Today, in particular, was great. We had an all day photo journalism workshop. This is part of our social research methodology course to prepare us for entering villages, conducting interviews and writing about the people. The workshop was conducted by a professional journalist/photographer named Nic Dunlop who specializes in the SE Asia region.
I've always had an interest in photojournalism. A photo can tell us so much about a person or an event without ever being present. The goal of this workshop was 1) to build a relationship with a person and 2) to tell a story through images. After seeing some of Nic's amazing photographs, he gave us some general tips of taking pictures and sent us out on our own to the streets to capture a person in photographs. By the end of the day we needed to have 5 pictures to present. A photographer can take hundreds of pictures only to end up with a few keepers. The task seemed daunting!
I chose to photograph a man who was painting a gate/fence. We exchanged smiles and I knew he would be photogenic. I spent over an hour hanging out with him and photographing him at every angle. It seemed awkward to get up close and personal. I had to lose any inhibition in order to get that perfect photo and to build a relationship. We became buddies and I even painted a post of the gate for him! It was an empowering feeling to get over the fear and throw yourself into a situation that could be quite uncomfortable. Apparently Asians don't have a similar discomfort of being photographed as us Americans do.
In the afternoon I set out for a new subject. I found a colorful hair salon down the block and hung out there taking pictures at every which angle. I loved trying to capture the essence of people in their daily routine through a photograph. Below are some of the over 200 pictures I took today.
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