For the four day Photos Tell Stories photography workshop in the Kombos, The Gambia, our young students came from various schools in the region. So, on the first day of the workshop, as a way of getting to know each other, and to familiarize themselves with the FujiFilm digital cameras, photographer and tutor, Jason Florio, asked them to photograph each other – and, he also instructed them to direct their subjects. Following are just a few examples from the students that first day.
‘Photos Tell Stories‘ photography workshop #1: The Kombos region, The Republic of The Gambia, West Africa – students were chosen from various senior secondary schools in the region
The students spent most the first day in the classroom with Jason Florio, P.T.S.’s photographer and tutor, where he covered the following topics: a brief history of photography; what is a photograph; portraiture; environmental portraiture; reportage; landscape photography (including showing the students images from all of our contributing photographers); guides and techniques; what makes a good photograph; rules of photography (rule of thirds, leading lines, etc.); lighting; editing. Lastly, how the students could share their world through photography.
We then went on to familiarize the students with the digital cameras (thank you to FujiFilm USA for their support):
To check out our ‘behind-the-scenes‘ album, please visit the ‘Photos Tell Stories’ FB page – where you can see the students and Jason Florio at work, during all the photography workshops.
‘Photos Tell Stories’ students receive their workshop certificates Silicon Institute, Soma, The Gambia, West Africa
We have just returned from a very productive couple of days in the up-country regions of The Gambia, where we took ‘Photos Tell Stories: teaching photography – a visual language‘ on the road. And, the students we taught have produced some incredible images, of which we will share with you all on here very soon – once we have put an edit together. Speaking of editing…
After each of 1-day ‘Photos Tell Stories’ workshops, in the evening the US Embassy Banjul team (our main partners – special thanks to Josh Shrager, Papa Njie!) would set up their cinema-sized inflatable screen in a main area of the village or town. In Soma we had a great program – projecting the students work onto the screen for all to see.
Using the sound system from the embassy, and DJ’ing West African vibes courtesy of one of our students – Alhasan Bah ( from the Silicon Institute), people were dancing and cheering throughout the screening – it was quite the celebration! We felt very humbled to have played a part in the excitement of the students seeing their images up there on the screen.
When the music stopped, we then screened our River Gambia Expedition footage. The audience seemed fascinated by the moving images of their country – along with Senegal and Guinea-Conakry – portrayed on the huge screen. I think we could have gone on all night!
The first of our up-country Photos Tell Stories photography workshops is at Farafenni Senior Secondary High School. Big thanks to Musa Jallow for helping us set up today.
PHOTOS TELL STORIES - documentary | filmmaking | photography | people | travel 