The
Centre for Filipinos is based at St Alban’s Church, Hammersmith,
and offers social and cultural activities for the Filipino community,
as well as advice, support, and learning opportunities. The Centre
has been in existence since (19??) and was recently awarded (that
commendation, ask Jamie for details)Zoom In is a community photography
and education project founded in 1997, and based at Clapham Leisure
Centre. It aims to make photography accessible and affordable
for all. Zoom In’s outreach programme offers photography
training to adults and young people all over London, working in
association with community groups, youth clubs, schools and voluntary
organisations. Through these projects, Zoom In offers people the
chance to develop their creativity, learn new skills, and see
their photos on display.
Centre
for Filipinos Photo Course
This was an 8-session course in camera and darkroom
skills, which took place on Sunday afternoons from 2pm to 6pm
at the Centre for Filipinos (CF) in Hammersmith and at Zoom In’s
darkroom in Clapham. The course was part of an initiative at CF
to produce a book of stories, poems, artwork and photography exploring
the participants’ experiences of migrating to London from
the Philippines.
The participants, a group of adults of all ages from CF who had
just completed a creative writing course to produce material for
the book, wanted to create photos to accompany their written work,
and also explore the idea of telling a story through photographs
alone. Some people had previous experience of taking photos, but
several had never used a manual camera before, and most had never
used a darkroom. The participants had varying levels of English,
so there was a freelance language support tutor who helped people
with language issues, and mapped the course closely to an ESOL
curriculum so that participants could, through taking part in
the course, also improve their English language skills.
Participants learned how to use an SLR camera and a black-and-white
darkroom, and explored the idea of the photo essay and the use
of photographs to illustrate or complement creative writing. Their
pictures were displayed at a cultural event at St Alban’s
Church at the end of the course.
March
- May 2003
