The who and the where:

Pyin Oo Lwin, Burma, 2 hours north of Mandalay, was known as Maymyo during British tenure; a hill station frequented by the likes of George Orwell that offered cool (freezing!) respite from the heat of Mandalay.

We were supposed to have 12 students and a couple of observers, organized by St. Mathew's Baptist orphan center and Auntie Winnie's Muslim pre-school. But in the wonderful convoluted way that things just happen, our 'observers' became students, and the 6 cameras we brought were augmented by Auntie Winnie's son's camera. This camera had no download cable, but by putting her chip into one of our cameras we were able to view the photos.

The workshop was held at Auntie Winnie's pre-school, in a long narrow flouorescent-lit (when power was on) room. There were 2 sessions per day, with lunch and shooting time in between.

Auntie Winnie, a whirl-wind one-woman chamber of commerce and pre-school owner.

Half of the students came from St. Mathew's, including four who came from remote areas of Kachin state. The other half were recruited by Auntie Winnie; a young woman from the China - Burma border, a woman with a masters degree in English, a student hoping to go to university, if she could raise the fees. Three young men two of whom worked as video editors and one of whom worked in a camera shop. The observers were Auntie Winnie, Ting Hkaw, director of the orphanage, and David, a volunteer at St. Mathews, and organizer/solver of all problems for us.



David, who arranged accommodations, bicycles, photo copies, photo prints, exhibition supplies, as well as translating Nat.




Ting Hkaw, director of St. Mathew's Orphanage







Aung Latt, works in a photo shop








Violet, who holds an MA in English










In front of Auntie Winnie's pre-school







Yar Min, videographer












Nita, lives on the China-Burma border











Yun Mie Mie, wants to go to university






Thet Naung, videographer


Where's the delete button? What's that green rectangle in the middle of the display screen? Ooops! I turned on the date stamp! What's slow-synchro? I DON't like that picture of me!








Yaw Htung, does media for St. Mathew's















Zau Tang, a pastor for St Mathew's in Kachin State














Hkaung Lum, works for a St. Mathew's extension in Kachin State












Naw Sen, works for St. Mathew's in a village that is 12 hours by bus from Pyin Oo Lwin





Tang Gun, works for one of St. Mathew's extensions, in a remote village

Class Time

The assignment was to show someone at work.



Ting Hkaw's picture of work in the orphanage kitchen.


With 14 people, downloading took some time. After the group crits, each student chose 2 photos from the assignment which we get printed at a local photo shop. Students then presented some of their choices to the class.






















Nita Vacuum resting












Yun Mie Mie Nita picks some of Pyin Oo Lwin's famous strawberries



Yaw Htung Sweeping the road.
This is the sound of Southeast Asia to me.

Bird's Eye Views

The assignment was a/ pretend you're a worm with a camera and b/ pretend you're a bird ditto.



Auntie Winnie Looking down at the market



Yaw Htung Down stairs


Ting Hkaw Top of Chinese temple tower

Of scavenger hunts, happiness, and composition

Take a picture of something that makes you happy


David Does it make you happy?

Nita My nephew makes me happy

Divide the frame on the diagonal / vertical / horizontal



Naw San



Tang Gun


Yun Mie Mie


Take a picture of something round


David

Shoot a number between one and ten

Zau Tang

The group photo shoot (s)

The assignment was to divide themselves into two groups, each group to develop and shoot a photo narrative, with each student contributing one photo. Somehow we ended up with four photo essays... we can't begin to explain it. The pictures were worth the confusion.





One group went to the market

The second group decided to shoot themselves doing assignments for the photo workshop; they went to a dairy and vegetable farm.


Nita knows how to milk a cow



Editing

Presenting

Aung Latt went off to a monastery and documented the early morning routines of the boy monks




















Then the first group went back to the market and followed a water seller with their cameras