Cameras

photo by Jessamyn Harris
http://www.jessamynharris.com



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Pleasantville Woman Helps Kids Find Beauty after Tragedy
SCOTT GARGAN
THE PATENT TRADER
Bronxville, New York
(Original publication: July 13, 2006)

There's not much to do for kids living in the white box trailers at Airport Two, a makeshift village outside the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport. There are no parks or playgrounds; the only place to play is a huge dusty lot covered in gravel.

Despite the monotonous landscape, Pamela Connolly wanted to show the kids living in Airport Two that there was still "beauty" all around them.
"It's about getting kids to see," Connolly said. "No matter where you look, there's beauty."

In May, the 46-year-old Pleasantville photographer tagged along with a United Jewish Appeal mission to Baton Rouge for a two-day workshop with kids ages 6 to 16 at Airport Two, one of many trailer villages set up by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for people who lost their homes as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

After teaching the kids about shapes, shadows, reflections and framing, Connolly...took the kids around the community to make photographs. The young people's photos are featured in an exhibit, "Where We Live," at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.The kids were "electric," Connolly said, as it was the first time many of them had even used a camera.

"It was fun," said 10-year-old Loki Drummond, who's been living in a trailer at Airport Two since February with his mom, Joelle. "We didn't have school, so now we've got something to do. I really like my camera now."
Loki said he took pictures of "people, airliners, trailers and security guards."

Connolly focuses much of her own work on the lives of children in the context of their communities. She said children live much more "complex" lives than most people imagine. ..."I'm always blown away by the beauty and freshness of what they capture," she said.

For more amazing work with children and cameras in the U.S. and worldwide:
http://www.kids-with-cameras.org/home/