Fredric with Bhutan workshop students (Photo by Will Van Beckum)

It’s now early Thursday morning here, and we are about to begin our fifth day.  While the workshops are nominally a week long, in actuality the teaching takes place on only six days, as the final day, Saturday, is the graduation ceremony.

Mike Sakas is an experienced hand at blogging, and has been doing a stellar job at reporting on our experience.  I can’t tell you how appreciative I am of this, considering how busy we all are – full time- making this happen.  His latest post gives you some idea of the number of hours we put in each day.

As Mike said, we took the leap of starting the students off by having them learn to operate the cameras in manual mode, and it really paid off.  They clearly learned it, and it shows in the way they are shooting every day.

Yes, they are shooting too many pictures.  Mike was not exaggerating.  But this reflects their excitement and enthusiasm as they see their own amazing work.  Also, they are fearless, and they try everything. Yesterday, one of my students was shooting through a roll of toilet paper.  There is truly no limit to what they can accomplish.

The real test of the success of this program will be what occurs after we depart.  We are leaving behind two cameras and Adobe Lightroom software for two computers.  This allows the students to continue to practice and improve their skills in the future.  It is also our plan to have them continue to post their images on this site, giving them voice and an expanding audience for their work.

The best sign for the future is the active participation of MB Ghaley, Save The Children’s Director in Bhutan. He, too, is amazed at the quality of the workshop and the output of the students. He is committed to continuing their education at the STC-supported youth centers and to using their work in STC’s presentation materials.  His actions will make this endeavor a total success, and fully rewarding to all workshop participants – faculty, students and sponsors alike – for all of our efforts.  We look forward to more workshops with Save the Children, back in Bhutan, throughout Asia, and around the world.