Quote: Ernest Shackleton (Explorer)

"By endurance we conquer."

Quote-Link: Robert Browning (Poet)

Here is a snippet from a Browning poem. The entire longer Rabbi Ben Ezra poem is linked.

"What I aspired to be,

And was not, comforts me:

A brute I might have been, but would not sink i' the scale"

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173031

Link: Lee Miller And Picasso

Lee Miller had a long term friendship with Pablo Piccasso. Here is a link to a story about 6 works Picasso did of Miller in 1937.

In b/w photograph Miller is visiting Picasso soon after the liberation of Paris in 1944. She was working as a photographer with the Allied forces at that time.

Picaso and Miller  1944

Portrait of Miller, 1937 by Pablo Picasso

http://www.museupicasso.bcn.cat/leemiller/eng/a7gb.html

Quote: Lee Miller (Photographer)

I am reading a biography on the photographer Lee Miller tonight, she had such an extraordinary life. The book is called "Lee Miller A Life" by Carolyn Burke.

Here is a quote from the opening pages by Lee.

"I keep saying to everyone, ' I didn't wasted a minute, all my life--I had a wonderful time.' but I know, myself, now that if I had to it over again I'd be even more free with my ideas, with my body and my affections."

Boxes On The Way, Durst 1200 Almost Ready To Use

Just got word that my friend Jack sent out a bunch of boxes from Prince Edward Island last week. The stuff should arrive sometime soon. I am eager to get everything up and going in the darkroom. I might use the Durst 1200 as my main enlarger for the coming show. I guess there are several boxes of gear coming, I need to reimburse Jack's shipping costs, around $90 CAD.

Yesterday morning I hooked up the enlarger, attached the lens, timer, etc but I still need to figure out how everything is put together. I have gear for both the colour and a condenser heads. I am mostly concerned with trying to figure out which condenser configurations go with 35mm, 120 and 4x5 film sizes. Am printing out the PDF manual for the 1200 tonight at work. I could probably figure out the what goes with what myself but why struggle with that when they have written how to instructions online for free. Got to love the Internet!

Quotes: Roy DeCarava

"Art has the ability to speak many languages."

"Beauty is not in the camera, beauty is in the person."

Link: Roy DeCarava Video

I started looking through the work of the photographer Roy Decarava again recently. I have always admired the beauty of his prints and vision. Check out this 20 minute video profile on him, they show a bit of his shooting and photographic philosophy, they even show him in the darkroom, he was a master printer.

Hearing this man speak is inspiring, please take a listen if you have a chance. Roy DeCarava died at 89 in 2009. He left behind a vast, important and beautiful body of work.

http://vimeo.com/26581250

Man coming up subway stairs,1952 by Roy DeCavara

Letter From Mother Teresa

I have been studying the work of Boston Globe photojournalist and documentary photographer Stan Grossfeld. This letter from Mother Teresa was in the forward of his powerful book "Lost Futures: Our Forgotten Children". The book is available used with shipping for around $13 CAD, I bought my copy last week.

Lost Futures: Our Forgotten Children on Amazon.ca

"WHATEVER YOU DO TO THE LEAST OF MY BRETHREN, YOU DO IT TO ME."

Dear Mr. Grossfeld,

Thank you for your kind letters and the pictures you used for the book. Lost Futures: Our Forgotten Children. The pictures speak for themselves.

Every child is a gift of God, loved into being, infinitely precious to God, created for greater things: to love and be loved.

Yet so many are forgotten, abandoned, abused, made to suffer the most unimaginable pain in their souls and bodies. I have looked into the eyes of children--some shining with hunger, some dull and vacant with pain. I have held countless babies in my arms--dying for lack of a little milk, some medicine. And why does this happen? Why?

These children are my brother, my sister, my child. If there is such terrible suffering for children in the world today, it is because men and women have forgotten to pray, to thank God who is the Author of Life for the precious gift of life.

Men and woman today are afraid of the little child. Will there be enough food? Will there be enough water for all? Will there be enough space? Let us begin by loving the little child. And love to be true must cost us. God has made a world big enough for all children. If the rich were more willing to share with the poor, to give up a little bit of luxury, some little pleasure--that new TV set, latest car, vacation--need the child be exploited, abused, or die of hunger?

The children in these pictures speak to us. They urge us to pray.

I assure you of my prayer that your work for the children of the world, with God's blessing, may bear fruit in a happier and more hopeful future for children everywhere.

