Connections

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

Worldwide | Saturday, October 8, 2011 | 5 photos

My photos were taken while overseeing a volunteer project in the Andean hillsides of Peru. I was living in a school with 28 local students for a week. The community have never received any aid or assistance from "gringos" (white people). These are the stories of the students, families, and their surroundings. I've been privileged with many opportunities to travel through my job as an outdoor educator. One of my favorite things to do when I return home is to share those experiences with friends, family, and my students. I feel that stories are often better received seen than told. I want to learn how to capture the stories of the people and places I visit to inspire those around me to explore on their own. I want to expand my knowledge of this technique. I want to learn the hard skills of foreseeing a moment and learn how to properly set my camera to best capture the essence of the image. There are times during my travels when I've felt the magic of a sunrise, moon glow above a tree, children laughing in a water park, the mist rising over a river and I felt restrained by my ability to capture it on film. I want to learn how to do this so I can share these moments with my community. I want to be able to have people look at my photography and feel as if they were there with me. I want my photographs to be as great of a storyteller as I am.