When people tell their own stories and take photos of themselves, the results are quite different from when outsiders bring in their stereotypes and their agendas.
I love love love this photo series by youth in Croix des Bouquets and Jacmel.
In October, 2010, Plan commissioned Natasha Fillion, a Canadian photojournalist based in Port-au-Prince, to train and work with 22 teenagers to document their own lives in their own home, neighborhoods and schools. The youth, ages 14-19, got a crash course in photography and were given a digital camera and sent out ‘on assignment’ in their communities. Their brief was to cover topics such as home life, education, leisure, friends, everyday Haiti, and anything about which they were passionate. The photos were taken over a period of 2 weeks.
Fillion commented ‘I go out and I’m covering demonstrations, violence and destruction but there’s a whole side of Haiti that the media, the whole world doesn’t get to see, and I told the students — this is your opportunity to show people what Haiti is really like. These are photos that tell the story of Haiti as a whole, not just news.’
February 3, 2011, update:
Interview with 2 of the youth photographers and Natasha Fillion.
wow! some really beautiful photos in there!
I saw the outcome of a Unicef/ MDG Fund project in the slums around costa rica. they got the youth to develop a campaign against violence through media, (photo, video, design…) I was really impressed with the outcome as well. there is so much potential, and also for employment later
thanks Angelica – and agreed…. We do a lot of work with kids and different tools for expression — both digital and non-digital, depending on the audience. Kids and cameras seem to be a natural fit, and normally kids don’t show themselves as victims. No one has taught them that they are supposed to look poor, helpless and impoverished. It’s refreshing and feels much truer to what actually happens in communities – regular life.
Yessss this is wonderful. Thank you for sharing these!
I’m curious how you found out about this project, if you wouldn’t mind sharing. I’ve heard mixed reviews from a few Haitians about Plan’s interactions with local folks in Morne Lazarre and some other poor neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, but this definitely goes down as a positive in my book.
well… I have a small inside connection… 🙂
fantastic!
thank you!
[…] rest is here: Haiti, through our eyes AKPC_IDS += "7574,";Popularity: 50% […]
[…] This final video is a series of photographs taken by youth in Haiti. For a great explanation of the project see Wait… What?’s post Haiti, through our eyes. […]
[…] These pictures, the result of an NGO-funded collaboration between a Canadian photojournalist and 22 Haitian teenagers living in Jacmel and Croix des Bouquets, are a beautiful reminder that Haiti is also babies with chickens, landscapes, going to school, solitude, hair-dos and cookouts. Via Linda Raftree, blogging at Wait…What? […]
[…] the always worthwhile Linda Raftree shares a photo series put together by youth in Croix des Bouquets and Jacmel. As she points out, it can be hard in the US […]
[…] fun video of an experiment, giving camera’s to teenagers in Haiti as asking them to document their lives for two […]
[…] Haiti, through our eyes – Wait… What?! […]
[…] Haiti, through our eyes – Wait… What?! […]
This is fantastic! What I think is particularly interesting from a purely photographic point of view is the fact that these kids (who I’m assuming do not have regular access to their own camera) choose to focus on subject matter in such a way that narrates their story so well.
I’m not saying kids with regular access to a camera wouldn’t do the same if they were given a brief but there is something fascinating about the way that these pictures relate life in the way that a documentary photographer would do, with calculation and consideration, thinking about how they want to portray things and what to focus in on. The pictures thus tell a story of how they live from the perspective of people who have probably yearned for such a chance to express themselves for a long time.
I am still of the mantra that digital cameras on mobile phones and the speed of everything now plus the enormous accessibility has made us all think less about taking a picture. This is a big generalisation I know but I think it is true. I know myself when I get my old view camera out with film that costs almost £10 a shot, I make damn sure I’ve got exactly what I want in one shot. It transports me away from my commercial digital work and gives me a greater respect for the process and that’s why I do it. It’s not cost that is an issue here, it is the fact that there is a poignant appreciation for what a camera enables you to do if you are in the right ‘frame’ of mind.
Just to add – maybe there is an element of freedom a camera gave these young people that allowed them to express years and years of their lives in pictures, each image for me, describes so much that you get an idea of the photographer’s story as well as that of the subjects. Genius!
Thanks Oliver-and totally agree with both of your comments. These shots were especially striking for all the reasons you mention.
I got out my old camera recently too, the one with no auto focus and real film. It totally changed what and how I shot.