On a day marked by sorrow in Myanmar and Thailand, I introduce four photographers who show how creativity can grow from adversity, using the camera as a tool for resilience and connection.
Big disaster and by what happened in Bangkok I guess parts of India, Bangladesh, Laos and China were also affected. But in those areas with bad communications we may never really know the damage extent.
Very true. Some of those more remote areas can be a challenge to reach in normal times. The UN coordinator for relief efforts said earlier today that many roads in Myanmar are impassable and I'm sure that's true across the affected area. Certainly, not everyone who needs help will receive it. I haven't seen any reports of significant aftershocks yet so we have to be grateful for small mercies, I guess.
Photography is definitely a therapeutic tool, on both sides of the camera. Taking it up again in my 40s has been pivotal in finding my personal voice as well as my photographic one.
In Bangladesh a few years' ago, I will never forget a young man working in the brick fields of Narangaraj. One of his eyes was cloudily opaque, clearly a result of an industrial accident. He assumed that I wouldn't want to make a photograph of him. When I lifted my camera to get the shot he was surprised and when it was done, a wonderful shy smile lit up his face. A moment from behind the frame, for sure.
That's a lovely story from Bangladesh, Jennie. It echoes what Ryan Pfluger says in his TEDx talk about the camera allowing us to make people feel "seen". It's a great device for allowing us to give a quality of attention to another person without them feeling uncomfortably scrutinised. Of course, you need to have that level of empathy in the first place and the young man in Narangaraj must have felt that from you.
Big disaster and by what happened in Bangkok I guess parts of India, Bangladesh, Laos and China were also affected. But in those areas with bad communications we may never really know the damage extent.
Very true. Some of those more remote areas can be a challenge to reach in normal times. The UN coordinator for relief efforts said earlier today that many roads in Myanmar are impassable and I'm sure that's true across the affected area. Certainly, not everyone who needs help will receive it. I haven't seen any reports of significant aftershocks yet so we have to be grateful for small mercies, I guess.
Photography is definitely a therapeutic tool, on both sides of the camera. Taking it up again in my 40s has been pivotal in finding my personal voice as well as my photographic one.
In Bangladesh a few years' ago, I will never forget a young man working in the brick fields of Narangaraj. One of his eyes was cloudily opaque, clearly a result of an industrial accident. He assumed that I wouldn't want to make a photograph of him. When I lifted my camera to get the shot he was surprised and when it was done, a wonderful shy smile lit up his face. A moment from behind the frame, for sure.
That's a lovely story from Bangladesh, Jennie. It echoes what Ryan Pfluger says in his TEDx talk about the camera allowing us to make people feel "seen". It's a great device for allowing us to give a quality of attention to another person without them feeling uncomfortably scrutinised. Of course, you need to have that level of empathy in the first place and the young man in Narangaraj must have felt that from you.
Thanks. I love to hear stories like this.
Photography teaches empathy too 😁