Petit-Goâve and Pèsin

Well, it is awesome to look at these pictures. I may be a bit biased, but I really do love it. It reminds me of the smiles, laughs, games, running, and joy of these kids. They are beautiful children and the photos only start to do them proper justice.

I didn't take a ton of pictures that first full day we had - it was pretty low-key. Sunday is pretty low-key in general...just like here in the states, right?! Yeah, right. I enjoy days like the Sunday we had in Haiti - but I know several others from our team might happen to completely disagree! I do enjoy the times in Haiti where we get to experience a bit of Haitian culture. In the states, we call that "patience." I consider myself to be a patient person, but everyone knows that we all have our patience tested.

In the first picture is my friend LJ with our sweet little friend, Daphne (pronounced daff-nay). We soon realized that she is usually pouting and trying to complain about something. But we also quickly realized how much she was faking! And the solution was to pout back which made her burst into laughter. She is a great girl and exhibited strong signs of leadership over the other kids during the weak - and not just forceful leadership, though that didn't hurt (pun? yes).

The kids found an old video camera somewhere along the way to our campground and had fun playing around with it. Makes for an even better photograph with a prop in there - there's a pointer to aspiring photographers. Having a prop in a photo grabs more attention, as does including hands, landscape features, etc. Just for your information, the video camera was thrown over the cliff behind where most of these photos were taken...one of the kids clearly was bored with the broken video camera.

I definitely enjoy the photos of the kids trying to lay completely still on the ground - not very convincingly since they are laughing from me making faces and taking my time taking the photo.

One thing that I do really enjoy is the fact that these kids love having their photo taken. If they didn't, I would not have as many photos. I do often take photos of people in public (which, for your information, is entirely legal - but at times can come across as creepy so it's always good to ask if you are very blatantly photographing one or several individuals). If you let people know what you are doing and give them your website or email, they will usually not mind! Other countries are a different story, though. People will let you know that they don't want their picture taken.


Urban and People Photographing Tip:
One method of urban photography that I learned in a photography class is to have the camera strap over your neck or shoulder, leave the camera at waist-height and take photos from there. "But how do I see?" you ask. Well, you see later! And it takes a bit of practice and some skill to get the shots you want, but it's always fun to scan through the photos later on and see how you did. When the camera is not at your eye, people don't assume you are taking pictures. Yep, that means when it is at your eye, people will definitely think you are photographing them.

Back with more posts soon...