Macy Galvan
Full screen
 Cow. Every day, a person is bound to come across a cow along their path. Because Indian diets are free of beef, there are large amounts of cows roaming freely along the roads. In this picture, Manish was capturing something common in his every day routine. |  Class 6. Each day the students come to class and are taught English by the American Volunteer, Walter. In this photo, Raju is capturing the new classroom the students have just begun to study in. |  Sad. During an assignment, photographer Raju was asked to take a self-timed photo of how he looks when he is sad. It was amazing to see the ways students were challenged to express their emotions on camera since many do not have the opportunity to reflect on the things in life that make them feel certain things. |  Auto driver. In this photo, Manish attempted to snap a photo of a sticker on the window of an auto rickshaw. During this shot, he captures the idling auto driver in the background. Hundreds of drivers pass the children on a daily basis to the point where they almost don't notice them, in the same way he didn't mean to capture the driver. |  Teacher. Sangeeta Ma'am spends enormous amounts of time with the children. She has given many hours to the school and devotes most of her time to see the school succeed. |  WWE. Ram, the photographer, loves watching and playing WWE. In this self-timed photo he is capturing one of his signature moves on his best friend, Manish. Ram spends his free time practicing his moves to become better. |  Candid. On the first day of shooting, the students were outside and came across some of the younger class teachers walking by. Shree was able to capture the scarf of one of the teacher's blowing in the wind and her fellow colleague finding pleasure in the events. They were all trying to walk away quickly before the students could capture their picture! |  Vegetables. Each day men on a bicycles go through neighborhoods to sell vegetables to residents. Each day the same cart would pass through the street where the school is located. |  'Q' One of the assignments included going into the neighborhood and finding objects that resembled the letters of the alphabet. Manoj discovers a twig and rubber band that were found in the shape of a "Q". The students began to look at their surrounding environment in a different way. |  Motorcycle. In India, many of the residents ride motorcycles as a means of transportation. Many of the boys in class X expressed their hopes to one day own one and drive anywhere they wanted. |  Creator. Savita Ma'am is the founder/creator of Prakash Deep School. She is well respected among the students as well as the staff. She has given countless hours to the running of the school and continues to do her best to make sure each child has an opportunity to go to school. |  Flying. Photographer Malayam captures his friend showing him how he can fly. The boys joked about being able to fly like birds and planes. |  Lizard. Vipin enjoys looking for lizards and trying to catch them. Here he manages to get close enough to capture a photo of one right next to him! |  Backpacks. Each year the students are given new book bags if they do not have one or if the one from the previous year is no longer in good shape. The students use their bags to carry books for homework as well as any school supplies given to them from the school. They each make sure that their bags are with them at all times. |  First Time. Here, Sepna is captured using the camera for the first time. Her excited expression is one that many of her fellow students had as well. It was incredible to see the ways in which taking photos brought out the happiness in the students. |  Neeraj. Neeraj was one of the most energetic students I had the pleasure to work with. Throughout his time taking photos, he never missed an opportunity to snag a picture of himself. His portfolio contains many shots of himself and they do a great deal to express his confidence. |  Accessories. Sabahayta captures her best friend, Sepna, adding a flower to her hair as an accessory. Many of the students would give people flowers and suggest placing them in their hair. Flowers are all around and offer an easy and fun way for the girls, and sometimes boys, to add a little sizzle to their outfits. |  Shree. Shree was one of the most facially expressive students I taught. In this photo, her classmate Amaan captures a moment where Shree clearly has questions about what ever is taking place around her. |  Portal. Looking into someone's eyes you can learn a little about who they are. In this self taken photo, Amaan challenges the viewer to really look into his eyes. It is my belief that eyes are portals into the way a person is feeling. You can't fight the urge to know more about him when you look at this photo.
|  Camera. There aren't enough words to describe how incredibly happy the students were when they were taking photos. |  |  Transportation. There are several ways of getting around India. These include walking, auto rickshaws, bicycle rickshaws, motorcycles and bicycles. Several of the students had bikes and I discovered they were extremely important possessions to the students. Many come from backgrounds where they cannot afford to purchase bicycles, so when they do have one, they are very protective and proud of it. Raju's bicycle pictured here is used to drop off his younger siblings at school, take him to school and work. Bicycles are invaluable. |  Upside down. During an action assignment, Rahul is able to snap a photo of his friend, Vipin, doing a hand stand. Many of the students are able to do different kinds of acrobatics. They practice in the park and were more than happy to show them off for the camera. |  Happiness. Neha's beauty is wonderfully captured in this photo of her completing a job off the bench. |  1,2, 3...JUMP! Towards the end of the class period, students became better and better and capturing their friends in action. Rahul successfully captures Shree as she rockets off the bench! |  Math. Walter teaches the boys geometry. Ram, to the left of the photo, is amused by something on the agenda. |  Body Language. My favorite picture from the ABC's activity. Here, Raju and Rakesh get super creative to make the letter 'D' with their bodies. Instead of laying on the floor or using their arms, the boys show off their flexibility and genius. I was very proud that they put their full efforts into the exercise. |  Light. Raju often went out on his own to capture his images. While the other students were usually in pairs or small groups, Raju would venture to find things many of the others failed to notice. In this photo of flowers, Raju creates a setting that sheds light into the beauty of their surroundings. |  Friendships. For a while, the students would only take photos of me. Finally, after a couple of days working together, the students felt comfortable enough to begin taking photos with me and asking if I would be in their pictures. Here, Ram and I are asked to pose for Manish as he takes our picture. When they began to ask me to be in their pictures, I felt as though we were breaking down walls and moving towards creating genuine friendships/bonds. |  Bollywood. Each day I was constantly surprised at the importance of Bollywood actors and how each day the newspapers idolized them. It's common in America for society to be interested in the lives of celebrities, but I soon learned it's 10x more intense when it comes to Bollywood stars. Some of the students would clip out the photos in the newspapers and glue them inside notebooks. On the side of the photos, they would write things that were direct statements to the people in the pictures as if they would read/hear them. I was constantly amazed at the love the students had for the movie stars. |  |