cole thompson photography newsletter

Issue 107 - July 16, 2019

Powerlines No. 5

Greetings! In this newsletter: Ghana: Images and Observations New Powerline Images The Story Behind the Image: Shoshone Falls Where You Can See Me Next Two Miscellaneous New Images Print Drawing 

Recently my wife and I visited Ghana to volunteer at a school and safe house. My wife was providing medical services and I was photographing the children. Upon our return, our friends and family were understandably interested in hearing about our journey...and I found myself cringing each time someone asked: tell us about it! Why that reaction? Did I have a bad experience? Was I unmoved? Did I have nothing to say? No, I have a lot to say, but I don't know how to say it. How do I describe the indescribable? How do I put emotions into words? But wait, I'm a photographer, I'll show you what I saw! No, the images don't even come close to showing what we saw and felt. But perhaps the images along with a few observations may convey a fraction of what we saw and felt. Those images and observations are in this newsletter.

I am headed out to the Faroe Islands this week and so I may be a bit tardy in responding if you write. I'll be back mid-August for a few days and then off again to PA, NJ and WA. So please be patient with me!

Also in this newsletter I have some new images and a story behind the image. I hope you are well and appreciative for all that you have! Cole

Ghana: Images and Observations

In June of 2019 my wife and I went with a group from Nurturing Nations to Ghana. Nurturing Nations is a non-profit that operates two schools for disadvantaged and special needs children and a safe-house in greater Accra. My wife, a Nurse Practitioner, went to help provide medical assistance and I was to document to help promote the school. When we arrived, we were greeted by 65 very excited and smiling children all running alongside the bus. As we got off the bus, we were swarmed by a hundred hands, each one wanting to touch us and for us to touch them.

These are the most beautiful children in the world, and of all ages, sizes, situations and religions. Some attend the school while others are being sheltered from abuse and exploitation at the Safe-House.

One of the first things that struck me about the children, was the duality of their moods. On the one hand they had the biggest smiles, and yet beneath the surface was a another child.

At times these were the happiest children in the world. At other times, they were very serious and subdued.

A friend showed this image to his school aged son who then said: The photographer has it backwards! To him, going to school would make him unhappy and not going to school would make him very happy. But in Ghana, being able to go to this school is a wonderful blessing. It means you'll have at least one meal a day, it means you'll be in a secure environment, it means you'll be surrounded by people who care about you...and it means that you'll be safe.

Many of these children come from broken homes or are being raised by a grandparent or other family member.

Many children in Ghana live in fear. There is rape, abduction, being forced to work in the sex trade or sold as a slave where they do dangerous and deadly work. One boy in the safe-house was sold by his father, but the boy saw the money being exchanged and ran away to the safe-house. But the father came and stole him away and sold him again. The boy was forced to work on a fishing boat untangling nets in the water with seven other boys. They were caught in a storm on the ocean and six of the boys drowned. The boy ran away and called Percy, the safe-house director and told him that he would not survive without help. Percy went and got the boy and he is once again living in the safe-house, but we now have a wall and gate around the building to prevent him or any children from being stolen again.

How do these situations and events affect the children? Children are naturally resilient, but you can see how it wears on them as they get older. Some of the children suffer from PTSD, some become withdrawn, some turn to opioids.

This is Kofi and I was drawn to him. He would carry my camera bag for me and just wanted to be around us, but he was quiet and withdrawn Kofi had a hard time smiling, and even if he wanted to, he would use his hand to try and stop the smile. It made me wonder what had happened in his life to take away that natural smile that comes so easily to the other children.

What coping mechanisms must these children develop in order to survive in this tough and unforgiving world?

As we observed this duality of happy and sad child, we asked ourselves what was required for a person to be happy? We concluded that it took: Food, Safety, Health and then Education which is the path to change. 

We also concluded that so many of the things that we have in our world and think are necessary for our happiness, are not necessities at all. In fact they may actually get in the way of our happiness. We observed that one can be happy even living in a mud hut with a dirt floor, as most of these children do.

And one more thing these children need: love.

