Truth With A Camera

There's all kinds of exciting developments going on with my photography! I'm happy to announce that my next photography assignment will be in Guadalajara, Mexico as a participant in the Truth With A Camera Workshop.

In May I will be traveling with 15 other US-based photographers to Guadalajara, where we will team up with 15 Mexico-based photographers. Truth With A Camera partners with local NGOs to create media that is used to market the organizations' missions. For this trip, we will be partnered with NGOs in Guadalajara that advocate for children who make their living on the streets. My daily schedule will include a full day of photography and interaction with these kids, followed by a full evening of photo editing, under the guidance of some of today's top photojournalists. It should prove to be an amazing experience both personally and professionally.

An added bonus is that I will be traveling with a great friend and fantastic person, Joey Cardella. Please visit his newly launched website www.joeysee.com.

Joey recently returned for South Africa, where he was serving as a Peace Corps volunteer. While there, Joey snapped this captivating photograph. Joey's photos cuts through the the b.s. that tends to divide people, and focus on the aspects of the human condition that unites people around the world. It'll be great to experience Guadalajara with him. Please return in June to see the work that comes out of our week in Mexico.

South Africa 2004 (Catching You Up: 1 of 11)

My journey with photography began in South Africa.

The above image was taken at the Tumelong Haven, a daycare center for children afflicted with HIV/AIDS in the Gauteng province of South Africa. I'm not sure if these youngsters were related, but the standing child acted like a protective older sibling when I pulled out my camera. Her somber face didn't match her age, and when I snapped this photo I knew personally for the first time the power that an image can have in communicating reality.

Also shot at the Tumelong Haven, this photograph contrasts the heaviness of the underlying reality of these kids' situation. I quickly found out that when you point a camera in South Africa at a group of children, you'll have an inexhaustible supply of willing subjects. My favorite aspect of this image is the left eye of the young girl on the right of the photo.

When our combi driver, Solly, stopped for directions in Attridgeville, I jumped out to meet three boys who were making an afternoon out of a few old tires. The game was simple... get the tire rolling down a huge hill by tapping it as you run next to it ... after it gains considerable momentum stop running ... watch as it momentously crashes into a decrepit wall or fence... laugh hysterically with your friends.

I think I still consider this photograph to be my best... not necessarily for its photographic merits, but for the pure magic of the moment. While working at the Mohau Center in Attridgeville I came across a girl who fell asleep in her tire swing. The rareness of this moment is, for me, the theme of this image. First, the backyard of the center is usually filled with rambunctious children. It was empty. Second, I had about 20 seconds from the second I found the sleeping girl to the time I took the photo. Immediately after I had taken it, a mischievous little boy, jealous of attention I had given to the little girl, came from behind me and promptly poured sand on her sleeping face. The still, quiet perfection of this moment was replaced by screams and tears in a matter of seconds. Finally, only one original print of this image exists, as its original file was lost. The circumstances around this photograph remind me of the beauty and significance of tiny moments that often go unnoticed and get lost in shuffle of our daily lives.