Press release: Creative Learning through Images and Camera Knowledge

From the 10th to the 18th of October 2013 in Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy) 26 participants from 11 countries of Europe will take part in a Training Course on photography and youth work organized by Associazione Interculturale NUR and financed by a grant from the “Youth in Action” program of the European Commission. From Romania, the partners are: Asociaţia SUPER TINERI ASIRYS, Asociaţia Culturală Actus Dramatikus, Asociaţia Edumond şi Asociatia “Ecologie - Sport - Turism”. 

In a time when hundreds of millions of pictures are taken every day with smart phones and uploaded without any selection on the social platforms, we feel the need for a stronger awareness of the power of images. Our TC aims at giving youth leaders and their NGO’s a set of tools to promote a better understanding of Photography, a stronger awareness of the Image Culture and communication codex and practical hints on how to use higher level photography to involve youth in NGO’s activities and social campaigns.

The topics will span from the knowledge of the reflex cameras and their potential, to the techniques to shoot specific subjects such as night sky (moon and stars), sunsets in the city and on the beach, street photography, portrait… We will also tackle privacy issues and post-processing of digital pictures, how to set up a photo campaign, a photography contest, on line galleries and a real photo exhibition.

The participants will be youth leaders and multipliers with some interest in photography but with zero or only basic knowledge of reflex cameras. The contents will not make it a photography course for advanced users as the goal is to transfer competencies in how to use photography in a youth organization’s activities.

The idea of the project is to empower NGO's that share with us a common target group: youngsters from smaller villages of rural areas or from urban areas but with fewer opportunities because of social and economical barriers. Youth that have in common a very little access to mainstream communication and cultural channels but that nevertheless, are very quickly entering the social networks. Thus the particular attention to the transfer of good practices, besides the technical skills we will also tackle, will become a multiplier tool in the hands of our partners and colleagues from other countries.