A final exhibition...

Hasita helps us set up for our exhibition.

Our final day with the children was a celebration of their work. To show the people of the community all of the beautiful images that the children made these past few weeks we set up an exhibition in a space on the temple grounds. Displayed were a final selection of the photographers' prints with hand made "frames," their scavenger hunt posters, and their notebooks complete with picture dictionaries, photographs with captions, family drawings, and personal bios. We had a great turnout and we hope this attention instilled a sense of pride in our kiddos.. they certainly deserve it.

Photographs hanging in our final exhibition.

Kelum has a look at his friends' notebooks

Maleesha's bio.

A page from Rahdunu's notebook

Madusanka's notebook.

A lively exhibition turnout.

The film crew came, and the some of our kids got an impromptu video lesson from Phil.

Our photographers with Becky, Lacey, and SLWCS volunteers Emma, Rachel, Samantha, Ceirios, and Alli

Wasgamuwa National Park

With some of the extra contributions, we were very fortunate to be able to treat our students and their parents to a second field trip. About 5 miles away from their village lies Wasgamuwa National Park. This national landmark is a reserve in which herds of wild elephants roam, and tourists are guided through the park to spot and observe these massive and enchanting creatures. Because of cost and transportation most of our students and their parents have never visited the park which is a mere 15 minute drive from their homes. They were utterly ecstatic! It's hard to describe the energy as we packed into yet another bus in 100 degree heat, the kids and their parents three- deep to a seat, cameras in hand in anticipation of their first visit to a place they had always heard about. And then there's the level of excitement on the bus when they spotted their first herd.. there are no words. Their sense of wonder and awe coupled with the gratitude in their eyes made for a profound and unforgettable experience. To all who made this possible... you have enriched the lives of a whole community of gracious people. I wish you could have been there.

Our first elephant siting.

Our bus to Wasgamuwa National Park.

Kelum thinks this was a great idea.

The fathers were just as excited as their kids! Love it.

Photographers at work in the Wasgamuwa National Park Museum.

Deeba enjoying the ride.

Having fun on the bus ride back to the village.


For some of the children's photographs from this wonderful day, click here.

Sardines...

Our transportation to Hettipola.

Scavenger Hunt in Hettipola!

Sameera showing me his image.

Through our students' photographs and our experience here, we have found that in this rural environment, the people here engage in their families and communities very closely through school, temple, farming, cooking, and their evening washing at local water sources. This small community of families is wonderfully tight- knit and their relationships are reflected through thousands of the kids' pictures we've had the pleasure to look through.

The closest town center, Hettipola. Photograph by Ayomika.

Now that our photographers had the chance to visually investigate the people and places closest to them, we thought it time for them to have the experience of shooting in a busier and slightly more foreign environment. Our kids are on summer vacation now, so this allows us the freedom to arrange a field trip! With a lot of help from Chinthaka and Sampath at SLWCS (Thank you both!), we arranged transportation to the closest town center, Hettipola. About 6 miles away from the school and temple, many of the villagers make it here a few times a month to buy goods and clothes, and visit a bank, post office, or hospital.

Packing in for the field trip!

Rebecca helps Hasita, Sampath and Anil review their list of potential subjects.

With English vocabulary in mind, we posed a challenge for the children as they ventured into town with cameras in hand.... an English scavenger hunt! We split them into small groups and handed out lists of English words for them to search for as they explored the visual landscape of a bustling place of commerce. It was a thrill to race around with the children in search for each word, and we were amazed at how focused and intent they were in their purpose... very few of them shot photographs of anything other than the words on their list (which was astounding considering the volumes of images they have been shooting around their homes!). The pictures from the outing were both clever and precise. Have a look....

Anil finds a two-for-one! BANANAS and BICYCLE. Photograph by Maleesha.

Sameera photographing Flowers

FLOWERS
Found by Sameera, Rasika, and Sisil.

Ravidu and Madusanka teaming up to photograph a pencil.

PENCIL
Found by Ravidu, Ishan, and Madusanka.

AIRPLANE
Found by Rahdunu.

JUMP
Found by Kelum and Thushan.

RICE
Found by Deeba.

Maleesha and Sandhamalie framing an image together.

To aide in reinforcing their English vocabulary words and providing a visual tool for their school, our students categorized prints of their scavenger hunt images alphabetically onto posters. We hope that these photographs are a source of pride and confidence (and a reminder of a really fun day!) when our kids see them displayed at school.

For many more photographs from our trip to town click here.

Cap

These guys are always interested in sharing their expanding English vocabulary. Hasita just realized that he knew the word for his hat- Cap!

