While some of us snoozed, Fred and Ali’s group was up and about, ready to meet the early morning delivery drivers of Second Harvest. After joining the trucks at the loading docks, our photographers shot the entire process of sorting and reloading the donated food for delivery to various community centers, apartment complexes, and senior homes. Once the trucks had been loaded, the students broke into small groups and followed two drivers along their scheduled routes for the day. At each location, we documented the strong community bonds being created by Second Harvest’s deliveries and tell a story of reuse, connection, cooperation and direct action having an impact on reducing hunger in Toronto.
Meanwhile, Mike and Danny took their group to the Thornecliff community garden, where food is grown for a citywide summer lunch program as well as for feeding the local community. Our students shot environmental portraits of volunteers, documented the upkeep of the garden, and portrayed the unique juxtaposition of urban agriculture, as well as one presence of one particularly healthy dragonfly.
Afterward, Mike’s group met up with Rick’s group at a school where a group had created a garden by replanting donated vegetables. The food being grown in their garden was used to prepare meals for the students in the Summerlunch+ program. We were further wowed when they showed us the bananas they grew in rooftop greenhouse year round. The students made use of a dark room to explore long exposures and new ways of capturing light and movement.
Sarah took her group to a neighborhood summer program run by Believe to Achieve, which mentors youths after school and throughout the summer. Our photographers documented the students as they prepared lunch for one another in the kitchen, working with the Summerlunch+ to create healthy and delicious lunch options while learning the fundamentals of cooking. By the time we left, we had full cards and full stomachs. To cap it off, one of our students, Tabish, had been offered a job as a photographer for Believe to Achieve.
We all headed back the museum and downloaded our images and edited in groups to prepare for our final day of critique. As the day came to a close, our students picked out their favorite images from the week to make prints for their end of week exhibition at the museum.