Professional photographer and former Skyline College student Yesika Wong presented a compelling workshop on the power of photography to engage people in important conversations on challenges like climate change, food insecurity, social bias, and beyond.
Yesika’s photography workshops (February 20 and upcoming March 18) are presented with the Critical Global Citizenship Education (CGCE) campus group. CGCE invites all members of our community to join these events and engage in creative expressions of critical citizenship!
If you have questions about the CGCE project, contact Pia Walawalkar at walawalkars@smccd.edu For any questions about the upcoming workshop on March 18, contact Yesika Wong at to@yesikawong.com
The presentation began with a conversation about photography and what we think about when looking at photos. What year was it taken? What kind of camera and media were used? How were the camera settings dialed in?
And most importantly, what types of feelings and ideas does the photo evoke?
With these questions in mind, two images were provided to the workshop participants for discussion. Conversation about the first included comments about the melancholy, almost spooky feelings of dark, blue-toned, grainy scene of an office. The other photo, a sunny snapshot of sunglasses and climbing gear, evoked different feelings for the group: a sense of adventure, fun, and the great outdoors, like it belonged in an REI magazine.
What do these photos have in common? Yesika revealed that they were both shot on the same 1991 Polaroid camera, about 25 years apart, and the blue-toned one was printed on expired film. This revelation highlighted how much a photo can impact how we feel depending on the subject, media, and photographer, even when shot on the same camera.
Yesika also played a powerful Ted Talk by Sebastião Salgado, a Brazilian photographer and photojournalist who began practicing photography in his 30s and became fully immersed in telling powerful global stories through his new craft. His compelling photography depicts scenes of nature, poverty, war, and humanity in an effort to inspire change.
Salgado, who has replanted his family farm in Brazil with almost all 2.5 million of its former trees of rainforest, urged people to take action to rebuild the world’s forests. After watching the Ted Talk, workshop participants discussed social topics and stories that they felt strongly about and were inspired to share through their own photography.
If this workshop sounds interesting, we have another one coming up soon! Please join us for the second workshop in this series on March 18, 2025 – we welcome newcomers and returning participants.
