Outside a Church during a Wedding, Kenya, 2007

We arrive at a white building near the school. As with the other days, the good people of the foundation advise me that we will wait a few minutes and the people will begin arriving. Maybe one minute goes by and the people are already coming.

A few men from the good works projects arrive first. These are older men that were perhaps doing little before meeting the foundation and are now involved in public works projects and environmental improvement initiatives. They pose first and we make their portraits while the sun is still a bit strong.

Then the older men and women come along. Samuel from MACODEF arranges himself to note their names down and one by one they stand in a line. At any one time, there are perhaps thirty people waiting patiently. The sun is strong and the temperature high. Nonetheless, everyone waits their turn and gives me a minute in front of the camera. They appreciate even this one minute and sacrifice an hour of their time to do so, maybe even more.

The trick when the sun is at times overwhelming is to tease a smile out of them. In this way, they will forget about the sun for a split second and allow their face to coincide with the smile. The portrait above is one such example.

All these portraits and others are for sale in order to benefit the foundations involved with the photography.