A big Hit - Point of View opens

Point of View
Young Belizean Photographers
Report from Channel 7 News - Belize /February 1st, 2006

The World Through The Eyes Of Children...
In September of last year, 66 school children in communities across Belize were given cameras and told to go out and capture the world in their eyes. The results are astounding in their honesty, invention, directness and freedom from cliché. The best of these hundreds pictures have been put on display at the House of Culture, and believe us, they are so fresh that they startle. Have a look.
Though they have a distinctly professional flair, these diverse and colorful pictures of Belize City, Arenal, Biscayne, and Crooked tree were all captured by children. 66 children, most of them primary school aged boys and girls used 23 disposable cameras, and 36 thirty-five millimeter cameras to capture these images. It's a project called Point of View, funded by a British NGO which seeks to encourage creative expression though photography. Instructors taught the children 5 basic principles of photography, gave them the cameras for three months and set them loose. Many exposures later, this is the result. Seasoned photographer Rowland Parks is impressed.
Rowland Parks, Photographer"I am totally amazed that they have so much talent in the schools and they are just beginning to get it out right now. One of my favorite pictures here is a boy flying through the window. I think that is an amazing pictures, it requires a kind of precision to get a photograph like that and imagine that a kid is doing that right now in primary school. Can you imagine like when that kid gets older what kind of work he'll be producing if he sticks with photography?"
Jules Vasquez,So there is hope for great photography yet to come out of Belize?
Rowland Parks,"There's a lot, there's a lot. These pictures are incredibly done."
Yasser Musa, Artist"Photography is language and visual language is the main language spoken by people today. Many people think we still speak what we are doing now but I really believe people interpret images, people project images, and they learn and conceive and develop their lives through images. And obviously, I don't think that such a show could be done twenty years ago in Belize. The visual sophistication that you will see is as a result of the kids developing through television, through the visual culture we are in and all of a sudden we just open the door by giving them a camera. But that was their in their head but twenty years ago this could never be revealed. It is revealed today because we are finally asking them:, 'look instead of giving you a pen to write a paragraph, we're giving you a camera to write your paragraph.'"
And while the critics and aficionados gush at surprising sophistication and genuine technical merit, the children are just genuinely happy and pleased to share their small worlds with the wider world.
Primitiva Ruiz, Arenal "This is my little brother and I am brushing my teeth and I took the picture and I just looked at my little brother and took the picture. I'm still very happy because all the people tell me that photo is very beautiful."
Thyrell Hyde, St. Mary's School"I was just trying to capture the sea because that day the sea was very beautiful and clean."
Jules Vasquez,When you see the image through the viewfinder its a different thing from what ends up on film, how did you feel when you saw the final result, the final photo?
Thyrell Hyde,"I was proud of my picture because I knew it was going to look good."
Glendy Mahitani, Holy Redeemer School"Its very different. Its very hard to see the elastic because they were playing elastic."Jules Vasquez,Are you pleased with the pictures?
Glendy Mahitani,"Yes very much."
Ena Encalada,"Well this girl didn't want me to take her picture but I just went in front of her and snapped it. She was so scared and I just took it because I think it would have been beautiful with all the different backgrounds and different faces."
Sean Escobar,"I tricked my cousin into closing her eyes and I told her boyfriend to hug her and then when I took the picture she opened her eyes and she got surprised."
Jules Vasquez,So you are like the media then, you sneak up on people and taken them in comprising situations?
Sean Escobar,"Kind of, yeah."
Jules Vasquez,How do you feel about the picture?
Sean Escobar,"I asked my cousin if I could display it and she said yes and I feel kind of good."
Edwin Chan, Mount Carmel High School "Like ten minutes it took me to compose because my grandpa was resting in our hammock and I just go, and because he can't see, so I just told him to get prepared so he got prepared in his hammock and I took the photograph."
Jules Vasquez,What's the message you're trying to communicate with this picture?
Michael Alamilla, Holy Redeemer"That sports are good for you and I want everything."
Idel Sanchez, Mount Carmel High School "Up there in my picture is two little boys playing plastic with balls. They're playing because Arenal is one village but its divided in two pieces: one piece in Guatemala and one piece in Belize. We have Arenal Belize and Arenal Guatemala so they play there and they say here is Belie and here is Guatemala and they are playing with that."
And it's that magic of preserving the ephemeral, and then sharing it with the world that has these children flushed with their first success. Now, these budding talents just want to keep snapping away.
Jules Vasquez,Do you want to continue taking photos?
Sean Escobar,"Yes sir, I love the camera."
Jules Vasquez,Do you feel some magic in photograph?
Glendy Mahitani,"Its amazing, very amazing."
Jules Vasquez,And how do you feel to have your stuff exhibited here?
Glendy Mahitani,"I feel proud."Idel Sanchez,"I think that it is good because you capture times that will never come again.
"The show is currently on display at the House of Culture and admission is free.