During my photography journey at the Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon and while I was looking to capture the atrocious conditions that the children were living in, this boy stood a bit far from me with a toy gun and waited for me to photograph him. He paused for the camera three times without any directions from me as if he knew exactly what he wanted to show me. But I still don't. All I remember was that at every click of the shutter, I wondered how this child was able to make my brain stop. What is this boy trying to tell me? Is he showing me how innocence can be stripped away in seconds in the name of survival? Or has this grown-up built reality redefined child play? I felt as if we switched roles. While most kids look at adults for answers, I was the one left with the questions.
During my photography journey at the Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon and while I was looking to capture the atrocious conditions that the children were living in, this boy stood a bit far from me with a toy gun and waited for me to photograph him. He paused for the camera three times without any directions from me as if he knew exactly what he wanted to show me. But I still don't. All I remember was that at every click of the shutter, I wondered how this child was able to make my brain stop. What is this boy trying to tell me? Is he showing me how innocence can be stripped away in seconds in the name of survival? Or has this grown-up built reality redefined child play?
I felt as if we switched roles. While most kids look at adults for answers, I was the one left with the questions.