The text below is from an interview I conducted with a project coordinator at a Syrian/Turkish community center who created a photography workshop; the photographs displayed below were taken by the participants in the workshop.
How did you start your photography workshop?
When we decided to work on this workshop we decided to start with the announcement and things. For example, we made the flyers, distributed the flyers. We gave the right information about this class, the things that we will do, the aim of this class. We also made the dates more suitable for the people, and their ages. For example, maybe the adult people… they have work so they will not attend in the morning. So I was happy to put the lesson for the adult people at 1 o’clock in the afternoon. We also… when we finished the registration, we had to work on the groups… to make the difference about the ages more easy… to put them in different groups with their age. We discussed about the final exhibition and we saw that the most important things for people and the most popular thing for people in Kırıkhan, is to go tot the pazar and to buy fresh vegetables, clean food from the nearby farms. We saw the most crowded place in the town was the popular market, so we decided to go there and to focus on this kind of activity, daily activities, or weekly… weekly activity.
Did anything surprise you?
For example, even in Syria we heard some people calling for their products, to make them more able to sell… more able to earn money during this day… (Laughs) So, one time we were working with friends and we heard a man was calling… “Kestane kebap yemesi sevab” (Eating chestnut kebab brings a reward). And, he told me the story about this… He said the original copy of this saying is “Adana kebap yemesi sevab” (Adana kebab brings a reward). So for me, we can just use this with our workshop to make the children more… to make them excited to learn more things about this famous calling for their products. Like poetry (Laughs)…
When we decided to work on this workshop we decided to start with the announcement and things. For example, we made the flyers, distributed the flyers. We gave the right information about this class, the things that we will do, the aim of this class. We also made the dates more suitable for the people, and their ages. For example, maybe the adult people… they have work so they will not attend in the morning. So I was happy to put the lesson for the adult people at 1 o’clock in the afternoon. We also… when we finished the registration, we had to work on the groups… to make the difference about the ages more easy… to put them in different groups with their age. We discussed about the final exhibition and we saw that the most important things for people and the most popular thing for people in Kırıkhan, is to go tot the pazar and to buy fresh vegetables, clean food from the nearby farms. We saw the most crowded place in the town was the popular market, so we decided to go there and to focus on this kind of activity, daily activities, or weekly… weekly activity.
Did anything surprise you?
For example, even in Syria we heard some people calling for their products, to make them more able to sell… more able to earn money during this day… (Laughs) So, one time we were working with friends and we heard a man was calling… “Kestane kebap yemesi sevab” (Eating chestnut kebab brings a reward). And, he told me the story about this… He said the original copy of this saying is “Adana kebap yemesi sevab” (Adana kebab brings a reward). So for me, we can just use this with our workshop to make the children more… to make them excited to learn more things about this famous calling for their products. Like poetry (Laughs)…
Other goals for the workshop?
Actually there is no class that is ideal, dream class. We just… we should be happy with making people have communication with new friends, with new nice people, we introduced them in our class. For example, the main aim of the kinds of warming-up games is to make people know each other more, to learn more things about each other. And it’s about expressing yourself by photography, because really most of the people need to know that photography is—it’s not only for the Syrian people I am talking about… Photography… it’s not always a way to transport your tragedy, it’s also to transform your feeling to pictures, what can the other see, what can the other feel about your feelings, feel about your things that you care about. Most of us, when we go back to our own home, we saw like… our parents are taking are about the new news in Syria, the events in every day are taking place in Syria. So for me, if we just give more of our life... just… life will not end in this war… we can also continue our life by using the photography to shine our aims... to just transport good moments about memories, about having a good time with friends, about nature, nature views in every day.
Working with the Syrian and Turkish people… it’s very important for me. Because working with other people from another country, from another language, another culture… made us new, to know new things about them, about their culture and their traditions. Like, if I went with my Turkish friend to his brother’s wedding and if I take a photo, I will learn more things about their traditions, by taking photos with the other person from a different culture… I’ll try to make it more short for you… This person is trying to tell you something by this photo… you are trying to tell him something about this photo. So if I told you a different thing, and if you told me a different thing… I will learn new things from you and you will learn new things from me.
Actually there is no class that is ideal, dream class. We just… we should be happy with making people have communication with new friends, with new nice people, we introduced them in our class. For example, the main aim of the kinds of warming-up games is to make people know each other more, to learn more things about each other. And it’s about expressing yourself by photography, because really most of the people need to know that photography is—it’s not only for the Syrian people I am talking about… Photography… it’s not always a way to transport your tragedy, it’s also to transform your feeling to pictures, what can the other see, what can the other feel about your feelings, feel about your things that you care about. Most of us, when we go back to our own home, we saw like… our parents are taking are about the new news in Syria, the events in every day are taking place in Syria. So for me, if we just give more of our life... just… life will not end in this war… we can also continue our life by using the photography to shine our aims... to just transport good moments about memories, about having a good time with friends, about nature, nature views in every day.
Working with the Syrian and Turkish people… it’s very important for me. Because working with other people from another country, from another language, another culture… made us new, to know new things about them, about their culture and their traditions. Like, if I went with my Turkish friend to his brother’s wedding and if I take a photo, I will learn more things about their traditions, by taking photos with the other person from a different culture… I’ll try to make it more short for you… This person is trying to tell you something by this photo… you are trying to tell him something about this photo. So if I told you a different thing, and if you told me a different thing… I will learn new things from you and you will learn new things from me.
You did the English translations about participants’ motivations for joining the workshop…
Yes, they are maybe 15 to 23 years old participants. So I had to make this question more clear for them… So if the people didn’t understand this question, I had to explain. Like your motivation is not enough… Maybe most people said: “I like photos, I like photography…“ For example, two guys came and asked me to register them, and they said… “Just write whatever you want”. I said “No… this is important for me and for the workshop… We need this because this will be related to the subject, related to the aims of the workshop.” So during the explanation about what you hope about your participation, what you feel about your participating and your motivation contains all this meaning, so I want to make this more clear for them.
What did you ask them?
I have three questions. Do you like to meet new friends? Are you excited to learn more about photography? What do you feel when you are taking different photos of different places from your home?
Yes, they are maybe 15 to 23 years old participants. So I had to make this question more clear for them… So if the people didn’t understand this question, I had to explain. Like your motivation is not enough… Maybe most people said: “I like photos, I like photography…“ For example, two guys came and asked me to register them, and they said… “Just write whatever you want”. I said “No… this is important for me and for the workshop… We need this because this will be related to the subject, related to the aims of the workshop.” So during the explanation about what you hope about your participation, what you feel about your participating and your motivation contains all this meaning, so I want to make this more clear for them.
What did you ask them?
I have three questions. Do you like to meet new friends? Are you excited to learn more about photography? What do you feel when you are taking different photos of different places from your home?