Alone Among Millions

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

Worldwide | Friday, October 15, 2010 | 5 photos

This past year, while working on my dual Masters in International Sustainable Tourism, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to West Bengal, India, to conduct research for my thesis. During my three months in West Bengal, I was often inundated with the chaos that accompanies millions of inhabitants in close proximity. As a consequence, I sought out brief moments of solitude outside the cacophony of confusion that people typify as India. My photos speak to the ‘Other’ India, one of insular solitude, isolation, or silence. I sought to create a 'place portrait' in contrast to the commonly expected. I believe that the place between a lived experience and a photograph is the space in which an idea is created; the idea that a place becomes important because someone or something has been there.

As photographer Lewis Hine stated, “If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn’t need to lug around a camera.” I discovered how true this was during my experience in India. To me, a camera can become a valuable social and cultural tool demonstrating the myriad changes in our world, defining reality, and ultimately telling a story of people and their place.

I received my first SLR camera this past year and have had no formal training in photography. My experience so far has been an emotional relationship with the camera rather than a technical one. I have much to learn and the great desire to do so. The opportunity to work with, and learn from, Jason Edwards would be an invaluable experience, one that I could employ to further my work in fostering sustainable social, cultural, and environmental awareness.