This week, I’m teaching a workshop to “build photographic capacity,” whatever that means. The first bit is easy – showing someone the difference between taking photos only at eye level and bending down or getting up on a chair makes an immediate difference in the resulting image.
We’ll see how the next few steps go, though.
The hardest thing is communicating the idea that you have to spend a lot of time working at taking pictures before you actually take good pictures. And a lot of time in one place, working on one story. Everyone in the workshop wants to do that, but wanting to do that and having the resources to do that are two very different things.
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Fact: Average Liberian journalist makes less than $ 100/month – most make less than $ 60
Fact: Average Liberian journalist pays $1/day to come to work
Fact: Most would LOVE to spend more time on stories, but little encouragement exists to do so
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Where was this photo taking with the pan of ripe banana in the back groung? Is she selling the banana?
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@Esteyonage – you are completely right, and I do think resources remain the biggest challenges for both local journalists and foreign correspondence. Few outlets want to invest the time and money it takes to do really, really good stories.
@J. Harris – the woman in the back is selling bananas. I was taking a photo of the photographers taking photos of each other.
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