Beyond The Lens: Photography as Therapy

Our mission at Kate’s Club is to empower children and teens facing life after the death of a parent or sibling.  One of the ways that we empower our kids is by giving them different means to express themselves and to work through the emotions they are feeling.  This past March our teens took party in the KC Photography Workshop led by myself and Krisandra Williams-Evans, professional photographer. (Check out Krisandra’s blog post from earlier this year on what the workshop was like for her.)

Photography is a great medium for self expression and exploration.  We talked with the teens about some of the technical aspects of photography – lighting, composition, etc.  Much of our workshop, however, focused on finding the beauty or meaning in every day things, on how photography can be healing.  Photography isn’t necessarily about capturing the perfect sunset, although it is nice when that happens.  It is more about being present, observing what is around you, that even the most seemingly mundane thing can be meaningful.  Today’s technology often means that taking photos doesn’t have to be about expensive equipment.  The best camera to use is the one you have with you (whether it be your cell phone or a throw away camera).  One of the amazing parts of this workshop was that the teens only photographed in a one block radius of Kate’s Club.  They were asked to collect shots symbolizing a happy/positive emotion, a sad or difficult emotion, shadows, be the light (the theme for our 10th anniversary) and a free shot.  They did amazing work!  Below is just a sampling of their work.

We are very happy to announce that a selection of photographs from the KC Teen Photography Workshop are being displayed at Octane Coffee Westside.  We hope that you will join us in lending support to our teens and celebrating their hard work by going by Octane and checking out their photos.  The exhibit will be up through the end of July.

Again, special thanks to Krisandra Williams-Evans of Leah+Mark&Co for working with our teens and to Octane for giving our teens a showplace for their work!  Please come by and check it out!