Photography Workshop at Dhaka Project by Samar Jodha
Samar Jodha, a photographer working in between South Asia and the Middle East on various Social communication Projects. He has been involved with the Dhaka project since 2006, and in April 2008 he finished teaching a photography workshop to our 23 children here at the project. The impact of his workshop goes beyond learning photography for most of these underprivileged children. Its not just to get their creativity enhanced but also aspire to be something beyond survival of a very tough everyday struggles. Samar has been doing these photography workshops for over 13 years in various parts of the developing world in Asia and Africa. His process of the workshop is not about selecting the most creative or outstanding children out of hundreds but to look for the most deprived and underprivileged children. He works with them through doing writing workshops and makes them open up their lives to him through dramas & narrations. Once he screens out the right mix of children, then he provides each child with his/her own camera and works with them individually. This is followed by the next stage where they work with him on a laptop and color printers in making their first ever photographs. He donates the printer/inks/camera/etc to the school after the workshop for the process to continue. The students get awarded a certificate and he gives out prizes to each participant .The workshop follows with an exhibition for selling their prints and raising money for rest of the school. Last one he did was in Moshi-Tanzania, which generated enough funds to buy stationery and supplies for the entire school. He gives his time & resources for these workshops and it's totally self-funded. Samar Jodha is an artist who over the last twenty years, has been using photography and film to address various issues like development, human rights and conservation. www.samarsinghjodha.com
