Photo Shoots

PICTURE 1: Mandume Erastus and Hamukoto Arvo, grade 8B.
PICTURE 2: Kameya Greigor, Nanyemba Frans, Marthin Simion and Hamatwi Gosberth, grade 8, with Katewa Markus.
PICTURE 3: Kandjimi Beatrix, Mwendora Didi and Kambaraha Sabine. Notice Did and Sabine sharing the black striped outfit.



It started from talking to other volunteers. In towns, there’s always some place to print pictures, make copies, scan documents, etc. Volunteers at Senior Secondary Schools had begun offering, if kids could pay the NA$6 (~85 cents) it costs, to take pictures and print them in town. At first it sounded like a great idea. But I soon heard horror stories of three to four hour photo shoots during which dozens of kids demanded solo shots, group shots, and variations thereof, or different ‘styles’, as they say.

I knew this would be a problem. Not a problem, I guess, but an inconvenience. It’s one thing to take a few pictures, but that’s not how it works. It’s a million kids asking for photograph of sseveral poses in several places. “Sir, let’s go this side.” “Sir, to the library.” Sir, maybe in the class”. Sir, by the river.” “Sir, at the church.”

It might sound like I’m being grouchy or insensitive; I promise the novelty wears off quickly. I knew that I’d feel that way, so I only started at my school a couple weeks ago. This way, the novelty would last, I hoped, as long as school did – about a month.

At first, it was a slow trickle. Every few days, a couple shy kids would ask if I could “photo them”. But soon the torrent became ten, sometimes twenty kids strong each day. I realized not all of them had money to pay; most just wanted to see their picture on my computer. That was fine, because most of them hadn't pictures of themselves. Still, some tried thinly veiled chicanery, handing me a pile of coins that added up to…NA$4.30. “This isn’t enough, Arvo” I had to say (Arvo is pictured above with Erastus, laughing hysterically). He was a little embarrassed and, for some reason, surprised I’d foiled his plan.

There are 771 kids at this school. Even if I offered one free picture per kid, that would set me back over US$600, so you can understand why I have to demand the full NA$6 for each picture. The pictures above are all results of these long photo shoots. More than anything these afternoon sessions give me a little insight into the dynamic of each clique. The usual older boys come try to take the session over; the usual young boys come to jump in front of almost every take; the usual banter commences between group members as to the location of each shot. I realize this post may not be wholly interesting, but I wanted to describe and document my rite of passage between school and home each day in the afternoon: tending to the gauntlet of kids eager for getting a picture…or 20.