Let us pray.
God bless you,
Mother Terersa

Photo by Stan Grossfeld

Quote: Steve McCurry

" What's important to my work is the individual picture, standing on its own, with its own light, tone, structure. I tell stories, but I strive for individual pictures that will burn into people's memories."

Quote: Jay O (Photographer)

The internet can be an amazing place, you can make friends, you can educate yourself, you can spread your own vision of the world. I sent a link to this blog to the fellow who sold me the Durst negative carrier. He is a knowledgable photography person so I thought why not and sent him the blog link. He replied back a wonderful little quote I wanted to share. I think he has it just right, the importance of radiating your love on a subject.

"Gerry I checked out your BLOG SPOT! Awesome the emotion and vibration come pouring through your images of your father. I was fortunate enough to have an amazing master teach me photography for over 30 years. The secret and most important key to all of photography and ART creation in general is to RADIATE YOUR LOVE UPON YOUR SUBJECTS! Great Work! I'm so glad it arrived! The L-1200 is the best 4x5 enlarger on earth for even light output and stability. Great Work! Thanks so very very much for sharing the images with me."

"Sincerely with Thanks and Gratitude for your Business,"
Jay O

" The secret and most important key to all of photography and ART creation in general is to RADIATE YOUR LOVE UPON YOUR SUBJECTS"

"Children of the Dump" Artist Statement, Why I Made The Photos

Spent part of my night shift tonight trying to work on an artist statement for the upcoming "Children of the Dump" exhibition. I hate writing these things as the author usually ends up sounding like a pretentious , pompous ass. I will probably be revising this a lot before I use it in the show, heck I might not even use it but I thought I would share it none the less. I have always felt a simple non arty farty art speak statement was the best way to go. So here is a simple if rather long winded reasoning behind why I made these photographs. I tried to keep the artspeak talk to a minimum.

-----------------------------------

The "Families of the Dump" and this smaller "Children of the Dump" documentary photograph series was made at the Mae Sot Thailand garbage dump where around 400 people in 50 plus families live and work. The families are made up of Burmese refugees mostly from the Karen ethnic group, they illegally travelled from Burma into Thailand to scavenge and work in the Mae Sot dump digging for recyclable goods. All able bodied members of the family work, from the very young to the very old. There is a school nearby for the children but often they are required to work and cannot go to school.

Why make the photographs for the "Children of the Dump" series? It all came down to that first day I visited the dump, that first day, what I saw, the experiences I had locked me into this project. Here is a rather long winded story about that day and a bit of what happened before and after.

My first day at the dump was in May of 2013, I was unsure what to expect. Over the years and 11 previous trips I had become fairly comfortable in Thailand, I could speak some of the language I could even read and write a bit in Thai but this was something new, something different. I was worried and a bit apprehensive about how this all would play out. The dump was populated not by Thais but by Burmese, people who were refugees, illegals inside Thailand who were escaping political persecution and or economic hardships in their own country of Burma. My knowledge of the Thai language and experiences photographing Thais in the slums of Bangkok or the beer bars of Pattaya would be of little value.

To get to the dump I first had to fly from Canada, 3 airplanes and 24 hours later I was in my hotel in Bangkok. I then arranged a bus ticket for the overnight 10 hour trip from Bangkok to Mae Sot Thailand. Mae Sot is a town that is 70% Burmese even thou it is inside Thailand, it snuggles up along the Moei river which separates Thailand and Burma. Burmese workers can  easily cross the Moei river to work inside Thailand legally or illegally. There is a lot of human, drug and gem smuggling along this border area and a corresponding large police and military presence.

On arrival in Mae Sot I was spent, exhausted and still recovering from jet lag. I checked into my second hotel and went in search of food. I had no idea how to get to the dump or exactly what I would find but I figured I would ask a motorcycle taxi driver. The one thing you can always be sure of no matter where you visit is that taxi drivers know where stuff is. My Thai language skills came in handy as I was able to communicate my intentions and to arrange for a pickup early next morning. The deal was that the driver would pick me up at my hotel and take me out to dump at 8am for 60baht ($2.00 CAD).

