Pic+tory
April 7, 2010
Pictory is a beautifully designed on-line magazine that showcases photographic images + text to tell stories that excite, inspire, awaken & touch the spirit. People from around the world of all ages and professions are featured. This project is the brain child of editor and writer Laura Brunow Miner. This month, I had the honor to be featured in the London showcase, with the image London Dreams. This image really gets at the heart of the community based photography work I was doing in London, helping young people to share their stories through photography. Sharing stories is ingrained in the human DNA – it’s an important part of being heard and being alive!
London Dreams
During my time in London, I worked as a photography teacher, mentoring young refugees and asylum seekers. I sought to teach them to observe beauty in any environment. That said, East London is the epitome of a dirty, over-industrialized, concrete jungle. Many of these young people had left behind third world countries, due to war and disruption, only to find themselves in conditions that were not much better. I spent days, hours, weeks walking the streets of London with young people looking for beauty. And I realized that it exists in the people — with their hopes, cultures, and stories all mingling together on a dirty street or a crowded bus — dreaming of the past and building a new future.
