By Rafi Josselson
What is a day at TLS like? Some days are full of joy: a shavruach game or a sports victory. Other times, students demonstrate intellectual curiosity like a chemistry lab or a Socratic seminar. And many days, deep bonds of friendship are forged. To capture these moments, TLS takes pictures and videos and shares them with the broader community.
Digital Communications Specialist Magan Mullino Schain takes many photos daily at the lower and upper schools. She then curates them for social media, outreach, admissions, and marketing. She joined TLS full-time in January 2022 and has enjoyed sharing the TLS experience with others since then.
“There’s a lot of working with different people in different areas of the school,” Schain said. “I love getting to know all the people on both campuses, both the students and the professional staff to be able to kind of tell the stories about what’s going on at any given moment with any given group.”
Mullino Schain can’t be everywhere at once. Therefore, other faculty must take photos as well. Talmud teacher Seth Pertain does this often at sports games and high school events. Pertain had an interest in photography from a young age.
“So, my mother bought a camera when I was like nine years old when I was going to camp for the first time,” Pertain said. “I remember we stopped at some convenience store and there was a toilet on the roof of the store. I remember taking a picture of that. I liked taking pictures of things that are either taken for granted or not normally seen.”
One of the most common uses for photos is online through TLS’s social media accounts. On Instagram, Schain compiles and shares a flashback Friday each week to showcase what has occurred at TLS. She believes that flashback Fridays serve a unique purpose.
“I like to try and kind of tell the story of the magic that happens in the classroom between the teachers and the students,” Schain said. “I think that it only takes a picture to kind of encapsulate the fact that our teachers are working hard to bring learning to life in new ways for the kids. When you see a come to life in their faces I think that also has a huge impact.”
While photos are used for social media and marketing purposes, photos can also be valuable to students. The school enjoys sharing photos with students as a reflection of their experiences.
“In 12 years, the juniors are going to be having their 10-year reunion, right,” Pertain said. “And someone is going to look back in the school server to look [for] 15 pictures from each year for their reunion. They are not just taken for the moment. They are taken just as much for the future.”
There are numerous challenges associated with taking the photos. Schain noted that her photography can disrupt learning, and she tries to avoid this. Pertain faces a similar challenge.
“What drives me nuts is when I’m taking pictures for an event and students are so fixated on wanting to get, like, this picture or that picture, they start screaming my name and pretending like the event isn’t happening,” Pertain said. “And in those cases, I usually don’t take pictures of it.”
Overall, the photography done by Schain, Pertain, and others makes a big difference. It’s used by TLS’s marketing teams to promote the school, the social media team to share with parents, and amongst students to share memories. Despite her early career being different from her current position, Mullino Schain notices the parallels between her careers.
“My role is very much documentary,” Schain said. “I was a TV producer for many years, and it’s all about telling stories of what’s happening. I don’t know how that necessarily relates to a message that I would have for the kids other than don’t hide for me. You know, beautiful things happen at this school, and it’s nice to be able to tell the stories of what happens here.”