I'm Leaving On a Jet Plane...

I am leaving for Haiti in just under 6 hours! I am so excited! It seems so unreal that I'll be going back for a third time! Every time I tell people about where I'm going there are two reactions, neither of them bad, just interesting. Part of the people are confused and ask where in Africa Haiti is and then they ask why I am going there and are either super excited for me or a little nervous. I love all of the reactions. When people ask I am able to share what IASK is doing. And even if I'm just raising awareness to the fact that there is a nation in our hemisphere that is as poor as Africa I feel as though I've done something for the people of Haiti. I have yet to pack, which is no suprise to those who know me ;) I'm kind of a last minute packer any way. Since I am going back, I feel like I know exactly what to bring and what I really won't use. I am really excited to see the people in Timo and to hopefully be able to get out of the village and maybe see one of the other villages next to it. I am also hoping that we are able to bathe in the river. It was the neatest experience of my life and I have to say I really want to do it again! Call me crazy, but it true. I also hope to be able to shoot some really amazing photographs. Not just for the group, but for my classes. I was able to talk to my photography professor yesterday about my final project in his class and I really want to look at mothers and their children. Since the group focuses on that, the subject matter is already there. I am hoping toe do some mixed lighting shots with my little off camera flash and use some of the natural light. Because I am going into photojournalism I love juxtapositions and I'm hoping to really capture that. There is so much beauty in Haiti, but so much of it is overshadowed by political conflict and poverty. I would like my images to show the hope and resiliance of the Haitian people. For my color photography class our final project can be anything, as long as it uses color and color principles. So less sturctured, but kind of harder. I would love to use the gorgeous bright colors that Haiti has and put those in a collage or a montage with some Haitian materials. They use a lot of metal and are super ingenious with how they make things work, so hopefully that might give me some good inspiration! I would like to take photographs of tap-taps, the coolest public transportation ever, and see if I can either cross process them or just see if I can do some alternative process to them. For my digital imaging project we have to do an editorial spread and I am hoping to use my photographs from Haiti to make a magazine layout that maybe I can also use for the IASK magazine! I would love to better my design and if I have some great photographs to work with, I might be able to do it. I am really excited for this trip, it has a couple unknowns, like the fact I don't know many of the people going because I joined a little late and that I am still solidifing my project ideas..but that is what a long plane ride is for! Bon Voyage!