Senior Kyle Blasi, has been involved in many facets of high school and participated in many artistic and social activities, from captaining Knowledge Bowl to directing his own documentary and now to political photography at the “No Kings” protest held on October 18th of this year.
Blasi occupies himself with a passion he considers sovereign: the camera. “I think that the more I practice with a camera, whether it be videography or cinematography, the more it feels like kind of an extension of myself. I don’t really have to think about what I’m doing. It becomes, like a part of me, in a sense,” Blasi said. “I think that across photography and cinematography, capturing genuine human emotion and connection is really important to me.”
Since last year, Blasi has been studying photography at Manitou Springs High School with the guidance of photography and art teacher: Paul Bonner. Through four years of advisory together, Bonner recognises his ambitions and performance. “He has been performing tremendously. He is a very self-motivated, self-directed individual,” Bonner said. “He’s highly creative and he’s severely, severely dedicated. And I say that the best way possible.”
Just in class alone, Blasi has already tried out many skills under the teachings of Bonner. “He’s done the forms of photography and styles and techniques we’ve done in class. In our Intro to Photo class, it is basic camera operations and functions, kids have had to do assignments dealing with certain aspects of photography, shutter speed, depth of field, things like that,” Bonner said. “I also know he’s been working on videography, and that’s been his primary focus for his independent study this year.”
As Blasi nears graduation, his mentor shares an eager excitement for him in his future. “He’s been one of the few kids who has challenged me as a teacher and been really thirsty for knowledge and just wanting to learn as much as he can,” Bonner said. “I’m excited to see what Kyle does with his future and where he goes. I think he’s going to be super successful.”
This past month, Blasi and some of his friends attended the second No Kings protest in Colorado Springs. While he initially just wanted to show up to be another body in the crowd, he quickly found that the camera he had brought with him was unexpectedly put to great use. “My political photography differs a lot from my regular photography because last year I did a lot of assignments and a lot of photography where I focused on objects and creating a perfect scene. A lot of my photos were staged to an extent, and I would spend a lot of time setting them up and getting them ready, whereas the political photography I was doing was very candid and in the moment,” Blasi said.
Blasi was blindsided by the amount of photo-worthy moments as he ended up taking far more than he typically would. “Before, I would only take a few shots because I had a specific frame. I took over 700 photos in a couple of hours, because I was just snapping pictures of anything that caught my eye. It was just very on the hip and spontaneous. And I think there’s a beauty in that,” Blasi said.
Apart from photography, Blasi has taken his camera into other fields, primarily exploring cinematography. Over the summer, Blasi participated in a Youth Documentary Academy program at the recommendation of theatre director Wendy Harms and directed and made his own documentary. “Sometime last year, when Kyle was in my study hall, we started having conversations about him wanting to do film work, and he didn’t know about the YDA program,” Harms said. “I have had students involved in YDA for as long as YDA has been open, and the founder likes the students that I recommend. He likes Manitou students.”
Blasi has already undertaken many subgenres of his artform, and Harms considers this volume of interests, subgenres, and projects to be exactly what one needs to be an interesting and successful person. “Why is there too much? We learn all of our lives,” Harms said.
His mentors in multiple fields have high hopes for him and his future endeavors. “I would like to see Kyle going to some kind of program that really lights him on fire, and he can figure out where in our industry he wants to be,” Harms said. “Kyle has capabilities in a lot of different things, I would love to see him do what he wants to do.”
