In 1996, Elise Campbell was teaching kindergarten students about letters, shapes, and colors. Nearly 30 years later, after creating a successful photography business and cementing herself into the Pascack Valley community, Campbell has returned to teaching: this time as an Interim Photography Teacher at Pascack Valley High School.
Teaching
Campbell’s teaching career began when she taught preschool while in college; her career advanced in the late ‘90s, when she taught elementary school students from kindergarten to second grade in Dumont and Tenafly. Eventually, she taught a TV/Video Production class at Tenafly Middle School.
Campbell hasn’t taught students since 2012 because of other endeavors.
“I moved up through Elementary and Middle School,” she said. “But when I had kids, I transferred over to photography.”
Campbell, a mother of three kids who have made their way through the Pascack Valley school system, grew up in a family full of artists and teachers, so the idea of art and photography wasn’t completely far-fetched.
After missing her middle son’s first steps on an old, junky camera, she felt determined to get better at the art.
“Everything in my life is guided by this ‘a-ha moment’, where I was like, I need to get good at this,” she said. “I didn’t know why yet, but it felt right.”
Photography
Campbell continued to improve her photography skills by practicing with portraits of her kids.
“I think I was starting to annoy my kids because of how much I practiced on them, making them keep their poses in different ways,” she recounted.
Over time, Campbell was able to naturally progress in the field, but it didn’t come easily at first.
“I bought a good camera, submitted my work, and got ripped apart by every expert in the field,” Campbell said.
That practice eventually evolved into a full-fledged photography business with a studio in Hillsdale. Campbell offers family portraits, baby photos, headshots, and more.
“Since I was teaching part-time, and I was able to work on photography part-time, people started asking to hire me, and it was a very organic process,” Campbell said.
Campbell has stayed involved in teaching via photography workshops for adults, a girls’ school in Africa, and local Girl Scout troops.
In the Community
Campbell uses a blend of her photography and teaching experiences to contribute to the community.
“I love being involved in the community, and it’s like that organic process – it comes naturally,” she said. “If there is something that I can do to contribute to the good of everybody in the community, I just do it.”
“It’s wonderful because I get to see the results firsthand. I get to see my impact every day: whether it’s watching my daughter thrive in the education system or giving back to someone who needs it,” Campbell said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when her daughter was graduating fifth grade, Campbell went to every single fifth grader’s house to take outdoor yearbook photos.
At many PV musicals, Campbell has been responsible for taking headshots and photos of the cast. During this year’s musical, her dog Penny, whom she fostered from Good Karma Dog Rescue in River Vale, played the role of Rufus.
“I take photos for Good Karma, and I foster [dogs], and I got stuck with this little puppy Penny,” she joked. “Ever since she was cast in the show, we call her ‘Rufus’ about 80% of the time so she gets used to being called by both names.”
Since coming to PV in November, Campbell has rediscovered her passion for teaching.
“I forgot how much I love education, because I’ve been out of it doing photography for 15 years,” she said. “I love the community here of educators; I think I missed it when I was a photographer alone in my studio. And I love involving students with the community, like taking headshots for theater.”
Back in the classroom
In Campbell’s opinion, the fascinating part of teaching high schoolers versus lower grades is the amount of creative liberties she is able to take. She has also been able to incorporate some of her own lessons into teaching, like the “Eras” project which can be seen outside of her classroom.
“The ability to focus so much more on the content of what you’re teaching versus making sure kids are standing in line and writing your name on a paper has been amazing,” she said.
The project reflects the students and human connection rather than still objects like a typical photography class.
“The importance of incorporating more portraiture than there was before is the human connection. I think we’re so tied to technology that we’re not looking into each other’s eyes and reading an expression – so having students learning to read faces again is important to me, but also because that’s how we can serve our school community.”
Students are using their portraiture skills outside of the classroom by taking new headshots of teachers, taking photos for the school play, and helping out with whatever else pops up throughout PV.
“Campbell’s done a beautiful job stepping into a difficult and challenging situation; it’s always difficult coming in after the year has started,” Supervisor of English, Art & Libraries, Valerie Mattesich said. “So she’s really steering the ship and we’re very lucky to have her this year.”
After a journey of all things photography and teaching, Campbell has finally been able to put the two together and fulfill her newly-found dream.
“I didn’t know this is something I wanted to do,” she said. “All of my photography career, I’ve had teaching dreams, and I could cry at how grateful I am that my two worlds get to come together.”