Everywhere we would go, there would be 5-10 children hanging onto you. They wanted to touch your skin, feel the hair on your arms, sit on your lap, help you carry things and were just content to be around you. This is my wife Dyan with five little helpers.

We saw something else that was disconcerting: we noticed that most of the children would settle disputes by hitting. Not playful hitting, but seriously hard hitting. We would try to offer an alternative, but we were told that they were mimicking what they saw in their homes everyday. On one occasion I saw a boy (a serial hitter) smacking a smaller child. I stopped him and explained why he should not hit. His father was there and was nodding vigorously in agreement. After the father left, the school's headmaster told me that he had observed the father viciously hitting this boy just the week before.

This is a girl we nicknamed "Sweet and Sour" which describes the two sides of her personality. On the one hand she was this vibrant and happy little girl, but if another child crossed her (boy or girl) look out! She became a viscous little thing, using violence to put offenders into their place. Yan just see the mischief in her face!

These are two girls who became very attached to my wife, and her to them. They clung to her all the time but didn't smile like the other children.

And then we discovered why. Both were malnourished, one with a distended belly. It's hard to be happy when you're starving.

We were heartbroken by their hunger and immediately wanted to feed them, but how? If we were to give them some of the food we had brought, then we would be overwhelmed by hundreds of little outstretched hands. And there just wasn't enough food. So we would hide the girls from the other children and then give them something to eat. This helped and over the course of a couple of days we saw their mood and smile improve. But then we came to realize that this was only a very temporary solution. Who would give them food extra food after we left? This led to the discussion: how do we make a lasting difference?

You know the saying: feed a child for a day and they're hungry tomorrow. Teach a child how to fish and they can feed themselves forever. But how could we teach them to fish?

There was another boy who was wearing a dirty and torn shirt. My first reaction was to give him one of mine along with a pair of sunglasses. But again I wondered: had I really done anything to improve his life? Sure, "I" felt better for helping him, but is his life any better? Are his prospects any brighter? Is he any less hungry?

So we decided that the best way we could make a difference was by continuing to go to Ghana and provide medical assistance and to use my images to raise awareness. We also committed to sponsor two children so they can attend school at Nurturing Nations. Because it's a volunteer organization, 100% of our donations go to the children. There are no salaries or overheads paid from these monies. Our sponsorship allows these children to attend school and to get at least one meal a day.

But providing a meal and teaching the four R's is not enough. What impressed us about Nurturing Nations was that they actively teach the Six Core Values that define the organization. They are: Honesty Gratitude Respect Service Work Knowledge I believe in these six core values and believe that they, along with an education, can dramatically improve their these children's lives and break the cycle of poverty.

The Nurturing Nation school gives them hope, and hope gives them a reason to smile.

We worried that once we returned home, we would soon forget what we saw and felt. We worried that the principle of "out of sight, out of mind" would come into play. But we brought home three thoughts that has kept this discussion alive in our home, and they are: Why was I born here and not there? Why were they born there and not here? That one thing, birth location, makes all the difference to each of our lives. How can people with so little, be so happy. Especially when so many in our country have so much and yet are so unhappy? What can I do to make a real difference and not just do something that makes me feel good but doesn't address the long term problem? Not just in Ghana, but also here at home in my community? We don't have all the answers to those questions, but we keep thinking and talking about it. 

Do these pictures and stories tell the full story of what we saw and felt in Ghana? Not even one little bit. If you'd like to understand for yourselves, why not take a trip to Ghana with Nurturing Nations? It will profoundly affect your life. Nurturing Nations: https://www.NurturingNations.org/

New Powerline Images

This was my very first power line image, created in the SF Bay area back in 2006. 

And then in 2010 I created this image in Minneapolis. In each case, I was drawn to power lines as objects of art, but something kept telling me that they wouldn't work as a fine art subject. 

And then I saw this image "Three Crosses" by Brian Kosoff. I fell in love with the image and purchased it (it's hanging in my office). But even though I loved that image and recognized it as a fine art image, I was still reluctant to pursue a portfolio of power lines. Until...

Powerlines No. 10

I was driving to Boise, ID from Northern Colorado when I came across these most unusual power towers. I had never seen anything like them and they immediately captured my imagination. 

