Photo By Andi Umoren
This past year Emory’s Photography II class has been working with City of Refuge to document the life saving work that this organization has been doing. Providing food, clothing and shelter to job training, placement, housing, healthcare and education their goal is to provide access to information about the best possible opportunities for success to those who are willing to work hard for positive change. The students who participated in this project were deeply moved, as photography became a way to share with the world what a select few are doing to help others in need. I was able to catch up with a few of them to discuss their experience.
Andi Umoren is currently a Junior at Emory University
How did working on one project for an entire semester compare to a more traditional photography class?
I must admit when I first sat down in Laura Noel's class and heard about the project, I wasn't too excited. I wanted to choose my own subjects, especially after the more pre-described assignments in Photo 1. But after completing the course I can say that the classes taught me to both grow as a photographer and extend myself philanthropically. I know it my sound cliché but I really discovered the power the photograph has to either misconstrue or reveal the truth.
Do you feel you have become a better photographer through this experience?
As a photographer I really had the opportunity to find out what my strengths were and what my weaknesses were. I found myself taking my best pictures when I spent time getting to know my subjects and their stories. I guess I would say in the future, discovering the background of my subjects, whether people, settings, or objects will lead to better photos.
Was there a particular interaction or even that you would like to share?
The event that impacted me the most at City of Refugee was meeting a girl my age and her daughter. I will leave her name unmentioned but I envied the way she was able to open up to me after one day. In her situation I would have probably been the most guarded person. But with no hesitation she jumped at the chance to have her picture taken and tell me about her life.
Matthew Wiegel is currently a Junior at Emory University
How did working on one project for an entire semester compare to a more traditional photography class?
I really enjoyed working on the one project for most of the semester, it gives you different kind of experience. There's more of a connection between you and your subjects (the people of City of Refuge, or for me specifically the children of Feed my Lambs) and you have a greater sense of pride and accomplishment with regards to your work as a whole. It takes much more discipline to stay on task and develop a project for that length of time and it's interesting to see how your initial plans or ideas change over the course of the project. I ended up with a completely different result than what I envisioned at the beginning of the project.
What was most rewarding about working with City of Refuge?
The most rewarding part of working with Feed my Lambs was the relationships I formed with the children there. To have a kid actually ask me things like "Can I come to your house to play?" was just an incredible feeling and I really loved being there with them. I spent about half of my time there working on the project and the other half just reading with the kids or playing with them. These children are no different than anyone else, they just want to be kids and have fun.
Do you feel you have become a better photographer through this experience?
Yes. Definitely, I had done very little portrait work before this project began and my final result was nearly all studio style portraits. It gave me more confidence to shoot in all scenarios.
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