Malawi Part 2: Photography
Part one of the Malawi series was focused on the sweet little ones we met through Kingdom Workers disability ministry, who all stole my heart and taught me so much. Feel free to check that out right here. In this segment of the Malawi series, I focused on a question that I wrestled with during our time teaching at bible school in Malawi, Africa.
Should I be taking pictures or should I be living in the moment…
Our team was teaching in front of the group of about 500 kiddos!! They were divided into three groups that took turns as we taught them Sunday school songs in English with some choreography, and all eyes were on us. The light was gorgeous, there were so many faces, and I was a little torn on whether to take pictures or not. It turns out every day was a little different.
A key reason I take photos is for my own memory. I love details, personalities, and stories that pictures can layout for me that I would otherwise forget.
This trip I used my smaller camera that I always had around my neck. This gave me some freedom to be able to sing and dance while also having access to my camera when I wanted to quick photograph something. The first day I took quite a few photographs of the scene right when we arrived. A rural church in the middle of open fields with kiddos coming from all around. After that I just knew I just wanted my focus to be on teaching these kids, laughing and dancing with them, and giving them all my attention.
Day two I was so thankful I had my camera because one little girl stole my heart and I never wanted to forget that moment and her sweet face. We were singing a song and doing the actions, and in one part of the song Father Abraham was " Father Abraham had many sons I am one of them (fingers pointing at ourselves) and so are you" (fingers pointing at everyone else). This sweet little one would put her fingers close to her face and no matter where she was in the group would be pointing and looking directly at me with a sweet smile. I thought my heart would explode and this image will always mean so much to me.
My small camera worked amazing for traveling and moments like these where I could still be present and not sifting through my bag. I would say in any situation whether photographing on a camera or a phone, take sparingly so you can still focus on the moment and also have a way easier time finding that photograph later when it comes time to print.
So in answer to the opening question of "should I be taking pictures or living in the moment" my advice would be don't force yourself to take photos if you don't want to or feel like it, but also think ahead of time if there will be any opportunities that will melt your heart and make you excited that you had your camera with you.
So thankful for this opportunity with Kingdom Workers. I learned so much from this beautiful group of kids and to hear their voices fill a church was so powerful and something I pray I will never forget. If you have any questions or thoughts feel free to leave them below, I would love to hear from you! My camera of choice for this trip was the Fujifilm x100F absolutely love this camera for my travels. Have an awesome day!