With cameras in hand, they collected their experience of our community through their new glasses and in my ‘private showing’ of all of their work, I too got to see things afresh. There was the railroad from the level of the rocks in the bed; there was a Sanctuary chair so close that you could see the threads of the fabric; there was a well-worn sneaker from the perspective of the sole; there was a security guard whose private thoughts seemed to be caught out loud by the photographer… well, you get the ‘picture’.
…many youth took photos of the same scene or experience or thing (they were after all doing the same thing are the same time). But because they were each framing it through their lenses, each piece became as unique as the youth who framed it – and each was it’s own work-of-art. They had listened to the lessons well, so they looked at their subjects from different angles – once from a bird’s eye view and again from a worm’s eye view; once in a close-up and then from the side. I had in my hands a real, clear, practical example of the wisdom of the ages. When you only look at something one way – it is what it is and it is often not very interesting. But when you alter the angle, when you shift the view, when you look at it from multiple directions – that creates interest and a fresh perspective and all of a sudden you are wearing a new pair of glasses – and everything changes!
Website: www.lakotayouthstay.org
