Mel and I were lucky enough to get an invite to help out our good friends and incredibly talented photographers, Bil Zelman and his wife, Megan Power, on a shoot they were doing to help out the Southern Sudanese Community Center (via Scott at The Glue Network).
The photos were for promotional and documentary use for the center. Scott and Dep (the center's director) brought thirty or so kids down to the site to be photographed. The shoot went really well but wasn't without its challenges. Mel and I are used to being on the coast where the wind dies down at sunset. Apparently inland, the opposite happens. We were using a 12' square shade screen that became a very large and powerful sail once propped upright. Even with the heavy duty roller stands and sand bags, there was no way it was going to remain standing without some additional leverage.
Fortunately (and kinda randomly), Bil and Megan drive a car outfitted with a winch. (Sidenote: winchline.com is a very real website, and you guessed it... they just sell winch line.)
The kids were amazing. There was such an incredibly open and present spirit throughout. These were people who seemed completely lacking of hesitation, doubt, or fear that most of us carry into our interactions and relationships with new people.
They loved having their photograph taken, many of them were very big fans of America's Next Top Model, and I heard a number of them express serious interest in getting copies of these photos for their Myspace pages.
I can definitely say with confidence that we've never before spent five hours in the sun doing reasonably tiring work and left feeling more refreshed than when we started. It was a really incredible experience, and both Melanie and I were very grateful to have had the opportunity.
Mel's role was chief child-wrangler. She was tasked with keeping the kids entertained and sending us groups to shoot. Turned out, taking pictures of them was a very useful distraction!
Curious about the outcome? Here are a few shots from Bil:
You can get more information about the Southern Sudanese Center of San Diego here, and the Glue Network here.
More of Bil's work can be viewed at his site as well.