with nature and science with Ladybug where we did bottle rockets.

We then had our hike to the lake, which took about 30 minutes. We took lots of pretty photos along the way, and when we got there the lake was so beautiful, that we took lots more photos. When we were done taking photos, we went to the shelter area to have lunch, and a bit of a break, until we headed back to camp.

Then we had arts and crafts with Ash where we made dream catchers, we also picked our favourite photos to be in a slideshow on Friday, and practised our skit.

After dinner it was closing campfire, where all the units got to perform their skits. They were all really good and funny.


Friday was the final day of camp, so we woke up bright and early. We began the day with a little bit of packing, followed by high ropes, where again we all made personal goals. And I think we all met them or beat them. Then it was time for lunch, where we got to watch our photography slideshow which had all our photos in. It was so good, and everyone was commenting on how good the photos looked.

We then went to dance and drama for some drama games, and then it was time to go back to the cabin ready to go home.

The end.

Love Pikachu

If you want to see any of the photos this fantastic unit took during their week here, check out the two sets on Flickr:


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The first link is the slideshow of the photos they shared with camp.  The second link is all of the pictures campers took on the cameras they borrowed from camp.

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