Okay, so I’m heading back to Ethiopia mid-November to spend time with Mike & go on a safari in Tanzania & Zanzibar (AHHHH!!!! :D)
As excited as I am to be overwhelmed and enveloped by all that is Africa, I am most excited about this particular project. I plan to teach people there about photography. I want to show them how it can become art, and teach them about contrast and composition, and the emotive aspect of it.
As I was brainstorming & researching, I became discouraged… this was becoming far more expensive & dangerous than I thought. I thought I could possibly set up my own darkroom there and I wanted them to be able to print & develop their own work, to really get a hands-on idea of what photography is. As I expected, all of the necessary equipment would be really expensive and big and the chemicals would be dangerous.
So what then?
Then a lightbulb went off. POLAROIDS!
Not only will these kids and families be able to have a hands-on approach of what it’s like to be a photographer, but they will be able to KEEP their own work. I’d like to give each of the students 5 prints — one shot of their families, one of them, and 3 others to show what is most important to them in that point in time.
Think about how lucky we are in our society to be able to freeze a moment in time. Not just one, but ENDLESS. People in Ethiopia are lucky to own a photograph at all. Many of their memories will be lost & forgotten in time.
Let me go off a tangent for a second. I spent some time with my Grandpa in Arizona and we sat down together and went through heaps of old photographs of my Grandpa as a milkman and a stunning picture of my great-great-Grandpa in his Civil War uniform. It moved me to tears. These tiny these pieces of paper have such weight to them that they help me to shape who I am and where I come from. I feel far more connected to my family and myself when I get to see the kinds of lives they led and what was important to them at that moment in time.
Help me help them get this opportunity too.
Help me give them something they can pass down to their grandchildren. 5 tiny little snapshots seems like nothing to us, but it can mean everything to them.
As a part of this project, I’d take the pictures of their work, and post it on my blog, so you can see how your contribution would be helping them.
I just bought my camera on Amazon, it’s the Fujifilm Instax camera. All I’d need help with is the purchasing of the film — it’s expensive and comes out to be about $1 per shot.
If you feel like you’d want to help contribute, you can click here & ship it to:
Carly Arnwine
6203 Sierra Ct
Manassas VA, 20111
Also, if you don’t mind re-posting this blog post to any sort of social media to spread the news, it’d be GREATLY appreciated!!
Thanks for reading, and have a great day!! 🙂
Carly, You are soo right about how much a photograph means to someone! When I went to India, one of the natives that we worked with traveled with us to the Himalayas, and when we were there we met some pretty awesome mountain people! Anyways, when I was there I took a bunch of pictures of the people and the man who worked with us asked me to print them off and send them to him so he could go back to the same place and give the mountain people the photographs! I was so moved that he would travel that far just so they can have photographs of themselves and their family. We are so fortunate to have cameras and the resources to print the photographs. I wish you the best, girl!!
Hi Carly
Just found this (possibly a little too late, but better than never right?), and I live in Ethiopia (but just arrived back) and would be happy to help out if you are in Addis Ababa. Email me.
Cheers
Erin