Author Spotlight
Grant Heinlein
After completing half of my project only two days before, which is a major accomplishment, this was the one day that I honestly doubted I’d be able to upload a photo. I woke up at 3:45 a.m. and headed to the airport to catch my 6:30 a.m. flight to Port Au Prince, Haiti. After some 12 hours of flying and driving, we finally arrived to where we would be staying. It was pitch black before I was able to take a photo, and the Internet situation was questionable. Luckily, I got it uploaded, and that’s all that matters.
This wasour first full day in Haiti, and it was a busy one at that. The reason for being down there was to see potential orphanage sites, and to visit the existing ones. Our team, excluding me because I was taking photos, poured concrete on a building next to the new church in Port Au Prince. Taking photos of adults in Haiti is somewhat of a sketchy objective; people coming in and photographing them is notoriously offensive. Making my way past this problem, I stuck to capturing photos of kids.
Day two in Haiti was full of travel. We went from one site to another, which had to contain at least 10 hours of driving; it was exhausting. I finally gathered the nerve to ask a Haitian adult to pose for a photo. This man spoke little English (I used the little bit of French that I know to speak with him) however he was thrilled when I showed him the final photo. The lighting was incredible, and he just happened to stop in between two rows of cacti.
We went to church in Port Au Prince, however I didn’t understand a single word; it was all in French/Creole. From there we came back to the orphanage and just hung out with the kids. This child in particular found his way over to me, and insisted on me taking a photograph of him in my sunglasses. I find it hilarious, and I love how it turned out.
We woke up early, once again, to catch our flight out of Port Au Prince. Our group made a last second stop at this metal shop on the side of the road. It was quite a sight indeed! The work that these guys were producing was incredibly detailed, and it was obvious that they took great pride in it. This man was working with his head down as I walked past, and I barely noticed the shades he was wearing. I quickly ran to the bus, grabbed my camera, and came back to ask him to pose. He loved the photo. I edited it once I got home, and it turned out to be my favorite shot from the trip.
Just about every week, there are those days that I just don’t want to take my photo of the day. This was one of those days. I found a window with great light, stuck my head against it, and sulked in my exhaustion from the previous day’s travel. I was, and still am, in this film-type phase with the editing of my photos. I stumbled across this great light-leak kit online, and I have been using it excessively.
I’ve found my way into this slump of non-inspirational days. Haiti kind of took a toll one me, but hopefully I will find my way back into this project. This photo was just kind of makeshift, not one of my best, and basically doesn’t make sense. While it wasn’t one of my favorites, it’s a photo, and thus my project lives on. Only 174 days to go. Where has my time gone?
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