The next morning after a rough night’s sleep I was up at 715am, had a quick shower, a jam sandwich and some water. After putting on a ton of sunblock and gathering up my photo gear I was ready to go. I met Khune Noi (the driver) out in front of my $20 a night hotel and off we went me on the back of the motorbike him driving. We drove through the dark streets passing the occasional orange robed Buddhist monk or groups of monks walking barefoot in search of their morning alms (collecting donated food). After about 30 minutes of winding, dusty, bumpy, pot holed roads, we approached the dump entrance. We wound around a green water lake, I could smell the garbage and see the small shacked family homes in the distance. It took another slow 5 minutes of driving and finally we arrived, Khune Noi stopped the bike I clamored off and readjusted my cameras. He then handed me the bag I had given him earlier. The bag contained some rice, canned fish and soap. My plan was that every day I came to the dump I would give out a gift bag to one of the families. I asked Khune Noi to return at 12 noon to take me home, he smiled and left.

So there I was standing on the road next to the green lake in the early morning light. The numerous bamboo-wood-plastic covered huts extended down the road on my left, there must have been 15 or more with the lake on my right. Some of the families peered out at me others went on with their morning chores showing little concern. I went up to the first house and gave the bag of rice to the lady sitting in the entrance. I did my best to say "rice"in Burmese as I  handed it to her, she smiled waied me (put her hands together as if in prayer) and said thank you in Burmese.

Now that I had gotten rid of the extra baggage I wanted to make some pictures. I started to wander slowly, the sun had risen and it was already becoming quite hot. I tried to be as polite and unobtrusive as I could, approaching the homes and quietly taking a few photographs. When people would look at me, I would hold up the camera asking if it was OK to photograph. Sometimes I just smiled and said "minga lah bah" hello in Burmese. When I was done I would say "zah zue din bah day" thank you. After 45-60 minutes of this wandering I came across a young boy holding a sickle like tool that was used for digging in the dump. I shot some photographs of him and then he turned and headed towards the nearby dump, he walked quickly down a small path. I made several photos of him as he walked in front of me, he got farther and farther ahead as I struggled through the mounting garbage. He soon was out of range of my camera.

