BAYFIELD, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) — Venessa Gordon only needs one word to describe what it's like to be underwater with the camera.
“Peaceful,” Gordon said. “Peaceful would be the best word to describe it.”
For more than two years she was part of a program in Northern Wisconsin where teens went out with an instructor and took underwater photos in Lake Superior or waterways surrounding it.
“It helped me focus on the positives and actually let me do something productive instead of just sit and not do anything,” Gordon said.
The program was run through Northwest Passage, a group that works with mental health services for children and families/. For Gordon, she said the photo sessions made an impact on her.
“The biggest thing for me that helped me is my mental health, it really helped me I was going through a lot at the time, so it really helped with my mental health,” Gordon said.
Northwest Passage has a program that gets kids into nature to take photos. A subset of that program included the underwater trips.
Now the underwater photography is expanding into its own program called Lakewolves, or Zaaga’igan Ma’iinganag in Ojibwe.
Toben Lafrancois, an aquatic scientist at Northland College in Ashland, is leading the group after having the initial drive for underwater photography.
“These kids just latch on to these same things it makes me feel like we have this secret club, and it's a really big club of people who embrace this experience,” Lafrancois said.
Lafrancois said something about being in the water resonates with kids, and allows them to leave stresses behind.
“When you put your face in the water it shuts everything else out, you're not bothered by the social or other issues that are crowding your mind, you have to focus on what is going on in front of you, and they find a lot of peace in that,” Lafrancois said.
For many the experience is a cultural one too. The program uses Ojibwe names for areas they shoot at to allow kids to connect tribal histories.
“The kids who have been culturally engaged were really interested in having the Ojibwe language be part of what we identify with the place because it sort of locks in that experience,” Lafrancois said.
The program has received Sea Grant funding to operate, but Lafrancois said funding is an issue for Lakewolves, particularly because cameras and underwater camera equipment are expensive. However, Lafrancois said he wants to make the program permanent.
“It's just really encouraging to me to see what the kids will do with it, and it's just amazing to see the stories that they will bring about the water,” Lafrancois said. “It blows my mind to see what these kids are capable of.”
Kids like Gordon would like to see the program continue running as well.
“It was just a whole 'nother place, another universe almost, it was really spectacular to see it another side of the earth,” Gordon said.
If you are interested in getting involved with Lakewolves you can email toben@lakewolves.org.