WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

The following photos were taken with my dad's old SLR that I inherited when I started taking photography in college. You know...back in the day when we used film and developed the images ourselves in a darkroom. These pictures were taken shortly after (or right before?) my very first photography class. It's pretty evident that I had no clue what I was doing. I was not paying attention to any of the technical things that are so important, but I still have a huge affinity for the resulting images. And here is why...

They were taken my junior year of college during the month I spent in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I had read The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver the year before, and started boldly proclaiming I was going to visit the DRC (where the book was set.) At this point in my life, I was also boldly proclaiming that I would become a missionary in a French speaking part of Africa (like the DRC.) I spoke French, I wanted to do mission work, Africa seemed appealing...it all made sense :)

One day, while I was walking around campus with a friend, I mentioned, again, (for probably the hundredth time) that I was going to go to the DRC...one day. It just so happened that another student in earshot was actually from the DRC and he assured me he could arrange for me to go visit a mission station there. I immediately thought, What in the world have you done?!?

Not even a year later I was in the Congo and I was taking these pictures. In fact, just before taking them I approached my future husband (who was living on the mission station) and -thinking that I would wow him with my self-awareness and consideration for being politically correct- I asked him if he thought it would be alright if I photographed the kids going home from school. You know, so as not to be the naive, young, white, American girl exploiting the African kids for her own personal motivations. Well, my husband looked at me, with a little pity in his expression, and suggested I simply ask the kids if it was alright with them...since everyone probably had a different opinion. (ie. I don't know, woman. I can't speak for everyone on this mission station.) Ahhh...it was the first time he called me out, but it certainly wasn't the last :)

So, I did ask. And most everyone was pretty excited to get in a few shots. The following images are scanned files from the original film. They are super low-res (can't find the large files), grainy as heck because I forgot to change the ISO on the camera and had to push process...AND I sent the film through the x-ray machine on my way back into the country. Long story short, these pictures have been through a lot!

If you made it this far...here are the pictures (finally) as your reward. The beginning of my life as a photographer, and the beginning of a friendship with the man who would eventually become my husband!