The gift of seeing

I love working with students.

While I’m unsure whether its the unique mix of energy and carefree living they exude or pure nostalgia, I just love the experience.

For the second year running I was asked to deliver a photography lecture to the Insite organisation at BayStreet in Malta. Insite is a student run, non-profit making, independent media organisation, whose intrinsic purpose is to promote student life, student bodies and promote their initiatives and activities. A some sort of self-promoting student unit. Cool, I guess.

This year I was lucky enough to have a super-talented young co-host, Yentl Spiteri. Yentl’s FLICKR stream bursts with creativity and her presentation touched upon the critical points of inspiration and creativity. One of her slides said: ‘If you do what you’ve always done – you’ll get what you’ve always gotten’. I instantly took a liking to the statement and made it my motto of the week !

It’s just lovely how photography helps people see the world around them. Despite my lectures, most of my students keep taking substandard pictures (and that’s okay) – but most acquire a new way of looking at the world around them. They seek colour and pattern. They size-up objects. They look for texture and lines. They level out horizons. For the first time they look up towards an architecture they’ve forgotten and dream while gazing at the cloud formations.

The gift of seeing.
Isn’t that what photography is about?

An Insite student

Yentl in action