The Posting Process
I entered my senior year at Gardner-Webb, a semester ahead of my classmates and very much unsure of where my last year would take me. I had pursued the right class arrangements and was on track to graduate with Honors. The only thing that stood between me and my achievement was this thing called a Thesis. Late in the fall 2012 semester, I had meetings with various people like my Thesis adviser and my good friend Josh from back home. Several lengthy conversations with Josh ensued. He really was my best connection to various unique groups of people in nearby Charlotte, NC. I knew going in that since I was taking on a year-long project to visually tell some kind of story, I wanted it to be a good one. "A year is a very long time," I kept reminding myself.
Before embarking on this adventure of storytelling, I had never spent longer than a few weeks on a project and had never compiled that data for more than a few small collections of work. The idea of locking in a storyline for an entire year sounded exciting, most definitely challenging, and to be quite frank, terrifying. What if I get half a semester into this and absolutely hate all my leads? What if no one will tell me about themselves?
During on conversation with Josh, long before my research had officially begun, he heard me out on the many ramblings about this project and he posed a few questions to me: What gets you super excited? What resumé-building do I need? What kind of story do I want to focus on?
I sat with those questions racing through my mind for several weeks. I wrote out a list and processed through all the opportunities he had offered to me within his spheres of influence. Words that kept coming back to me were cultural diversity and women overcoming. To move from good to great in a project like this required me to dig into my strengths and step out of my world of ease. There was a world of other subjects that I could have selected that would have been easier for me to connect with. Somehow I landed on telling the stories of refugee women, fully knowing that there were going to be barriers all throughout the process.
This process has moved way slower than I ever imagined it would. I knew, going into in my research semester, that I would have to be proactive all the way through in order to get the kinds of stories that I was really digging for. My desire has always been to get past the overall broad strokes that some government or NGO website could tell you about the people groups that they work with. I have desired to bring my audience into the lives of my subjects, so that as you read, view, and watch the stories, you would actually feel like you had a chance to sit down with these women yourself.
The process of gathering my information and stories has come in varying manners in each step along the way. In the first few months that spent with the women of Upcycle Life, I was simply an office volunteer. I learned the process that the Upcycle Life products went through and how the women played an integral role in that. I spent days each week working alongside the women. I spent time with them. This is when I first began hearing their stories. The other office volunteers and staff would tell me bits and pieces of the women's stories in order for me to remember their names. This season was probably one of the hardest for me. I was having to report what progress I had made, and with the women, I felt like all I had accomplished was to remember their names. In reality, I can look back to see that I was facing challenges head-on and slowly gaining confidence with the women. We were making connections through our hours of conversation in broken English and working side-by-side.
In the early days, I had a chance to record some images of the women and have some miniature interview times with them. Every one of them were intimidated by my audio recorder, even though my camera was nowhere to be seen. They reverted back to their old ways and basically refused to speak any English to me. What if every time I ask them questions about their lives, they shut me out like this?
I kept coming back to the office. I sat in on many English classes with them and even learned how to make several Upcycle Life products.
In an attempt to gain background to the conflicts each woman came out of, I dove into researching. Some of the most beneficial research I did was watch several full-length documentaries about civil conflicts and their refugee survivors. Not only did these offer up historical information, I was watching someone else present refugee groups. No documentary was set aside after one view. Every couple weeks in the spring semester of 2013, I would watch and re-watch these films. I was constantly challenged and inspired in my storytelling.
During the summer of 2013, I became an intern with Upcycle Life. I had various roles including product photography, website management, social media outlets, and serving at fundraising events. All of these responsibilities made the way for me to have more and build deeper confidence with the women. By this point, they were accustomed to me and my camera being around frequently and realized that I was in this for the long-run with them. I was not some tourist who wanted a one-time, Instagram-worthy photo. When I asked them about their family or the horrific treatment they received in their home countries, I was not making conversation or looking for fun facts about them, I was there to hear their stories as much as they'd let me into them.
Before embarking on this adventure of storytelling, I had never spent longer than a few weeks on a project and had never compiled that data for more than a few small collections of work. The idea of locking in a storyline for an entire year sounded exciting, most definitely challenging, and to be quite frank, terrifying. What if I get half a semester into this and absolutely hate all my leads? What if no one will tell me about themselves?
During on conversation with Josh, long before my research had officially begun, he heard me out on the many ramblings about this project and he posed a few questions to me: What gets you super excited? What resumé-building do I need? What kind of story do I want to focus on?
I sat with those questions racing through my mind for several weeks. I wrote out a list and processed through all the opportunities he had offered to me within his spheres of influence. Words that kept coming back to me were cultural diversity and women overcoming. To move from good to great in a project like this required me to dig into my strengths and step out of my world of ease. There was a world of other subjects that I could have selected that would have been easier for me to connect with. Somehow I landed on telling the stories of refugee women, fully knowing that there were going to be barriers all throughout the process.
This process has moved way slower than I ever imagined it would. I knew, going into in my research semester, that I would have to be proactive all the way through in order to get the kinds of stories that I was really digging for. My desire has always been to get past the overall broad strokes that some government or NGO website could tell you about the people groups that they work with. I have desired to bring my audience into the lives of my subjects, so that as you read, view, and watch the stories, you would actually feel like you had a chance to sit down with these women yourself.
The process of gathering my information and stories has come in varying manners in each step along the way. In the first few months that spent with the women of Upcycle Life, I was simply an office volunteer. I learned the process that the Upcycle Life products went through and how the women played an integral role in that. I spent days each week working alongside the women. I spent time with them. This is when I first began hearing their stories. The other office volunteers and staff would tell me bits and pieces of the women's stories in order for me to remember their names. This season was probably one of the hardest for me. I was having to report what progress I had made, and with the women, I felt like all I had accomplished was to remember their names. In reality, I can look back to see that I was facing challenges head-on and slowly gaining confidence with the women. We were making connections through our hours of conversation in broken English and working side-by-side.
In the early days, I had a chance to record some images of the women and have some miniature interview times with them. Every one of them were intimidated by my audio recorder, even though my camera was nowhere to be seen. They reverted back to their old ways and basically refused to speak any English to me. What if every time I ask them questions about their lives, they shut me out like this?
I kept coming back to the office. I sat in on many English classes with them and even learned how to make several Upcycle Life products.
In an attempt to gain background to the conflicts each woman came out of, I dove into researching. Some of the most beneficial research I did was watch several full-length documentaries about civil conflicts and their refugee survivors. Not only did these offer up historical information, I was watching someone else present refugee groups. No documentary was set aside after one view. Every couple weeks in the spring semester of 2013, I would watch and re-watch these films. I was constantly challenged and inspired in my storytelling.
During the summer of 2013, I became an intern with Upcycle Life. I had various roles including product photography, website management, social media outlets, and serving at fundraising events. All of these responsibilities made the way for me to have more and build deeper confidence with the women. By this point, they were accustomed to me and my camera being around frequently and realized that I was in this for the long-run with them. I was not some tourist who wanted a one-time, Instagram-worthy photo. When I asked them about their family or the horrific treatment they received in their home countries, I was not making conversation or looking for fun facts about them, I was there to hear their stories as much as they'd let me into them.
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