English Language Learning

Our students are eager to learn English and they take every opportunity to let us know. To expand their vocabulary we had the kids create a picture dictionary in their notebooks. In small groups they brainstormed words that they knew for each letter of the alphabet. We also took this time to introduce new vocabulary relating to the family and the camera equipment. The kids worked diligently, paying close attention to detail as they created their dictionaries, and as you can see they are excellent artists!

Ravidu's picture dictionary

Rebecca working on picture dictionaries with our students.

Vidovanga and Sameera

Vidovanga is a little shy with his English, but Sameera is eager to show off the images of his father.

Editing, printing, captioning, Oh My!

Now that all the children had the chance to take the cameras home to photograph their families, we could work with them individually to show them their images, think about editing, play with image adjustment, and make some final prints for them to include in their notebooks.

The children's selections were intentional, visually smart, and earnest. It was obvious that each of them chose photographs that reflected someone or something dear to them. We have been so impressed by the raw and sincere beauty of every child's photographs, and witnessing them make such heartfelt selections reinforces how intuitive photography can be for children.

The kids fought to get the best spot to view the computer while I worked with each one to view their images and select photos to print.

Ravidu chose to print an image of his grandmother.

Vivaj chose an image of his baby sister (note his enthusiasm for photo corners).

Maleesha selected this loving image of her mother and father.

Hasita writes a complex caption for his photograph.

Susanthika shows off her photographs and adorned notebook pages.

We all have different Points of View...

After a few days away from Wasgamuwa, we were eager to return to not only see the images that the second half of our students shot over the weekend, but also to talk about some of the pictures that we have already seen and engage the kids in an English activity in their notebooks.

We began the day by discussing the concept of Point of View. All of the children's photographs thus far have been very visually different... we all see things in different ways, and photographs are a reflection of our varied ways of seeing. So how does this idea affect the images we capture? How many different ways can you take the same picture? How does the size of the subject change based on the vantage point and how does this affect the tone of the image? With help from SLWCS local employee, Samantha, these ideas were translated to the children by showing them their own work as examples of interesting points of view.

Maleesha chose to frame this image through the bicycle spokes. The lines in the foreground break up the image in an interesting way.

Maleesha also photographed this image of older kids in the village. The vantage point looking up at the teenagers exudes a sense of admiration.

Kelum's photograph of rice cultivation emphasizes the mass of crop that this farmer carries because he had chosen to fill the frame with the bail. In an area that depends heavily on rice cultivation, I thought this was a very smart image.

Chandra pointed the camera down at her own body to capture the vibrant color in her dress and flip flops. The point of view emphasizes the weight her feet hold.

Dilini made a visual decision to crop the head of her father out of frame. This vantage point places emphasis on his necklace. Perhaps it is of religious significance; we assume its importance because of its central position in the composition.

Vidovanga shot this artful photograph. A sense of danger is created by his vantage point looking up at barbed wire. Its silhouette against a dark sky makes for a simple provocative image.

We sent the children home with cameras to continue photographing their families as they keep in mind these many different points of view and how they affect their images.

Curriculum inspiration

I want to give a shout out to this really wonderful resource. Our ideas for this project have been largely inspired by Wendy Ewald's book I Wanna Take Me a Picture: Teaching Photography and Writing to Children. This practical and accessible guide is written for parents and teachers and has some really good ideas about photography for children, some like our family assignment, are very simple and affective, and some are a little more complex. The main idea is that photographs inspire stories from children's lives or fantasies and vice versa. The stories that play out in their images become a catalyst for writing and literacy. We have been able to take these ideas and modify them to meet the English needs of our students here.

Birthday in Wasgamuwa..

To our amazement the guys at SLWCS somehow came up with a birthday cake... and the sweet moves are courtesy of SLWCS field house employee and resident dancer, Syria. Best birthday ever... Thanks guys!

They borrowed all the candles from their chicken incubator. So resourceful!

A sneak peak...

This morning we went in to check out the photographs that our students shot last night around thier homes and with thier families. They took very thorough visual records from the moment they left school yesterday until they returned; one student came in with 593 photographs! We are thrilled that they are shooting so much, and many of thier pictures are stunning images of a day in the life of thier family. Here's a sneak peak.

Vivaj

Vivaj

Vidovanga

Sampath

Sampath

Maleesha

Maleesha

Kelum

Hasita

Hasita

Dilini

Dilini

Chandra

Ayomika

Ayomika

We sent the other half of the students home with cameras today. After taking the weekend to see more of the country with the film crew, we will return next week to talk and write more about their family photographs.