Day two: Sunpaper

"I am very very enjoying [the photography classes], I hope to learn to make good photos" - Vinod

The Monsoon has stayed around in Rajasthan for much longer than normal and we have been experiencing some very heavy rainfall accompanied by dramatic thunder storms; so it is with all our fingers crossed that we head out to the orphanage to do a sunpaper activity.

Sunpaper (or cyanotype) is paper which has been treated with chemicals which mean that once it is exposed to light it changes colour. Areas which have been covered, and therefore not had any light exposure, stay white. To fix the picture you simply have to run it under water for a few minutes.  We thought this would be a good way to get the boys back to the very basics of photography and teach them about composition.

The first part of the session it was scorching hot so the boys quickly got together items to create their pictures. After a few minutes in the sun the boys made a quick dash to the sink to fix the pictures. After leaving them to dry they were ready to think about their next pictures...but then our luck ran out and the heaven opens! So without the sun we had to move to the next activity, composition practise.

Photo by Sunil

The boys explored the grounds of the orphanage, practicing holding their cameras in landscape and portrait. In the last part of the session the boys have been reviewing their photos with the volunteers. They are keeping a journal in which they record their favourite pictures of the day and explain the reasons why they took that particular shot and what is they particularly like about it.

The volunteers are noticing a big improvement in the boy’s confidence; they are more willing to move around on their own and take pictures from different angles. 

Tomorrow we will be personalising their sunpapers.

Photo by Ashu

Photo by Kamash

Photo by Kanti

Photo by Rangeed

Day one: Introductions

We asked the boys who had used a camera before....no one raised their hand. 

When I arrived in Rajasthan a few days before the photography workshops are due to begin I was told by the staff who run the projects here in India that they were being asked ‘when do we start photography?’ by the boys every day they had visited the orphanage in the last few weeks. Each time they would reply ‘Monday’ but still the next day they were asking ‘when we start learning photography?’. It is so exciting to know the boys are so keen.

The volunteers all arrived safely to our apartment over the weekend so soon it was time to start doing the final preparations for the project. Unfortunately not everything went to plan...cameras which worked fine back in London had decided to stop working once they reached India. Luckily ‘everything is possible in India’ and we managed to collect together enough cameras for all of the 21 boys.

With the monsoon rains holding off for the time being (it is very uncommon for it to still be raining here at this time of year, yet we are having torrential downpours nearly every day!) we set off to the orphanage eager to start ‘clicking’ some photos. The orphanage, which is run by the government, is home to nearly 100 boys aged 4 -18. In this project we will be working with the elder boys, aged 15 -18.

We started by introducing ourselves to the group and then Gurav, one of the Indian staff members, explained about the project to the boys; what they can expect and what will happen with the images which they create. 

With the volunteers partnered with three boys each they set of to start playing with their cameras and get to grips with the settings, which they all did with surprising ease! To get the boys thinking about composition we gave each of them a frame which they could hold up and use as a viewfinder.

Everything was going really well with the boys’ confidence increasing, and then volunteers started coming to me and saying their batteries were running out. The batteries we had bought from England turned out to not be very good and only last a few minutes. The boys handled this amazingly, sharing the remaining functioning cameras between their group.

After a while practising with their cameras (while the younger boys were practising their posing!) it was time to start reviewing. All the volunteers were impressed with the quality of the photos they took, especially considering this is the first time they have ever used a camera, and found it hard to whittle images down to their favourites. Each student chose two photographs which they will later consider for inclusion in our exhibition.

What was planned to be an hour session easily turned into three hours, all the students and volunteers seemed to have an amazing time and can’t wait for the next session. This time we’ll make sure we have good batteries!

A few of the boys favourite pictures from the day:

Photo by Amit

Photo by Kanti

Before we start....

Namaste,

In this blog I will be documenting the progress of this participatory photography project which is taking place at an orphanage in the Northern Indian state of Rajasthan.  I will be selecting the most interesting photos from the day as well as sharing stories from the young people and the volunteers who are taking part in this project.

Firstly I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has helped to bring this project into reality; the staff in both India and the UK, the volunteers who are giving up their time to teach photography to the young people and all the people who have very generously donated digital cameras, without whom Life Through The Lens would not have been possible. 

Over the course of this two week project, volunteers from the UK who have a background in photography will be teaching basic camera skills to boys aged 15 – 18. They will be exploring different techniques which will enable the young people to document their lives in a just and empowering way.

I am very much looking forward to embarking on this project and sharing the pictures with you along the way.

Tabitha

Rangoli - for good luck