The Roving Portrait Studio
As we were scrambling for last minute preparations last year, I had a flash of inspiration. I'd been feeling a bit awkward about the prospect of taking lots of photos of the people gathered for the clinic, although I knew that documenting the work we were doing was important for raising funds and awareness back home. The day before we left, it occurred to me that instead of only taking something from the patients (their likenesses), I could perhaps give them something in return. I started a frantic Google search for the tiniest photo printers I could find. Turns out you can get ones that are almost as small as a cell phone!
However, I wanted to be able to print in at least a 4" x 6" format, and finding something portable that could do that was apparently more difficult. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to order anything online. So, armed with at least a minor understanding of what options were out there, I went to the mall and started going from store to store to see if anything popped out at me. Best Buy didn't have anything the right size, so I went to Office Max, where, lo and behold, I found this baby sitting on the shelf at a clearance price. The model was discontinued and this was the display unit! As fate would have it, there were just two more boxes of ink and paper left, so I snapped those up and was on my way.
There was a slight hiccup at the airport, as I forgot to inform the friendly TSA folks that I had a very suspicious box with wires connected to it in my carry-on, but after they wiped it down and determined that it wasn't an explosive device, they let me through. Oops.
Having never been on any mission trip at all, let alone this one, I had no idea what a standard day would look like, nor whether there would be any opportunity for me to take enough photos to even make the printer worthwhile. As it turned out, I had nothing to worry about. Here's what our "waiting room" looked like.
There was ample opportunity throughout each day to wander around, basically doing street photography. I was getting lots of great candid shots, and I could tell that the demographic was skewed heavily toward women, children and elderly. I quickly realized that it was likely that none of these folks had ever had a nice portrait taken of them, and it was nearly unthinkable that they had any keepsake quality physical prints of family photos. So I tried focusing on the kids and families. I would take a bunch of photos, then sneak off to where the printer was plugged in. I'd print them, and then after hunting down the people in the crowd again, I'd hand them the print as casually as I could.
Here are a couple of my earliest shots.
The results were amazing. For one thing, I couldn't believe how photogenic everyone seemed! And for whatever reason, the lighting was just incredible for portrait work. The pure joy as they got the unexpected print handed to them was so authentic and sincere. It was obvious that these photos were going to be carried carefully home and tucked in a safe place to be keep for as long as possible. It's a little bit ironic that, even with the nearly universal permeation of cell phones (even in poor countries), keepsake photographic prints are just as rare as they ever have been.
Anyway, as could have been predicted, the plot fell victim to its own success within a few hours each day. Once word spread that there was a guy printing photos of people, they started coming to me. The kids were especially bold in hunting me down and begging for photos of themselves, and every possible permutation of their friends, cousins and siblings. It was manageable though, and it also helped keep the kids busy as they watched the printer slowly printing one color at a time (these dye-sub printers are really fun to watch!)
In the end, I used up the last of the 216 sheets of paper on the last day. So apparently I had paced myself nicely. I'm already planning ahead for this year, and I've ordered 324 sheets so I have a little more wiggle room.
Making these photos was a great addition to the ministry we brought to these folks, and I'm really excited to be able to do it again this year!
The looks on these proud mamas' faces say it all!
P.S. I have to cover my bases - all the portraits in this post are copyright me, © Roland Scott 2018
However, I wanted to be able to print in at least a 4" x 6" format, and finding something portable that could do that was apparently more difficult. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to order anything online. So, armed with at least a minor understanding of what options were out there, I went to the mall and started going from store to store to see if anything popped out at me. Best Buy didn't have anything the right size, so I went to Office Max, where, lo and behold, I found this baby sitting on the shelf at a clearance price. The model was discontinued and this was the display unit! As fate would have it, there were just two more boxes of ink and paper left, so I snapped those up and was on my way.
There was a slight hiccup at the airport, as I forgot to inform the friendly TSA folks that I had a very suspicious box with wires connected to it in my carry-on, but after they wiped it down and determined that it wasn't an explosive device, they let me through. Oops.
Having never been on any mission trip at all, let alone this one, I had no idea what a standard day would look like, nor whether there would be any opportunity for me to take enough photos to even make the printer worthwhile. As it turned out, I had nothing to worry about. Here's what our "waiting room" looked like.
There was ample opportunity throughout each day to wander around, basically doing street photography. I was getting lots of great candid shots, and I could tell that the demographic was skewed heavily toward women, children and elderly. I quickly realized that it was likely that none of these folks had ever had a nice portrait taken of them, and it was nearly unthinkable that they had any keepsake quality physical prints of family photos. So I tried focusing on the kids and families. I would take a bunch of photos, then sneak off to where the printer was plugged in. I'd print them, and then after hunting down the people in the crowd again, I'd hand them the print as casually as I could.
Here are a couple of my earliest shots.
Anyway, as could have been predicted, the plot fell victim to its own success within a few hours each day. Once word spread that there was a guy printing photos of people, they started coming to me. The kids were especially bold in hunting me down and begging for photos of themselves, and every possible permutation of their friends, cousins and siblings. It was manageable though, and it also helped keep the kids busy as they watched the printer slowly printing one color at a time (these dye-sub printers are really fun to watch!)
In the end, I used up the last of the 216 sheets of paper on the last day. So apparently I had paced myself nicely. I'm already planning ahead for this year, and I've ordered 324 sheets so I have a little more wiggle room.
Making these photos was a great addition to the ministry we brought to these folks, and I'm really excited to be able to do it again this year!
The looks on these proud mamas' faces say it all!
P.S. I have to cover my bases - all the portraits in this post are copyright me, © Roland Scott 2018
This is amazing. ❤ our prayers are with you and those you will be serving.
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