When the 2002 challenge was announced, I was over the moon because I had a digital camera and I had been to Kenya twice. We have a school there.
On the day this shot was taken, we took our year 8 students on an excursion to a tea factory...something that schools don't really do. After the excursion, we went to one of the teacher's (Donnie)houses for dinner (stewed rabbit). They live on a tea field where worker pick leaves for 12 hours for about $1 a day.
This is Donnie's grandmother. No one knows just how old she really is, but they estimate around 95. She still chews tobacco apparently.
The shot was taken with a Canon G2. In order to have my batteries recharged, I had to go to the local barber shop about 5km from our school because we didn't have power at our school.
We started with 5 students in 2001 and today we have three schools and almost 400 students in one of the poorest areas in Kenya.
As for the photo, she posed for me in the doorway of her house and gave me that amazing smile while her great grandchildren were screaming their heads off in fear of this white man!
I did a bit of dodging and burning and USM, pulled back the saturation, border and resize.
Thanks to everyone who got me into the top 10. It's nice to finish there after just 4 months.
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I rediscovered this shot tonight while searching for photos of Kenya, and it makes me excited for the possibilities of what I might find if I get to go. A close friend is involved in a project to build a school in Kenya, and she's working on convincing the sponsor to pay for me to go along as a photographer to document the project. No clue if it will happen, but it would be an amazing opportunity if it does. :-)
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