COAF AFTER-SCHOOL PHOTO CLUB BRINGS LIGHT TO VILLAGES THROUGH THE DARK ROOM
by Leah Kohlenberg
Armenian Reporter
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October 22, 2008
Armenia
A Lernagog student during a photo session in Newman’s Photo Club room.
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villages
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New medical clinics, equipment in COAF villages go hand-and-hand with
professional, public health training
COAF repairs ambulance station and kindergarten in Lernagog DALARIK,
Armenia – When Armenian graphic designer Armen Karapetyan was
approached by an Italian ceramic company in 1992 looking for new
designs, he turned to a group of disabled teens and young adults,
who he thought were best able to deliver.
"I thought they would have a unique way of looking at a cup, for
example," he said. "And I was right."
Karapetyan spent five years with the group of 18-20 disabled people,
turning them into a crack design facility for products ranging from
dishes to automobile steering wheels. He showed them how to create
a product, from the sketching of the original design to transferring
that design and finishing it on the computer to creating samples of
the product and finally, selling the designs to various companies.
At the time he was employed with a major Russian advertising firm,
in Moscow. When he returned to his hometown of Yerevan in the late
1990s he looked for another project where he could teach job skills
and unlock artistic creativity.
That’s when he came across the Children Of Armenia Fund (COAF), and
began last year teaching photography and design skills to about 45
people enrolled in after-school programs offered at the Lernagog and
Dalarik schools.
The after-school program is an excellent example of how COAF directed a
special grant from Newman’s Own Foundation (a charitable organization,
founded by actor, Paul Newman) towards equipping the schools with
computers, cameras, equipment for two photo studios, and staff for
the program.
"I really love working with the people in the village," said
Karapetyan, a 39-year-old father of two. "You see them open up and
begin to express themselves. Some of them take better pictures than
the professionals."
"Here, look at this," he continued, beckoning to his laptop, displaying
work from the club’s first year, a collection of portraits the students
took of each other. As the photos flash by, both the professionalism
– the lighting is sophisticated, the composition flawless – and the
individualism of the subjects portrayed is striking.
"This is the quality of a professional advertisement," he said,
pointing to a photograph of a beaming young woman with tousled hair.
In fact, it is – taken by a 22-year-old hair stylist in the
village, the young woman wanted to learn photography to create
her own advertising materials, from brochures to print ads. An
important element of the after school club is that it isn’t limited
to schoolchildren, but also includes adults up to 30-years-old. He
says the adults add a professional element, while the children add
their own unique perspective to the mix.
"It’s really, really progressive for these kids in the villages to
know how to use a sophisticated program like Adobe Photoshop," says
Serob Khachatryan, COAF’s Education Program Manager. "In the major
cities you can get this kind of training, but it’s uncommon out here."
"They all get along quite well together," he said, smiling
broadly. "You just have to keep everyone busy on different projects,
then they all inspire each other."
After learning professional portraiture and Adobe Photoshop,
Karapetyan assigned a second topic: life in the villages before and
after COAF. That’s where the real creativity began to soar, he said,
flipping through more photos on the laptop.
Among the most compelling is a simple, stark photo of two chairs
side-by-side: one is the dilapidated remnant of a chair common in
the days before COAF came to the village and rebuilt the school. The
other is one of the newly built chairs COAF commissioned from local
furniture makers. It was taken, Karapetyan says, by a 14-year-old boy.
"It’s really amazing what children will capture from their
surroundings," he said.
This year, Karapetyan hopes to introduce the club to the world of
film. The assignment will be for each member to create and edit a
short film about their village, either by highlighting an unusual
person or a situation.
"I am waiting for something really special," he says. "Who knows what
it will be, or who it will come from?"
"They have first success on the national level. Smbat Petrosyan,
student from Dalarik won a special prize in national photo
competition", concludes Serob Khachatryan.