Precious Nyabor wins Fafali Organization photo contest
The Fafali Organization has crowned Precious Nyabor the winner of the first edition of its photo competition held on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, at the organization’s office, Kissehman-Accra.
The theme for the competition was “My Community, My Family”.
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With prize money of $75 to be shared among the first, second, and third-place winners. The participants were tasked to produce images of their environment in the Kissehman community with their respective cameras.
The ceremony was graced by; Raymond Amezado founder of the Fafali Organization; Senyo Sosu, CEO of the Fafali Organization; Pablo Weeden, Programs Coordinator of the Fafali Organization. Participants of the competition, parents of participants as well as all staff of the Fafali Organization were also present.
The photo competition was the brain project of John Weeden, a member of the advisory board of the Fafali Organization, and was implemented by the Programs Coordinator of the Fafali Organization, Pablo Weeden.
“Back at home in Spain, we had old cameras that we no longer had use for, so on my journey to Ghana my father (John Weeden) suggested I brought the cameras so that the kids could use them and start learning a little bit about photography, pictures, video making, etc.” Pablo Weeden said.
He also added that one thing he was looking out for when he implemented this competition was to see how best the children could handle the cameras given to them.
The long-term goal of this project and how this project benefits participants according to the Programs Coordinator was to ensure responsibility and a sense of discipline among participants.
“One aspect would be responsibility for the camera as I think it is important that they learn how to treat things well with care as it is not only for them but for a group of people,” he said.
On the long-term goal, he added that the organization is looking to engage these kids in after-school programs to keep them busy and off the streets.
Participants were recruited from a Spring Break Camp organised by the organization in May where over fifty (50) children applied to take part in the photo competition.
In the end, there were only six (6) participants left to compete and all the finalists were females.
“At first we were more, but later due to the lack of resources (Cameras and funds), I reduced the number so we were down to eight participants,” he said.
Pablo Weeden also added that “even though we were eight (8), two (2) were too young to carry and use cameras so they had to drop out and we were left with six (6)”.
Participants were given four (4) weeks to come up with the best family images in the community which their scores were going to be based on. With only three (3) cameras available to be used by six (6) participants, two (2) participants were assigned to one (1) camera for two (2) weeks.
Photos were submitted in the early days of June and the judges had to make a decision on which images were the best three among them. The judges according to the program coordinator, Pablo Weeden, were staff of the organization as well as participants making a decision on which pictures they themselves liked and finally, the pioneer, John Weeden in collaboration with Pablo Weeden, selected the top three (3) participants.
The top three (3) participants selected were; Precious Nyabor, Candra Evadzi, and Rejoice Jargoh who placed first, second, and third respectively.
Precious Nyabor, the overall winner of the competition, shared that it is her dream to become a photographer in future.
“When I joined this competition, I knew it will help me to improve and become somebody in future,” she said.
About what she has learnt during the course of this competition, Precious said “I have learnt how to save pictures on the computer, how to take out and fix back the battery of the camera as well as how to turn on and off the camera”.
Just like Precious, the first runner-up, Candra and the second runner-up, Rejoice, all alluded to her dream of becoming professional photographers.
Rejoice said she is fascinated by the idea of taking up a career path in photography. “When people take great pictures, I feel it’s me,” Precious added.
The Fafali Organization is looking to grow in the area of STEM and it believes videography and photography is a step in the right direction.
