Why I Went To India

I feel like I went to India just to take this picture.

Has an image ever struck you like that?

While in India, I attended a Momenta workshop--a workshop that uses working for NGO's as a classroom. I had the opportunity to work with two NGO's while there, but...it is this project that truly made my heart happy. Through my second NGO, I met a family who lives in a slum and is working very hard to educate their three children. They allowed me to document their life over the course of a couple of days. The morning this photo was taken, it had rained all night long and it was COLD...really cold. Their little yard was a wee bit flooded and they had lost their power. They welcomed me in none the less...offered me a cup of chai as they tried to get ready for the day. With no heat...and no power.

The lessons I learned over those couple of days are to much to share in a blog post. Somehow, too, a blog post seems too trivial. So, I am compiling my favourites and creating a presentation to share them with you properly. I'm not sure what that is going to mean--I'm still working that out, but I know that I will bring the collection to WPPI and share them at my talk that I am having with Ashley Skjaveland. If you would like to learn more about my experience, there are still a few seats left.

And, if you are not a photographer, I am considering the possibility of touring through school classrooms in Calgary and area. Plus, possibly, an adult function...I am just working through the idea in my mind though. For now, I wanted to share this image with you and introduce you to my friend, 12 year old Kartick.