Young boy walking into the dump my first day shooting, May 2013

I looked for another subject, off in the distance maybe 300 meters ahead I saw a figure with a white hat working. By this time it was quite hot, the sunlight was very bright and reflected off all the white bags on the ground, all that light being bounced back up into my face made it hard on the eyes. I decided to head to the worker with the hat and see what that would yield. I started off, often my feet sank deep into the garbage, I tried to avoid the more smelly messy areas, there were hills and hills of waste, far into the horizon. As I walked the flies came, I had never seen or experienced so many flies before. They were all over me, on my hands, arms, face, nose, eyes, ears, they moved on my fingers, on my camera and on my lens. I continued to walk, there was no wind, the flies buzzed my ears, crawled on my face, the smell of the rotting garbage grew stronger, the now incredible heat got worse. All I could think about was these blasted flies. I started to get very uncomfortable, sweat ran down my face into my eyes, the sunblock stung my eyes, the flies continued buzzing and crawling all over me. They climbed everywhere, first on the garbage, then on me, if I breathed through my mouth they would fly inside my mouth and I had to spit them out. This all seemed crazy! Why was I here? Why was I doing this? These bloody disgusting flies! I counted them, there were now 40 walking or sitting on the parts of my body that I could see. I started to freak out a bit, started to feel more and more disturbed by it all. There was nowhere to go, I was trapped, damn it was so hot! Finally I reached the figure with the white hat. I looked at the worker, it was a man, no a woman, no not a woman it was a girl, a young girl, maybe 11 years old, I found out later her name was Doo-Aye. She looked at me with interest and curiosity as children do and smiled. I stopped and photographed her, her father was nearby but was involved in his own scavenging and paid me no mind. Doo-Aye had on the simple white hat I had seen earlier and had thanaka on her face. Thanaka is a white paste made from tree bark, the Burmese wear it as a sunscreen and also as a cosmetic for beauty. She worked and dug in the garbage alongside her father, they were filling up a big bag with anything worth salvaging, mostly plastics and cardboard. Then Doo-Aye found a ladies purse, something some Thai women in Mae Sot had thrown away. She looked through every part of it hoping to find anything of value, she searched all the corners, all the compartments pulling stuff out and letting it fall on the ground. I continued to photograph her and made a short video with my digital camera as she worked. Every now and then she looked up at me with curiosity and smiled. I asked myself "Why was this child working like this?" Doo-Aye was the key to my wanting to do this series of photographs in the dump. She was the reason I wanted to tell the story of these forgotten families and these poverty stricken children. Once I saw her eyes, the friendliness of her smile and the quiet acceptance of the hard ugly work she was doing, I was hooked. She had a grace, a vulnerability, a joy for life to her that seemed so contradictory to the circumstances she lived in. This little girl should have been in school with opportunities for a greater future, instead she was here in this garbage, in this heat, with these bloody flies. Seeing her woke me up, here was this child, an 11 year old person living this way and trying to help her family. What the f-ck was I whining about? What were a few flies, a little bit of short time discomfort compared to Doo-Aye's past, present and future lives. I had to make pictures here, I had to tell others what I saw, I had to try to educate and inform through the photographs and my blog. Doo-Aye surrounded by garbage, my first day in the dump May 2013 After that first day I was hooked, I went every day for the next week making pictures from 7am till 12 noon, I even got used to those blasted disgusting flies. I met other hard working families, who allowed me to photograph them and showed me their children with pride. Some of the women from the families got on me for not wearing a hat, they motioned up at the the sun, said the word "hot" in Burmese then pointed at their hat and my bare head. They shook their heads at me and frowned. This happened numerous times, it was sort of like having a Burmese mother or sister, someone watching over me. The more time I spend in the dump the more I became involved in the lives of the individuals. These people were living in absolute poverty but they had a beautiful dignity to them. I had shot photos for 8 days in a row, I made photographs until I ran out of film. Now I had to leave, it was time to return to Bangkok and then Canada, security work awaited (I work as a security guard). In November of 2013 I returned to Mae Sot to make photos for another 6 days. My first morning back  there were shouts of "Minga Lah Bah!!!" directed  at me from 5 or 6 different people, it was a happy return, I felt part of a family. I wore a hat this time round and one of the men looked at me, pointed at my hat then gave me a thumbs up and a big smile. This second trip I made pictures and gave them as gifts, I started donating more and more food bags, some mornings carrying 3 heavy bags in along with all my photo gear. I eventually donated money to the local Burmese school, a school where the teachers worked as volunteers. The little bit I gave was not much for me but so important to the lives of the people living in the dump. Being part of those lives for a short time enriched me in so many different ways. It is hard to describe my feeling about the dump, in one sense it’s a terrible place but because of the people it is also sometimes beautiful. As I left Mae Sot and the "Families of the Dump" for a second time I thought about our different lives, the differences fate had bestowed on us. I could run away from the dump, my Canadian passport and money meant I could leave and return to my privileged life in Canada. The families working the dump could not leave, they had nowhere to go and little hope of a brighter future. Now today as I write these words in my comfortable clean guard shack on my nice new computer Doo-Aye continues to live and work in the dump with the flies, cockroaches and rats. What will her future be? Will she find happiness? A loving husband? Children of her own?  Will her children be allowed a better life? I am unable to return to the Mae Sot in 2014 but I will return in 2015. I will go back to continue photographing Doo-Aye her family and the other "Families of the Dump", their stories need to be told. The attached link is to the "Eyes to Burma" charity, it is run by Mr. Fred Stockwell, he does good work helping the Burmese families living in the Mae Sot garbage dump. If you can please make a donation to his organization. Thanks Gerry  http://eyestoburma.org/

Update* Have been tinkering with this for days, got a headache now, will leave it be. Writing is so difficult, your constantly refining, changing and adjusting. Photography seems more straightt forward, with negs if you got it you got it if not you go to another negative, simple.

Negative Carrier

Today I got the negative carrier that I bought for $75 USD off eBay 3-4 weeks back. The carrier fits into my new/used  Durst 1200 4x5 enlarger. Last week my friend Jack also told me he found the same carrier which had been misplaced. Jack will also send me his carrier, it should arrive in the coming weeks. I will have 2 of these things now which is alway good. If there is one thing I have learned from my rather rough and extensive time in the darkroom, it's that stuff breaks! Having a back-up is alway good.

I will probably use the Durst 1200 as my main enlarger in the future. I produce rather dense negatives and having a brighter and more stable (less shaky) enlarger is a big bonus. The negative of the 3 children I was working on last night required a 80 second main exposure at F2.8 (widest aperature) to make a 16x20 print. If I use the Durst instead of my old Saunders enlarger I will be able to cut down that exposure time quite a bit, the Durst light is brighter. I am excited about using this new tool. I might try it out tomorrow or the next day after work. I also bought a single piece of expensive ($90 USD) anti newton glass for the carrier, which I will install tomorrow. This afternoon I  looked at the design of the carrier, it looks like only 1 piece of glass fits into it.