Powerlines No. 5 And these companion towers, both unusual because they are made from a very bright metal which really catches the light.

Powerlines No. 11 And so on this trip I decided that I was going to pursue the power lines portfolio.

Powerlines No. 9 What will be fun about this project, is that I can drive about aimlessly throughout the country looking for power lines that capture my imagination.

Powerlines No. 8 And that's something that I absolutely love to do: drive with no schedule, no route, no plans, no reservations...just drive and let my eye be my guide.

Powerlines No. 7 And if I find a great location but the conditions aren't just right, I can simply wait until they are right, with no pressure to be somewhere at a certain date or time.

Powerlines No. 6 And then again, part of me is tempted to not wander, but go back to Idaho and do the project on just these towers. They are so very unusual.

Powerlines No. 12 Here are two other powerline images that I recently completed: this one on the same trip to Boise.

Powerlines No. 4 And this one along I-70 near the ski resorts in the Colorado mountains. And here are two older powerline images:

Power Lines No. 3

Power Lines No. 2

The Story Behind the Image: Shoshone Falls

Shoshone Falls No. 2

First of all, this "Story Behind the Image" is not about the image above. But the story does start here. This is Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls, ID. I spent a couple of days there and saw the falls for the very first time, and they are impressive! They are massive, complex and an enormous roar and mist rise up from the bottom of the falls. And there are these two incredible viewpoints overlooking the falls. The image above is from one of those vantage points. As I stood there admiring the falls, the thought comes to mind that this would make an incredible image if it were not for one thing... It's been done a billion times before. Probably every mom and pop, amateur and pro who visits, photographs these falls in the same way and from the same location. I don't want to create another "me too" image of Shoshone Falls (or Zabriskie Point, Maroon Bells, El Capitan and etc). And so I started looking for that shot that everyone else hasn't done before, an image that might be uniquely mine.

Shoshone Falls

I began by sitting and quietly looking. I then tried various shots and started to play with long exposures. I noticed the swirls at the base of the falls and I liked the pattern that was created with a two minute exposure. I tried several different compositions that included more or less of the waterfalls and came up with the image above: Shoshone Falls. I like the image and so now I'll let it set and see how much I like it in a few weeks. That's the real test for me, if I still like the image after not looking at it for a while. Sometimes I'll love an image simply because of the experience of creating it, and this distorts my view of how good the image really is. Another mistake that I sometimes make is not letting go of an image when I know that it just isn't good enough. Sometimes an image just misses the mark but I'm so emotionally invested in it that I just can't admit it. I have a couple of those in my portfolios that I know are not good enough. I have one image in particular that I should have never have included in my portfolio, but people love it and it sells well. And so I sell out by keeping it in. Sigh...I'm a work in progress!

Where You Can See Me Next

See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil and Photograph No Evil. Here's where I'll be speaking (and holding workshops at some locations) this upcoming year: 8/22/2019 - 8/25/2019 at the Sedona Photo Symposium 9/9/2019 at the West Shore Photography Club in Mechanicsburg, PA 9/10/2019 at the Livingston Camera Club in Livingston, NJ 9/24/2019 at the PSA Annual Conference in Spokane 9/27, 28 and 29 at my home for the Fort Collins Studio Tour 11/1/2019 at Nature Visions in Manassas, VA 4/4/2020 at the Light and Creativity Workshop in Harrisburg, PA 4/23/2020 at the Photographic Society of New Zealand in Christchurch It's always nice to have friends at these events and so I hope to see you at one of these locations. 

Two Miscellaneous New Images

Dunes of Nude No. 240

The Road to Nowhere, Boise

Print Drawing

Dunes of Nude No. 115 The winner of my last drawing is John Brunscheon w ho will be receiving a print of "Isolated No. 6." Congratulations John! Please contact me and arrange for your print to be delivered. ____________________________

To enter the newsletter drawing for Dunes of Nude No. 115 (above), send an email to [email protected] and put "Dunes of Nude No. 115" in the subject line. Thanks for entering! 

Email Cole and Enter the Drawing!

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