People as Places

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

Worldwide | Sunday, October 17, 2010 | 5 photos

As a photographer, I want my images to convey a message, stir an emotion, provoke a reaction. I want to tell stories of crisis, challenge, joy, diversity, and change. I want to show people something they’ve never seen before, or a new way of looking at something they’ve seen a thousand times.

The photos I have submitted are from my 2009 trip to northern India. Going there, I had a vague idea of what to expect. Y’know, I Googled it. But you never really know a country, or a place, or a group of people until you are there experiencing it… Until you are there, standing on a street corner, amidst whirling people and weaving tuk tuks and bleating goats. Until you are breathing in a mixture of dust and curry and gasoline… Or sitting by the Ganges river, watching a thousand people’s day start with bathing and praying. I wanted to bring this feeling home to friends and family who may never experience India for themselves. I wanted to change their perspectives and maybe even inspire them to take a journey of their own.

With each frame, I tried to observe my surroundings and capture the essence of what I felt. I wanted to freeze that street corner moment, so I could return to it, sit with it awhile, contemplate it, even question it.

And while I am proud of what I brought home, I have much to learn and improve upon. I can do better. I know the opportunity to learn from a professional like Jason Edwards would skyrocket my ability to tell the stories I want to tell about people, wildlife, and their environment. I want to learn how he observes and approaches a potential story, and how he uses his tools to capture it.