The Noble Uses of a Camera

Most of us use our cameras to record the things of our own lives: important events, people who matter to us. 

Others of us seem to enjoy finding and sharing the beauty of life: nature, architecture, performance arts.

But there is another kind of photographer who tries to use the camera as a tool to effect social change.  I wanted to highlight a few of these people in the next few posts.

Lisa Kristine and Slavery

Lisa Kristine is an exceptionally talented photographer who had spent years traveling around the world making stunningly beautiful images, mostly of indigenous cultures far from North America. (These next two images are hers).

These men work 72-hour shifts in a mine poisoned by mercury.

But once she learned about the extraordinary extent of today’s commercial slave trade she began using her artistic eye and technical ability to expose the ugly face of modern-day slavery.

She is also a powerful public speaker and you can enjoy her TED talk by following this link.

Her comment about making these portraits probably applies to any situation in which you are making a photograph of an individual, but the advice resonates strongly when you know she is talking of such abused human beings:

These slaves work in the brickyards of Nepal for 16 to 17 hours
a day in heat up to 50 degrees without breaks for rest or food.

"Each image is made with reverence for the subject.  I want a person to feel at ease with me so that they remain themselves and are unchanged by a new or foreign element such as a stranger (myself) or a camera.

In order for me to photograph a person in the unaffected environment of self there must be a trust between us.  Without this, a stirring image cannot be created."

I will be following up on this theme in the next post.

Kick-Starting Creativity 

Sometimes it is hard to get going in creating fresh new photographs, images that will catch your viewer’s eye and communicate a thought or feeling.  Sometimes it just seems like you HAVE to do it to get credit for a course!

Here are a few ideas that might help to provoke the creative impulse!

Out-Of-Border post-processing (OOB)
can add a fun element to your images.

• join a photography club and meet others
• find a mentor or coach who will work with you
• buy some new equipment to play with
• go someplace new and see it through your camera
• browse the internet looking for photos you would like to re-create
• take time to learn a new post-processing trick and find places to apply it
• join an on-line forum and talk about photography
• go to an art exhibit
• go out with a photo buddy and explore images together
• pick one element of design (i.e. texture) and go looking for it with your camera.

Those are just a few ideas.  If you have found something that works for you, please take a moment to share.