As I previously wrote a little while back, I’ve been working with a diverse group of thirteen and fourteen year-old’s after school. A few had digital cameras, but most just used their mobile phones to make pictures. They didn’t talk very much and when they did they almost seemed to be whispering … polite but shy. There were no grades and class didn’t cost anything, so they didn’t have to come if something else was going on or if they didn’t feel like it. I got that. Nevertheless I wanted to succeed with them and perhaps make a small difference in their lives. We did a number of activities including a photo walk and looking at other art, and I exposed them to resources that could continually inspire them as they went forward. At the same time they were asked o make some photographs that would hopefully be printed digitally at home or at the local drugstore.
We started out with eight kids, but every week a different number showed up. Sometimes they brought prints, but usually they displayed what they did on their phones. Sometimes they did their “homework” assignments and sometimes not. I was always prepared to present something if they didn’t or there was some extra time to fill. I kept pushing on with whoever came to class.
On the last day when they were going to present their final group of pictures with a short written essay only three showed up. I sort of expected that so I wasn’t too disappointed. And I came prepared just in case I needed to fill some time. I brought pictures from a project I had done along with an accompanying essay to show and read if need be. Good thing I did.
But here’s the thing … those three kids either brought some prints or had a group of pictures on their phones that were a coherent whole. And one of them who basically never spoke, out of nowhere decided to show us a number of really good drawings and paintings she had made. She photographed them with her phone and passed it around for us to see. When we had looked at art she made pictures of the paintings. Now I knew why. Ok, so she showed more drawings and painting than photographs. Who cares … something made her decide to share her work with us!
I hope I got three kids to begin see the potential for photography … and other art … in their lives going forward. One of the other kids said he wanted to make pictures then use them to create paintings.
Maybe I asked for too much and maybe that intimidated some of them. Maybe my expectations were too high. Nevertheless, I’m satisfied with the outcome. Touching three kids that never made any meaningful photographs before, or causing in some small way one of them to show work she never shared before made it all worth it.
Stay well,
Michael