introduction...The Authentic Saga

collaborate

working together to create a body of work

co-operate•join forces•team up•band together•work together•participate•combine•ally•pool resources•put heads together

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Dena Churchman  [DC] invites you to participate with her on her collaborative project entitled 'The Authentic Saga'.  Dena started by asking a group of  10 people from diverse backgrounds 10 ?'s and then they were asked to respond to these questions with a Photograph. DC's questions were inspired by Yann Arthus Bertrand's '6 billion others' project but she also changed and added to them_ this project is her interpretation.

The candidates [so far are] are:

1. Dean Elliot, thirties, Professional Photographer
2. Devin Kerr, twenties, Interior designer
3. Elizabeth Monga, 19, Congolese refugee
4. Gary, fourties, car guard
5. Jen Mckenzie, 22, student
6. Justine Garret, 26, personal assistant
7. Kelly de Charmoy, 23, teacher in Thailand
8. Matthew Knight, 28, creative genius
9. Meryl Duffield, sixties, retired teacher
10. Nicky day, 23, Interior Designer
11. Siya and Cyril, teenagers 
12. Josh Reid, twenties, Photography student 
13. LaVerne Young, twenties, Photography student

 questions

1. Depict your country
2. What is joy?
3. Define freedom
4. Define love
5. What is your greatest dream?
6. What does money represent to you?
7. Who/what is your God?
8. What does family represent to you?
9. What is 1 thing that defines you?
10. What is 1 thing that you cannot live without?

intention

DC say that the intention of the project is to:

• Expose peoples lives creatively as a story, everyone has one but we often dismiss each other by mindsets and prejudices we have formed for ourselves sometimes unknowingly.
• Highlight the contrast and yet the similarity of each other as human beings.
• Capture life
• Inspire each other through our meanings and beliefs we have created for ourselves.
• Force self evaluation.
• Show our existence with meaning, feeling and seeing 

growing

  DC says:  

" It was originally just ten people but it's growing and I feel like I can't limit it to ten only. What I want each candidate to do is to answer a set of ten questions about life and life experiences photographically. Each candidate was offered a disposable camera or if they had their own camera to use theirs. Feedback has been positive so far, it is taking time but we are getting somewhere... The questions are simple, yet thought provoking and I believe we all have an answer to them even if we have never thought it through. Because of the lives that we live these answers have formed themselves in us".

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DC would like to expand on the collaborative aspect of this project and thus asks that  

YOU 

join in.  
Send in your images to osmosisliza@gmail.com and I will add them to relevant the post

and add your name to the list.

☕

meet... Dena Churchman

THE AUTHENTIC SAGA 

Dena Churchman (DC) is currently in her third year studying for her National Diploma in Photography at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). In 2010, Dena participated in both exhibition's  Co-ordinates and Graffitti Gardening which were group exhibitions that showcased student works from the Photography Department. "The Authentic Saga" is a self motivated project by DC initiated last year.  I have been aware of her initiative for a while and been given snippets of it over the past year via email.  DC has not 'exhibited' it as yet.  I had a meeting with DC last week and asked if I could share this project on my Blog (and can't believe that almost a year has already gone by since we've been taking about this).  

Due to the fact that I am Blogging this now,  you must have already worked out that DC agreed. I am excited to feature this project and will be introducing the project in another blog entry, followed up by singular entries on ideas  and images from the project.

•  

This smacks of osmosis:

self portrait

I feel that this is type of project is extreemly inspiring as it promotes creative expression through collaboration. It moves notions of Photography outside of it's technical, didactic (only work with class assignments) and commercial domain into a 'space' where one individual utilizes conceptual and personal investigations from an inspirational moment into an idea and feeds it to a group of people. 

It is the collective of the group and its outcomes that inform and embody the project and produce the body of work.

Before I feature this self motivated "collaborative" project by DC, first things first, in typical osmosisSTYLE,  meet Dena and her views on Photography.

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I asked Dena 10 questions...
and this is what she had to say:

1. What does Photography mean to you?

It is the opportunity to create the memories of life, whether beautiful or disturbing.

2. What genre of photography are you passionate about?

I am most passionate about people, whether portraiture or documentary. There is always a story to an individual, many are overlooked but Photography can make someone and their story live forever.

©Dena

 
3. What aspects of Photography do you love?
The perfect captured moment that is able to tell a story, the way in which light creates mood, and that after feeling of a good picture

4. What aspects of Photography do you find challenging?

Sometimes the ideas in your head can be most challenging to successfully execute.

5. Where do you find inspiration?

Through other Photographers who share the same interests, even friends who have no real technical experience who are able to still create a brilliant image.  Those who are not bound by the rules.

©Dena

6. If you could share one thing with others who are also interested in Photography what would it be?
Do it only for the love of it, then you will be able to be your best.

7. Name Photographers that have influenced you.
[Click on names and images to learn more] 
 

Yann Arthus Betrand [IMAGES]

Andre Kertesz [IMAGES]

Mary Ellen Mark [IMAGES]


8. List  3 words that describe your experience as a student.
frustrating, independent, growth.
 

©Dena

9. List 3 words that describe how it feels to be engaging outside DUT.

nervous, experience, learning

©Dena

10.Describe how you feel about next year?

Slightly apprehensive but willing to work hard to do what I love. I know where I would like to be and am going to try and get there no matter how long it takes.

☕