Update* The carrier does take 2 pieces of glass, which I guess makes sense. I installed the first piece and now will try to find another piece online. I will end up with one glass carrier for the Durst 1200 enlarger and one from Jack that uses metal inserts. This should work out very well as I recently broke the glass carrier for my Saunders LPL.

Update** I cannot find a second piece of glass for the carrier. I will continue to look for one, this might take a few years.

Specially designed Durst 1200 enlarger negative carrier

Started Printing The Show

Well it took me most of the week off but I finally started printing the show tonight. I spent the earlier part of the week searching through negs and scanning one photograph (two Burmese brothers portrait) to use as the signature picture for the show. I have not found all the negs I want to print but do have 7 or 8 read to go. Tonight the last night of my week off I started working on the first show print, a 16x20 archival fibre photo of three children in the dump. The 15 photos I will print for the show from the dump series will all be photographs of the children who work and live there. I wanted to print the shot below because it sets up the environment, the children live in. This wider image will help tell the larger "Children of the Dump" story. You can see the garbage as well as some of the housing in the upper right corner. The photograph is grainy and has a limited depth of field but I think it should print well. It has many of the characteristics I love about film, and especially 35mm Tri-x printed large.

Tonight the printing has started I have about 4 months and 3 weeks to print 20 photographs. 15 from "Children of the Dump" and 5 from  "Dads Last Days". Larry and his wife Joanna are helping me with this group show, I am riding a bit on their coat tails here. I need to do a first class job with the printing. I want to try to make world class traditional darkroom photographs.

Three children in Mae Sot garbage dump, May 2013 Thailand

Mr. Harmonica!

Today when I was at dads he asked me to look for an old light bulb and while searching I came upon a large harmonica. I asked dad if it was his fathers (my grandfathers) and he said it was his. Dad took it from my hand and started playing it! Who new? I did not know he played that instrument. Dad has been a drummer all of his life, he played in a Ukrainian wedding band since he was a young boy. I knew dad always had a love of music and played the drums but he also plays the harmonica. At one time dad even took violin lessons as an older man and played a bit of guitar as well.

So there I was tonight at the house, dad stricken with terminal cancer laying frail and fragile on the sofa and yet he was making music. He played a few songs for me, telling me their titles. As I left dad continuined to play. Music gave the house a joyful feel. Maybe my father will now have something more to do in the coming days besides watching TV and thinking about dying. Its strange and kind of beautiful, even thou dad is now 82 and I have known him all of my life he still has the ability to surprise me.

Dad as a child with his father on violin and another band member.

Dad closeup, he was the drummer in the band,  photo made around 1942-44 making dad about 10 to 12 years old.

Dad August Tri-x Shots

This period of dads life is very difficult for him, mom has been great nursing and taking care of him, always there, always helping and encouraging dad to keep fighting. It is very hard to take these photos, sometimes I feel like I am hiding behind my camera. Making the photos helps me cope with this terrible time. I think dad realizes the pics are important for me, it's one of the reasons he is supporting the making of the series.

Here are some negs made in August with the Leica's and Tri-x at 800ASA. Using film definitely gives a different feel to the photographs, they seem more earthy. The grain, contrast and limited clarity definitely gives a different feel to the photographs. Push processing Tri-x to 800 adds to that feel even more. I seem to jive with film better than digi in b/w, hopefully I will grow into the digi photos.

Dad Leica M6 35mm F1.4, August 2014

Dad Leica M6 35mm F1.4 August 2014

Dad Leica M6 35mm F1.4, August 2014

Dad Leica M6 35mm 1.4, August 2014

Dad Leica M6 35mm F1.4, August 2014

Dad Leica M6 50mm 1.4, August 2014

Dad Leica M6 21mm F2.8, August 2014

Dad Leica M6 21mm F2.8, August 2014

Dad Leica M6 21mm F2.8, August 2014

No False Hope, What You See Is What You Get

The best thing about digital photography is the immediate feedback. You see what you get as soon as you take it so there is no false hope. It is a great way to learn. With film photography you often think you got it and yet you do not really have it. With film it might take days or weeks or even years (in my case) to see the final results. With digi cameras you you can see what works and what does not work right now and make immediate changes to what your doing. You can correct composition, focus, exposure right in the field while your creating. Using a digital camera should also help my compositional skills with film. It is a win win thingy to shoot all types of cameras, you got to love film, digital or traditional processes like wet plate. Advanced types of photographic technologies and the older ways all have unique statements to make. What ever works use it, no rules!

