Late night edits for Mr Florio. We are seeing some fine work from our Gambian students on their first day of Photos Tell Stories. These kids are catching on fast – taking on board what Jason explained to them about composition and technique, before we handed over the cameras to them yesterday.
Today Jason will be teaching the art of portrait photography – with each student photographing each other. Tonight, Jason and I will no doubt have another late night of uploading and looking at the students images produced today, so that we can cover editing with them in tomorrows class.
If yesterdays work, from the students, is anything to go by, we look forward to another late night!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
PHOTOS TELL STORIES - documentary | filmmaking | photography | travel | Dogs 