Today I was welcomed to Asbell Elementary to photograph eighth and ninth grade students from Ramay Junior High School reading to Asbell kindergartners. I’m afraid my repressed maternal instinct comes out during events such as these because I had such a fun time watching the kids interact with one another. This of course led to a trigger-happy take of the reading seminar.

Events like these are cool in numerous ways. First, it’s immediate that hanging out and learning from a kid who is about eight or nine years older or younger than you is a lot more fun than the everyday schoolwork the kids are used to. Second, I can never tell who the activity is more beneficial for – the junior high kids or the kindergartners? For some mentors, their student was a lot to handle. Although, most seemed like they enjoyed being the wise, older, cool kid helping a six-year-old learn about elephants or the desert. Photographing the interaction between two people, I think, can be quite difficult. However, I find images of intimate interaction very beautiful and rewarding. I feel that those moments captured in a photo are the perfect example of the phrase “a photo is worth 1,000 words.” I enjoy a photo of the interaction between two people because an outsiders perspective is one of several ways to experience an event, and by documenting it, you can share that experience with, perhaps, someone who was involved and hopefully add to the emotional connection and understanding of the event.

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