Shutter Sisters

shooting for transformation

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You thought you were going to change the world with your photography, didn’t you? You stepped into that struggle, camera in hand, thinking you would “help” these people by telling their stories through your lens. You meant well, you truly wanted to help, but guess what? It wasn’t about YOU. It still isn’t about YOU. It’s about US. It’s about SOLIDARITY. It’s about the intersectionality of all the struggles of all who are oppressed. It’s about how there can’t be justice for one until there is justice for all. It’s about letting people tell their own stories, even if you are the one behind the camera, framing the image and clicking the shutter, because we all know that we as photographers can control the story we tell by what we choose to capture and share.

And if you can get over yourself and open your eyes and your ears and your heart, YOU are the one who will be transformed, the one who will be humbled by the stories of The People, the one who will no longer show up as the aloof photojournalist but as a brother or sister in solidarity, the one who is there because you recognize that your liberation is tied to the liberation of all who struggle, the one who will never be the same.

“If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together… ” ~ Aboriginal Activist

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And when I use the term “you” above, I am talking about myself. This is the story of my own personal experience documenting social justice movements in Chicago for the past six months. I write about this after having experienced May Day, which is celebrated around the world on May 1st as International Worker’s Day and here in Chicago as a day to also highlight immigrant rights, which are also worker’s rights, which are also human rights.

I really thought my photography was going to change the world, I really did. What I learned instead, was that I was the one in need of transformation.

How has photography changed you? Please share your stories of transformation or images that have had a transformative effect on your heart.

Comments

  3. Wonderful perspective! Thank you so much for the reminder that the photographs are not about us, but the people and places we capture. I love your thoughts on how that transforms us too, I have found that to be true for me.

  5. I love this post. Something I am going to focus on more when capturing a person/family.

    This picture is from a recent wedding. I loved spending the day hearing the story of their love, watching them prepare for their moment–the tears, the laughter, the celebration, and the love. Reminds-teaches-and encourages me to remember 'my story' and to continue to celebrate even after 10 years.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebeccasmithphotography/5679710076/in/photostream/

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebeccasmithphotography/5679161833/in/photostream/

  6. I took this series of pictures a couple of days ago: http://www.andreahandl.de/?p=339

    And they won't get out of my mind. Not because I think they are perfect. But because of these eyes that keep looking at me when I look at the picture. Somehow that makes me realize that the core fascination, the REAL THING in photography for me is to photograph faces. And I am fascinated and a little scared at the same time about that process that goes on when you look at someone through the lens. What are they seeing in you when looking at this person with a camera? What aspect of their many facettes am I seeing in them? Am I able to capture something that really is a substantial part of them?
    In the case of these pictures, I was so lucky as to get these straight looks into the camera. As though she was waiting to be a part of something. As though she wanted me to see something of herself that she could not convey with words.
    And all of that makes me want to see more faces through the lens. This is where the passion kicks in. I want to see the beautiful and the strange, the interesting and the common. I want to see and I want to show a fragment of someone that may not otherwise be shown the same way.
    Perhaps that is all exaggerated. But these pictures make me want something. And that perhaps is a start of a transformation.

  7. What a powerful post. I loved reading it.

    Photography has changed me in many unexpected ways but I think that the most significant one is the shift in self perception that I have experienced through doing self portraits. I never imagined they could be so cathartic, so empowering. That they would allow me to see myself with different, kinder eyes. That the process of thinking and taking self portraits would feel like a meditation, like a trance in which I am just me. Not mommy-wife-employee-daughter-cook-etc. Just me. I think that it is the most basic form of self expression and I love it.

    I have done many but here are a couple:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/libertadleal/5349656764/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/libertadleal/5007376118
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/libertadleal/5016259509

  8. I've already shared this image. When I start shooting in manual a year ago, I did great and loved my photography. My lessons were at the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. I went back again this year and was astounded at how much I learned over the year and I loved my images.

    http://www.kimberlygauthier.com/flowers/how-to-improve-your-photography-practice-makes-perfect/5133/
    http://www.kimberlygauthier.com/flowers/skagit-valley-tulip-festival-finally/5177/

    I'm a completely different photographer and I love it!