"Ain't Photography Grand!!"

Dad Today

On today's visit to dad I told him about the children aspect of the show. For dads pics mom suggested I include a photo of dad when he was healthy as well as the photos of when he was sick. I think that's a good idea, not sure what shot that will be but I have lots to choose from, I photographed dad probably hundreds of times through the years. To show him healthy along with the effects the disease has had on his body is a more respectful tribute to my father.

Here is a pic from a few hours ago.

Dad using walker with mom, Mark II 5D 24mm 1.4, September 4 2014

Good Email

I got some good news when I checked my email after I woke up from the nightmare. My friend Jack found all the Durst 1200 neg carrier stuff in PEI (Prince Edward Island) where he has moved. Recently I bought a few things on eBay but now I have a complete set from Jack, he will ship or bring it to Edmonton in the coming weeks. With the eBay purchases I now have backups, always a good thing.  Jack is also giving me several wonderful enlarging lens, I am sure I will be able to use them all to make wonderful prints.

The 1200 Durst enlarger might become my main enlarger because it is much more stable and has a brighter light source than my lower end Saunders LPL. I will print some of the "Children of the Dump" show with it and decide if it is better.

Things Jack found.

Bad Dream

Had a bad dream, a nightmare I guess. I dreamt that I was crying and talking to mom about dad, telling her how terrible it all was and how all I just wanted was to make him proud of me. Then in the same dream I got my camera bag stolen, it had a Leica M6 body and the $3000 35mm 1.4 M lens in it. I was running around in the dream desperately searching for it, panicked with dads illness and the loss of the camera at the same time. I guess I still love the Leica's best, in my nightmares, those are the camera's that are stolen not the Mark II 5D digi.

After I woke up I realized the camera was not stolen but of course the dad part is still true. I will go visit him today again. Last night we bought him some Chinese food which he ate a bit of but not that much, he tried as best he could. Maybe I should get him some fancy ice-cream or yogurt today, he might like that. Everyday when I visit I tell him any silly stories, anything I can think of or tell him what happened during my boring day. He is fighting to stay with us he wants to live and enjoy life but his time is ending, there is nothing anyone can do. I told him more about his part of the coming photo show yesterday and which photos I will print. Today I will tell him of my intention to concentrate on the children in the dump.

What will I do without my father? Everything in life will seem so cheap and unreal without my ability to share the experiences with him. Not being able to tell dad things and get his opinion, his thoughts, his feelings back, will be so hard. How can I live without that? Life will be less beautiful without him to share it with. A few nights ago he said to me so sweetly "Thank you for coming over, Gerry".

Update: Fell asleep and had a second bad dream. In this dream not only 1 Leica body and lens was taken, this time all my Leica gear was stolen. Why all the stupid dreams about theft, about losing my Leica gear? I do not think it is because of fears of monetary loss, I think it's about losing the cameras and not being able to make pictures anymore, that is my worst nightmare it terrifies me. Never being able to make pictures again is the thing I fear most.

"Children of the Dump"

I have decided to be more specific and tell the story of the "Children of the Dump" in this group show. The "Families of the Dump" is to big a project to tell properly in 15 photographs. By being more focused I think I can do justice to one very important part of the larger families series. Fifteen photographs that show the children and the world they live in can be a very effective statement, maybe it will help wake people up a bit. I want to slap them a bit out of their stupor.

I just went through a bunch more negs and found 4 or 5 children dump negs I want to print that will probably go into the show. Time for a quick nap and when I wake up the printing will start.

Focus On The Children?

I just had a thought in regards to the show. I only have 15 pictures to tell the story that is not much, what if I focus on one aspect?  What if I just do 15 pictures of the children who live at the dump?  Instead of trying to tell the whole story in 15 shots which is pretty darn difficult to do why not focus on a single very important part of the story, the lives of the children. I could do 15 pics with the kids as the focal point. That might be more effective and it might also help raise some funds. I will be posting a link for donations, if the privileged folks of Edmonton see the lives of these children maybe they will donate.

I think this is what I will do, it will make everything more focused and tell a more powerful story.

Possible pics if I cut off what a child is at about 13-14 years old: