When taking a photo becomes more than just pressing a button

In March of 2012, I boarded the plane to Costa Rica not knowing what to expect. I had never been outside the U.S. before. When I arrived in Costa Rica I had a bit of a culture shock at first. I had seen poverty in the U.S, but I had never seen it like this. I was so excited when I stepped off that plane, because I could not wait to see the impact our team was going to make in the lives of these people.

One of the projects our team did when we were down there was a photography project. We raised money and brought tons of empty black frames with us. We were going to photograph all the children, go into the city and get the photos printed and framed for them. Our group leader assigned me and a few others to head up this project because she knew we loved photography.

We spent the day taking pictures of children in a very poverty stricken area. When my group arrived to start the project, the children had cleaned up the best they could for their special picture day and they were wearing their best outfits. One after another we took photos of all the kids. You could see joy come across their faces every time the camera took a photo. They kept changing their clothes and asking me to take more pictures. After every picture they wanted to look at themselves on the preview. After printing and framing the the photos, we brought them to the kids to be delivered. When we arrived, the kids ran immediately to our bus. The kids hurried to grab their pictures as we put them on the table. They had the biggest smiles on their faces as they looked at themselves and showed their families and friends.

At that moment I realized how much just one picture meant to them. I have pictures of myself all over my house. I can pull out my camera right now and take one and upload it to the computer. I can go to a mirror and look at myself anytime throughout the day. 

I would say the average American looks at themselves at least ten times a day, probably more. When I was talking to my friend she herself had 102 selfies on her phone. What if you could only look at yourself one time a day? Or a week? It's crazy to think that some people live their lives like this.

We are so lucky with what we have here that we take everything for granted. We don’t even think about that being able to look at ourselves is a huge luxury. To the kids in Costa Rica, my photos of them was way more then pointing a camera and snapping a photo. It was letting them be able to look at themselves every day through that photo. This photo allowed them to be able to see themselves as the beautiful children that they are. This was the moment when I truly fell in love with photography. I want my photography to reflect the beauty of the world, and the people who inhabit it. I want to use photography to make a difference.