Inner-city youth photograph kayak adventurer while learning about local environments\\\\r\\\\n\\\\r\\\\nOn Sunday, March 16, 2008, a group of children and mentors from Charleston: Kids with Cameras (CKwC), a volunteer photography mentor program that works with inner-city children, spent the afternoon with Ian Sanchez, Executive Director of South Carolina Lowcountry Environmental Education Programs (LEEP). Sanchez, who kayaked to the Aquarium for the meeting during the final leg of his on-water adventure to Greenville as part of the Web of Water project, has been paddling waterways from the Piedmont to the Lowcountry to help educate people about their relationship to the environment. With digital cameras in hand, the children anxiously awaited his arrival to the Charleston Harbor following his three-week expedition.\\\\r\\\\n\\\\r\\\\nDuring the photography session, Sanchez discussed connections with the boys and girls, including how waterways merge and how humans impact the Earth. The children were excited to discover that they knew much about local rivers, including their role in early farming andBonos que ofrece Casino Tropez online - 300 ˆ/U$S/? http://www.felizcasino.es con tu primer deposito (Ver Bono Bienvenida) Otros Bonos en Casino Tropez online - 10% - 15% para depósitos no efectuados con tarjeta de crédito. shipping practices, and listened intently to gather more information. Sanchez also pointed out the barges adjacent to the Aquarium as a visual of modern shipping.\\\\r\\\\n\\\\r\\\\nCKwC youth were then given the opportunity to take photographs of one another sitting in Sanchez’s kayak. Though at first a bit intimidated by the new experience, the children’s confidences grew as they posed questions to Sanchez and discussed what they had learned.\\\\r\\\\n\\\\r\\\\nPhotographs from the session will be unveiled at the Charleston: Kids with Cameras exhibit at Charleston HarborFest 2008, which takes place May 16 to 18. The exhibit will also feature coastal scenes from around the Lowcountry. Video from the afternoon may also be viewed on SCETV’s RiverVenture website, www.riverventure.org.

Charleston: Kids with Cameras (CKwC), a volunteer photography mentor program that works with inner-city children, proudly recognizes six of its participants for their winning black-and-white digital images in the Coastal Carolina Fair photography contest, hosted by the Lowcountry Photographic Club. CKwC photographers (ages 7 to 14) took first and third place, as well as five out of eleven honorable mention awards in the student monochrome division, which is open to high school, middle school, and elementary school students.

Each photograph submitted was taken over the past year during shooting sessions with the CKwC program, which meets biweekly for photography outings and computer reviews. “You know that the kids really have talent when they are creating good photographs consistently,” says program coordinator and professional photographer Ron Rocz. Winners (below) received ribbons as well as monetary awards.

Zenobia Bennett
First Place Window Shopping
Honorable Mention The Christmas Parade

Herbert Simpson
Third Place Captivating Eyes

Karl Ramsey
Honorable Mention Bridge Biker

D.J. Fulton
Honorable Mention Citadel Checkers

DeAndré Murphy
Honorable Mention Angelina

Willie Duggins
Honorable Mention Nikell and Skippy

CKwC coordinator Natalie Todd was also awarded first place and honorable mention in the professional color photography division and third place in the professional monochrome photography division for images she took while on a mission trip in the Peruvian Amazon.

One nine year old boy stood in the school parking lot, alone, quiet, looking down and holding a basketball. Lamar is his name, and he had not been in our camera program. I asked him if he wanted to go out and shoot with the camera. He said “Yes,” shyly, and went to tell his mother where he was going.

That first day with a camera, at the city marina, and his first time on a boat dock (one mile from his home), he became charged with total thrill and excitement. “I am so glad I came, I love this camera,” he said with a huge sparkle in his eye. He zoomed the lens over and over for varied compositions, learned in but a minute to review the images, and created some exhibit-worthy photographs. He was in!

In the year to follow, Lamar did photography on every field event day, as well as at all exhibit receptions and on holidays. The night of Fourth of July, he used the camera on a tripod to photograph the fireworks over the river, shooting every last burst of color in the sky. He turned to his mentor and said, “Boy, I’m getting tired, this is hard work.”

His mother and I became friends, during my visits to Lamar’s home in the housing project. I would show her his images on a laptop. We talked about gospel singers from the 1960’s. She was thrilled with his pictures, and now she drives him to every event, from out in the country.

Lamar had to move to the country on John’s Island and enroll in another school. He hated leaving his school and friends in the city, but in time, he grew to like his new school. When his teacher saw some of his photos, she nick named him “Photo Shoot.” His grades improved considerably, to the point that the teacher nominated him for the Gifted and Talented Program. It just might be that Lamar’s joining Charleston Kids-with-Cameras boosted him to new success.
-Ron Rocz

You can view some of Lamar’s photos by clicking on this link.

We recently received an email and some photos from some new friends in Romania who are starting up a similar program over there. We are planning on working out a photo sharing program between the Charleston Kids and the Transylvanian Kids. Below you can read the email and check out their photos!

Hello to all the kids in Charleston Kids with Cameras! Our names are Zsofi, Beata, and Renata, and we are happy to share our first photos from your village here in Romania. We hope you like them and that we can share messages about all our photos.

We live in a small village in the hills of Transylvania, which is part of the country Romania. The name is Galesi in Romanian and Nhyaradgalfalva in Hungarian. In this village, we have Romanians, Hungarians, and Gypsies. Most of the people here are farmers, with chickens and pigs in the farmyards. We have cars in our village, but also we have horses that pull wagons. The people in our village do not have much money, but our parents work very hard for what we have.

We three girls are all 10 years old and Hungarian. We speak only in the Hungarian language, but our leader Zsolt Nemet can speak English, so he can translate for us, so that you can understand us.

Our leader Zsolt takes on trips around in our village and around the countryside so that we can take photos. He is a wonderful man and enjoys children. He and his wife have a little girl. They have worked with children in the orphanages and other places.

We hope you like our pictures and that you will ask us questions about them. And we will look at your pictures and talk to you about them. We are lucky to have computers in our village community center, where we can look at our pictures and go on the internet.

click on one of the thumbnails to see the entire album

Good luck to our new friends across the ocean, and we look forward to seeing some more of these fantastic photos!

This coming Wednesday, September 26, we will be having a reception for our exhibit for the MOJA Festival. The exhibit and reception will be in the main lobby of The City of Charleston Housing Authority at 550 Meeting Street, Charleston, SC. The exhibit will feature 20 black and white photographs from the Charleston Kids with Cameras, as well as five color posters from our sibling organization, The Yo Art Project. The reception is from 5:00pm - 7:00pm. The exhibit will be on display until September 28. The hours are Monday through Friday from 8:00am - 4:30pm.

Immediately following the reception we are having a Multi-Media Show at the Meeting Street Manor playground at 562 Meeting Street from 7:00pm - 9:00pm. This will be a fun-packed evening of African Drumming, live spoken word poetry, a slide show from the CKwC and Yo Art Project, and the Charleston Kids with Cameras film by Farrah Hoffmire. Refreshments will be provided by Sticky Fingers and Coca Cola. Please come and join us; this is not an event to be missed!

Many thanks to our sponsors of this event:
Prudential Carolina Real Estate
John and Libby Winthrop
Robert F. Furchgott
Sticky Fingers BBQ
Coca Cola