Youth Camera Club Launched

Minister of Youth, Families, Sports and Community Development Glenn Blakeney today [Dec 14] presented a cheque for $4,000 to award winning photographer Tamell Simons to help him fund his new youth camera club entitled, “Through the Lens: See What they See.”

The youth photography club is geared towards students between the ages of nine and 13 from the Pembroke Central area and aims to help students use photography as a conduit through which they can express how they perceive Bermuda while learning to appreciate the beauty of their homeland. Initially, students will be instructed to photograph areas in which they live and before eventually branching out to cover a cross section of Bermuda’s culture – from sporting events to church functions.

Minister Blakeney said: “The Government of Bermuda is pleased to be able to assist Mr. Simons in what we feel is such a worthwhile endeavor for our young people. With so much recent negativity in the media about certain areas of our island, Through the Lens provides a unique opportunity for young people who live in those areas to express how they feel about their neighborhoods and, I anticipate, present them to us in a much different light.”

Photo Caption: (left to right)  Acting Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Youth, Families, Sports and Community Development Randy Rochester, Minister Blakeney, JP, MP, Minister of Public Information Services Neletha  Butterfield, Tamell Simons, Minister without Portfolio Michael Weeks:

The Club will function as a series of 10-week classes with approximately 10 students per class and will be led by Mr. Simons. There will be a minimum of two lessons per week, including one weekend day.

Students will be selected with the help from area MPs, school principals and staff at the Youth Centre.

“The idea is to offer a balanced view of Bermuda,” Mr. Simons said. “I want students to come away from this experience with a deeper level of respect and understanding for their community and Bermuda as a whole, along with a foundation for the art of photography.”

Selected students are required to participate in joint community service (such as a neighbourhood clean-up) a minimum of once a month which will be incorporated into one of the lessons.

Students will be involved in deciding which areas to photograph as well as putting together exhibitions, newsletters and web content using the photographs they have taken. Student’s works will be featured in roaming photo exhibitions throughout the island and in potential partnerships with local media.

Mr. Simons is Deputy Chief Photographer at “The Royal Gazette” and has attained numerous awards throughout his professional career, which include the Bermuda Gold Award, VIP Excellence Award, Ridgeway and the Queens Certificate/ Badge of Honour.

For the last two years, he has been guiding a group of clients from the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute, in a programme titled “PhotoVoice” which accumulated to a well received exhibition at the Bermuda Society of Arts.

“I would like to thank all those that helped to move this project forward with mutual understanding of its goals and potential,” Mr. Simons said. “It is with the upmost respect and gratitude that I personally thank those in Government for making this project a reality. Special thanks to MP Ashfield DeVent, Minister of Public Information Services, the Hon. D. Neletha I. Butterfield MBE, J.P., M.P and last, but certainly not least, Minister of Youth, Families, Sports and Community Development the Hon. Glenn Blakeney, JP, MP who got behind this project and made it happen.”

“Behind the Lens” is set to launch at the end of this month.

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