Photos Tell Stories – Class of 2014, The Gambia, West Africa

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Photos Tell Stories – Class of 2014, The Gambia, West Africa (with Helen Jones-Florio) © Jason Florio

Our first day with the Gambian students for the inaugural ‘Photos Tell Stories. Teaching photography – a visual language‘ gave us a good insight into how each of them use the camera – how they see things.

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Photos Tell Stories – Class of 2014, The Gambia (with Jason Florio) © Helen Jones-Florio

Jason Florio started with a brief history of photography by showing the students various photographers work, throughout the decades. He covered studio and environmental portraiture, landscape, and the power of telling stories through reportage and documentary photography; along with  exploring photographic techniques with the students.

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The students learn how to capture movement © Jason Florio

Jason also included work from our contributing professional photographers – many of whom graciously provided us with images that represent ‘home‘. As an assignment, we will be sending the students home with their cameras tomorrow to produce work that represents ‘home‘ to them. It will be interesting to see what they come back with.

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Setting up – the theory – Jason Florio © Helen Jones-Florio
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The students get to introduce themselves © Helen Jones-Florio
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Portraiture © Helen Jones-Florio (screen images © Jason Florio ‘Silafando’)
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Thanks for the photography books, powerHouse, NY – also on the table, including: Raphael Fuchs; Virginia Quarterly Review; Trunk Magazine; Geographical Magazine
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Jason shoots with the students © Helen Jones-Florio
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Jason demonstrates to the students on how to capture movement © Helen Jones-Florio
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Capturing movement © Helen Jones-Florio

We both really enjoyed our first day with the students – they were curious, engaged, and eager to learn – and, looking at the work they have produced so far, there are definitely one or two who appear to have a natural talent with the camera. More on that soon…

Tomorrow we’ll be looking at portraiture photography, in a formal setting, with the students taking portraits of each other. So, please check back again to see how they get on.

Thanks for stopping by.

The Florios (Helen & Jason)

Check out more of Jason’s photography at floriophoto.com

You may also ‘like‘ our Photos Tell Stories FB page or ‘follow‘ us on Twitter

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Photos Tell Stories thanks the US Embassy Banjul, The Gambia, for their support. Other partners and contributors here

 

Big thanks to our contributing photographers: Manjari Sharma; Amber Terranova; Amy Toensing; Sari Goodfriend; Ryan Heffernan; Ben Lowy; Stefan Falke; Oskar Landi; Thomas Donley; Brandon Remler; Wayne Lawrence;   Chris Bartlett; Robert Goldstein; Henry Jacobson; Heloise Bergman

 

Omar’s Peace Corps Kitchen, The Gambia – feeding ‘Photos Tell Stories’ photography students

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Omar’s Peace Corp Kitchen, at traffic lights (opposite GALP garage), The Gambia – Image © Jason Florio

Venue sorted – the YMCA, Gambia – and now thanks for the heads-up from Peace Corps volunteer, Justin Jewett, about ‘Omar’s Peace Corp Kitchen‘, we have a cook for our Gambian students, during their Photos Tell Stories photography workshop. We’re looking forward to Omar’s chicken yassa for lunch tomorrow – we’ve heard only great things about his cooking!

And, we are now wifi connected, with thanks to QCell, Gambia, for  the E303 USB Stick and Huawei AF23 Sharing Router

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Image © Helen Jones-Florio

We’ll be able to update during the workshop, thanks to QCell’s partnership.

More on that once we get started tomorrow morning.

Stay with us!

The Florios

Workshop Photographer: Jason Florio

Workshop Producer: Helen Jones-Florio

Recent press – via SLATE mag – HuffPost Arts & Culture features our ‘River Gambia Expedition – 1044km source-sea African odyssey‘ . Images © Jason Florio

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PRESS – see more here

The location for the 1st ‘Photos Tell Stories’ photography workshop, The Gambia, West Africa

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Image © Helen Jones-Florio

We visited the local YMCA today – which will be the location for our inaugural ‘Photos Tell Stories : teaching photography – a visual language‘ – at least for the theory part of the course; as we will also be taking our young Gambian students out and about, with their FujiFilm cameras, to photograph whats around them.

We are really looking forward to seeing what the students will produce – once we get started with the main group on the 2nd January, 2014. Albeit a little behind schedule – a combination of ‘GMT’ (Gambia Meantime) and the holiday season.  The pace is significantly more laid back here, compared to what we are used to in New York or London.  And, although that can have it’s frustrations, it’s also one of the main reasons we keep getting drawn back to this part of the world.  Each time,  in the first few weeks of arriving – still in our metropolis-living mode  of rushing around – it takes time to adjust, before we realize that we’ve spent half our working day hurrying up to wait! Like I said, GMT… thankfully, it’s kicking in, slowly but surely.  As it always does.

More updates coming very soon.

The Florios (Helen & Jason)

Photographer and Workshop Producer – ‘Photos Tell Stories‘

Press: Slate Magazine features the River Gambia Expedition

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Slate Magazine – December 2013

Thanks to Slate Magazine and Alyssa Coppelman for featuring our River Gambia Expedition – which we completed in January this year.

‘Jason Florio’s travels around the Republic of the Gambia read like tales of adventure from centuries past. Florio, along with his wife, Helen Jones-Florio, had already traveled extensively in the West African country before they took a 600-mile walk all the way around it in 2009. The first recorded circumnavigation by foot of the Gambia turned out to be practice for the Florios’ next adventure: documenting the River Gambia.’ Read more here

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Slate Magazine – December 2013 – images © Jason Florio

‘Photos Tell Stories – teaching photography -a visual language’

Update: The Christmas holidays have delayed us slightly but we now have a start date for the inaugural Photos Tell Stories photography workshop in The Gambia, West Africa: 2nd January 2014.

We’re really looking forward to working with young Gambia students – we’re particularly excited about what they will produce once we give them free reign of the camera (BIG thanks to FujiFilm, USA, for the cameras).

More updates coming shortly.

Thanks for stopping by

The Florios (Helen & Jason)

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The River Gambia Expedition team: Abdou, Ebou, Helen, & Jason – near to the source of the river in the Fouta Djallon Highlands, Guinea-Conakry