Halloween 07

A handful of these were taken by Javonte. The others were by me since the children were so into the action of their afternoon.

Javonte - 10/19

I made a quick visit on 10/19 and couldn't resist Javonte's request to use my Canon. Besides the first and last two images seen here, he took all of the 134 photos. I can't wait for him to see them as he was so happy and excited with the camera, as usual. (The last two shots are of Javonte himself)

Dontrice - sweetest

9/21/07



Dontrice is the sweetest little girl asking to use the camera in such a quiet way while the bigger kids are going nuts over it. She's patient, and when the others were done with their turns, she had her chance. I held the camera for her as she took one shot and seem satisfied. After seeing it, her brother asked for one of himself, and she took that too. She seemed very happy, and really appreciated her try. :)

Donald the photographer revealed

9/21/07



Nearly everyone was gone, yet Donald still requested to use the camera while he waited to be picked up. It was interesting watching him find subjects, and as he spotted things he framed them intentionally to get what he wanted. He was most excited about his football shots today, and got a good chuckle out of by pregnant belly ending up in the images of his sister Dontrice. He also had the time to scroll through other children's shots in the camera, which he wanted to do privately, and commented on their different formatting strengths and weaknesses. "She cut off his face. He should have been in there." He had a natural way about him today, and was intrigued by the capacities of the camera body too.

Arthurnisha finally

9/21/07

Arthurnisha has always been excited to take pictures, and today wasn't any different. It didn't bother her that we had to head inside and start clearing out, and couldn't wait. The only thing that held her up were her sticky hands and face, and she found a few different ways to clean up. ;) She's very confident using the camera and working with people.

Josheia

9/21/07

Josheia has taken shots inside before, but today was his first time with it in the playground. Once the popsicles came out he was happy to pass on the camera. :)

Roger first time

9/21/07

Roger was all over Kaya during her shoot wanting to see the images she had taken right away. Once I reassured him that he'd have his turn, he began counting down the minutes until he'd have it in hand. For his size he handled the camera well, and really enjoyed the different types of shots he could take. I loved how he got in the middle of the action without hesitation. It was fun for me to block the incoming balls. ;)

Kaya again

9/21/07

Kaya was the first today to jump into using the camera. This time it was with my Canon XTi. She felt comfortable with it right away, and I watched in amazement as she negotiated the playground territory seeing what images she wanted right away. I had to take some deep breaths with her waving it around at higher elevations, but very psyched with the new perspective she brought into things.

Corielle and Courtney

9/7/07

Donald - Oooh, can I?

Donald, 9/7/07

Grace - Mommy, I want to see the little camera please

Grace 9/7


Grace loves doing the Mommy thing and being a photographer. It's funny today because she took a few video clips of Mary without knowing it. "Why doesn't it click?" She's a great assistant as many times she doesn't get a turn at using a camera while here because they are in such high demand.

Kaya kicks in

Kaya's first set 9/7

Isaiah - Call it volcano!

Isaiah kicked in right after Kaya today, and couldn't be taken away from the camera. he even turned it back on after signing off so he could take a picture of his mother. :)

We viewed his pictures before getting them online and he really giggled at Ms. Mary's silly face shot. He wanted the set called "Volcano".

Brittney's Princess Pictures

Today Brittney was first in line with Grace to use the camera. She was very excited and kicked into action without hesitation.

I'm sitting with her right now, and we're going to talk about her favorite picture(s).

"My favorite picture was my mimi posing and holding a box. When she held the box up to her she just started smiling."

"I didn't like that picture (img 170) because I told her to look at me but she didn't."

Photography collective - June 28

This given day had many of the children begging to take pictures. They used the camera in 10-15 slots because of the high demand, and really enjoyed themselves in the resource center.

Unfortunately, my camera malfunctioned in the midst of the action because of a design flaw in the original Canon Rebel. We backed up with the one step camera for a bit, at the end of the session that camera fell out of my hands and onto the concrete. Yikes, two cameras broken, but only after the children had a good time.

I'm still digging for the record sheets of everyone's names who participated. I haven't seen many of the children due to their changing summer schedules, but now that school has kicked in again, they'll be back and ready to view their images.

Photos by Darrell - July 13

Darrell transforms himself every time with the camera in hand. :)

Johah, from the Ren Village was there that day, and he showed interest in getting involved in photography too. I'd love to see the teens active with this. He has 4 images in Darrell's set that he'll be pointing out in the future.

Javonte - with camera

Today Javonte wasn't wet when I arrived and he really wanted to take pictures. Since the autofocus is broken I showed him how to manually focus his images. He's so exited with the camera in hand that he forgot at times, but with reminders he spent some time with it.

He really wanted to get an image of the planes flying overhead from Baton Rouge airport, so we'll continue to work on that next session.

Also today was the first time I took my laptop and loaded up the images for the children to see right away. They really enjoyed looking at Javonte's set, as well as the water sets from past months. We just have to work on using positive comments about other kids. ;) One little girl remembers using the camera in the past and wanted to see her pics too.

Joseph behind the lens

Today Joseph eased into his position behind the lens and took some shots while they were relaxing and playing on a Friday afternoon.

7/20
Joseph got to see these photos for the first time today. He really liked the image of Ms. Ruth with Timothy working with the pattern blocks. He got a good chuckle out of the image of me holding the money and says that he liked the way my eyes looked.

Digging into the archives

Here we will back track and share all of the sets we have since I started my visits. I'd like to edit these albums too in order to highlight the images taken by the children. Step by step.

May 11, 2007
This set was taken by me since everyone was soaking wet and having a blast in the spray park.

Aaaaaaaah!

June 1, 2007
A handful of shots in here by the children. One of them, Oscar, was a newcomer to the after school program.

Aaaaaaaaah 2

October 27, 2006
The official opening of the Children's Center.

Children's Center Ribbon Cutting

Here we are, in our space

This blog is for the posting and sharing of the photographs taken at Renaissance Village's Resource Center, as well as outside the center. The photographs have been taken by both me and the children of different events, activities, or just hanging out.

The photographing of them has evolved into something more because of the children's natural interest in the camera. When I take that Canon digital out of my bag it becomes a magnet with many children gathering around begging to take pictures. They are transformed when I hand it over to them, and they want to keep it as long as possible. I see how it becomes their voice, their world and their magic as they hold it in their hands and look through the eyepiece.

What we'd like to do here is share the images that we already have, and move into the next phase of documenting and sharing more from the children's perspective. They will be an integral part of this evolution, and help with the direction that this work goes. We're hoping that they gain a feeling of pride, ownership, promise, and renewal throughout the process and growth.

We encourage you to look through the sets and comment just to let us know that you're with us and what you think.

Thank you.
Irene - the camera lady
Ren Village Kids