Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/01/21

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Subject: [Leica] What can the LUG do for Haiti?
From: images at comporium.net (Tina Manley)
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:24:47 -0500
References: <9F07836ED74F1C42AA69DFBAF8A1E2F13785087889@MBX1.asc.local>

But is there a way for them to make a living in Haiti with those skills that
they have developed?  I seriously doubt it.  Photographers within the
country will be anybody who has a cell phone and who will happily give their
photos to the newspapers for free.  They will tell their own story but it
will not be a profession or even a way to make a living.  There have been
many photography books on Haiti with compelling images for the past 30
years.  People who care have been working through grass root organizations
to make changes in Haiti.  It is the same in Honduras.  NGOs work for
decades building up communities and helping people organize and work
together for a better life.  All of their hard work is destroyed in seconds
by hurricanes and earthquakes.  It can be very discouraging, but if the
people learn skills with which they can actually make a living after the
catastrophe, they will be able to survive and help their communities.  Teach
them plumbing, electricity, construction, farming, banking.  Then they can
use their cell phone cameras and tell their own stories on their internet
blogs.

Tina

On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 1:37 PM, Kyle Cassidy <kcassidy at 
asc.upenn.edu>wrote:

> The problem with that, I think, is that it's temporary - the crisis is
> gone, all that packs up and goes home. This puts a skill in place and 
> leaves
> it to grow. Even before the earthquake Haiti needed help but most people
> weren't paying any attention because they weren't seeing the Compelling
> Images that made them care. Enfranchise photographers within the country 
> and
> help them tell their own story, now and tomorrow, rather than waiting for
> European journalists to come and tell it when catastrophe strikes.
>
>
>
> That's my reasoning anyway...
>
>
>
> Peter Dwzig sed:
>
>
>
> >extremely good idea, but...
>
>
>
> >I can't help thinking that the best thing that the LUG could do would be
> for
>
> >one of us to get out there and take the compelling images (KC?). It's like
> a war
>
> >zone. It needs those skills.
>
>
>
> [snip]
>
>
>
> Kyle Cassidy wrote:
>
> > I've been thinking - one of the reasons that some tragedies are noticed
>
> > and others slip past is compelling images. Kevin Carter's photo of the
>
> > Vulture stands out in my mind. I've been moved and distressed and
>
> > emotionally pilloried by some of the photos coming from Haiti and was
>
> > thinking that an appropriate way for this group to help out might be by
>
> > finding a photography school somewhere in the country, donating some
>
> > collected funds or equipment and helping the people who will be
>
> > documenting the rebuilding of that place in the years to come.
>
> >
>
> > Something like Jeff Mills' Young Haitian Documentary Photographers Group:
>
> >
>
> > http://www.rocksandtrees.ca/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=109
>
> >
>
> > What say you?
>
> >
>
> > Kyle
>
> >
>
> >
>
> > _______________________________________________
>
> > Leica Users Group.
>
> > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
> >
>
>
>
> --
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>



-- 
Tina Manley, ASMP
www.tinamanley.com


Replies: Reply from hopsternew at gmail.com (Geoff Hopkinson) ([Leica] What can the LUG do for Haiti?)
In reply to: Message from kcassidy at asc.upenn.edu (Kyle Cassidy) ([Leica] What can the LUG do for Haiti?)