The Pictures We Took: Aguila in Photographs

About the Program

Category: Libraries (Best in Category)

Year: 2015

“The Pictures We Took: Aguila in Photographs” was a digital photography program for youth in the town of Aguila, Arizona. Participants ranged in age from 7 to 20 years old. The Maricopa County Library District provided participants with top quality pocket digital cameras and guidance from a photography professional before setting them loose to document their community. The goal was tell the story of Aguila through its people and places and help to build a sense of community pride in the participants. We ended up with over 500 photographs. After a rigorous selection process, we selected the best photographs to be printed as a paperback book. The photographs were also submitted to, and accepted by, the Arizona Memory Project (www.pictureswetook.com). This library photography project was initially a way to pull those groups together and impart upon the new generation an understanding of the subtle complexities of the community they are growing up in, along with teaching them how to weave their frustration, patience, and immediacy into the fabric that makes up the act of photography. The hope was that the culmination of their efforts would lead them to discover that, in reality, Aguila is a wonderful place to be from.