Ayana Tomlinson, Chantau McMaster & Adrian Dennie

The photographs of twenty inner-city youths who participated in this summer’s “To shoot or not to shoot-Click is the answer!” Digital Photo Workshop will be showcased in an exhibition from Thursday September 25, 2008 until Monday October 6th at the Olympia Gallery, 202 Old Hope Road.

The public is invited to view and purchase participants’ photographs with the proceeds to be used by the teenagers for school expenses.

Photographer Jeremy Francis and Sybil Francis

An outreach project of Super Plus Food Stores, the Violence Prevention Alliance (VPA) and other sponsors, the “Click” workshop focused on teaching young people aged 14-17 years old about art and photography under the tutelage of experienced and qualified photographers and visual artists including Abidan Tafari, Yakub and Shatha Grant, Damien Baddy, Joanna Francis and Dorian Clarke.

This year the organizers invited back many of the participants who had attended the workshop in 2006 or 2007 and therefore had a basic understanding of photography already, so that this year’s program could take the group’s technical competence to another level. As part of this approach, the curriculum was expanded to include aspects of photo editing, animation, layout and design, and exposure to careers in photography.

The participants, who hail from the VPA-declared “Safe Communities” of Mountain View, Rose Town, Dunkirk and Trench Town, also benefited from weekly lessons in life skills and techniques in non-violence presented by VPA community leaders, as well as visits to interesting sites such as the National Gallery, Gordon Town, Hope Gardens, Rock Tower and the Edna Manley College.