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3.2.5  Photos of the Students

We ask the students to make photographs of their surroundings because our surroundings are in some way the set design of our lives. In order to do this everybody got a disposable camera.

There lied the next surprise waiting for us.

Some of the boys went out of the room and came back with a camera in pieces.

We asked them for an explanation, they said: we just wanted to know how the photos are made...

Photos of Dreams

These are some photos of the dreams they came back with.

This picture is of Louis, one of the students playing the guitar. He is sitting on a brown couch wearing a blue pullover, a blouse and glasses. He is facing the camera, his facial exspression is neutral. He has brown short hair and brown eyes. For some reason the left side of the picture has a yellow distortion. Behind the couch is a wooden door. The walls of the room are painted white.
Pic 3.17: «I want to be a guitar player and i want to be accepted the way I am»
This picture has a black background and shows a man with down syndrome in a blue pullover. He wants to be a Flamenco dancer, and has a red coloured fan, in his hand, like the women always have when they dance the Flamenco. For me this picture is interesting because the gender is swapped around to what you would normally be used to.
Pic 3.18: «I want to be a flamenco dancer»
A porcelain statue of a baby on a wooden floor. Its hair is brown. It is very small in size compared to the floor. Its body is pink in colour and seems to be crawling on its hands and knees, one of the ears is visible.
Pic 3.19: «I want to have Children»
This photo is taken in black and white, of Danny and Gosae hugging eachother. The eyes are closed and there face is smiling, there foreheads and noses are touching each other. There heads are tilting. The picture has a romantic feeling to it.
Pic 3.20: «I am gay and i want to have a relationship»

Unnoticed Objects

Some came back with objects that are so normal that in the rush of daily life they are not noticed anymore.

In this picture, we are entering the house of one of the students. There is a little bed light lamp, placed at the side of the couch. The couch is decorated with a flower motif. The general colour of the picture is very light blue. In the right hand upper corner part of a wooden frame is visible. The lamp has a wooden foot in the same colour as well. The colour of the lamp is off white. The base of the lamp is of a man.
Pic 3.21
In this picture we enter a sleeping room of one of the students. The bed frame is made out of a dark and light coloured wood. On the bed there are several pillows visible in different shades of blue. The duvet is white with golden stripes. The general colour of the picture is brown in the left hand corner and black in the right hand corner. In front of the bed is an umbrella with a flower pattern on it, in the colours red, yellow and light blue. The umbrella has a very big contrast with the rest of the picture as it is so colourful, it gives the picture a positive energy.
Pic 3.22
This picture is again of a room of one of the students and he took a photo of only one corner of the room. On a light wooden desk are several portraits visible of his family, they are in different coloured frames. On the left, is a black framed picture of two people, mother and daughter possibly and next to that the frame is yellow. Behind that one, the frame is in a grey, leather, and at the front, the frame is white. On the right hand side of all of them is a photo without a frame. The desk that the photos are standing on, is next to a wardrobe in a light varnished wood. The wall which the furniture is standing against, is white. On the left hand side there is a CD rack.
Pic 3.23
The overall picture is of graffiti. It is the entrance for the Danza Mobile school. On the left hand side is a wall painted in red. Next to the wall is a pink S shape with a long triangular form in the end. The form is outlined with black spray paint. On the right hand side of the paper the letters A and M are visible, they are painted in yellow spray paint and have a fat black outline. Around the black outline white is visible. In the middle of the picture we can see blue. On the side above the wall there is the colour green, a pink circle and a blue triangular shape. A mint green and little bit of yellow can be found in the rest of the triangular shape on the side above the wall. In the mint green is a brown square shape. It is coloured in with a bit of brown and white, it could be some building but I am not sure.
Pic 3.24
This picture on this page is of a umbrella that I described previously with the flower pattern in yellow, pink and blue. The flowers are on a white background. The frame work of the umbrella is coloured in pink. The umbrella fills the whole picture this time.
Pic 3.25
One of the students has photographed a floor together with his own legs. He is wearing blue trousers and has photographed a white spot on a brown floor. In this photo the other knee is visible with a dark blue trouser and his feet are standing firmly on the floor. The outline on the left hand side of the photo has a bit of yellow and the overall colour of the photo, is a very light orangey brown. I find it a very original idea to focus only on the feet and legs when you photograph. The person who made the photo is standing and the person who is with him is sitting on a mint green bench. Both people have white trainers on.
Pic 3.26
In this picture there is a mint green background. At the top of the picture a white curtain is visible, at the bottom of the picture is a bike decorated with white feathers. It looks a bit like a bike that has come out of a bathtub covered in foam. It took me a long time to work out what was actually photographed in this photo, until I saw the original object. How can you come to the idea to decorate your bike with feathers and then take a photo of it.
Pic 3.27
This picture is of a wooden door with a block motif carved in to it. The two door knobs are golden in colour and a closed black umbrella is hanging off of it. A golden key is also visible. The picture gives me the feeling of a very classic old house that the doors belong too.
Pic 3.28

Pictures of the Neighbourhood

This photo is taken from a bus (vehicle) , it is a very dark photo, almost black. You can see reflections in the glass windows. You can see a red wide board with a white horizontal line going through it, which means that you are not allowed to drive through there. Also the shadow of a building is visible.
Pic 3.29
The overall picture is of the outskirts of Sevilla, a tall chimney is visible in the middle of the picture. Also a blue recycle box is visible and a blue car is parked next to it, in the distance we can see several other cars. Further more a yellow flat is visible, with several trees with leaves next to it. In the centre of the picture there is a tree visible without any leaves, behind those trees more yellow buildings are visible. I find this picture beautiful because there is so much depth in it and the chimney looks like a long, tall, round pillar, in the middle of it. Next to the chimney is alot of space where wehite clouds are visible. In the left upper corner you can see a very little bit of blue sky which has a wonderful turquoise colour. I find the composition beautifully arranged.
Pic 3.30
This photo consists of a blue sky with two blocks of flats and a smaller building which you can only see in part, the flats are white and brown in colour. The last smaller building is yellow.
Pic 3.31
This picture makes it possible to look inside a street, on the side of the street are parked cars. Again the same yellow building is visible that we saw earlier in the photo on page 28 but from a different angle. The street is shaped in a T and on either side of the road green trees are visible. There is also a couple, with a red and yellow umbrella crossing the street. A red bus has stopped at the street lights. A blue sky and white clouds are visible. The people in the photo are not easy to see as the picture is quite dark in places.
Pic 3.32
This photo is again of a street. In the bottom, left hand corner, there is a silver renault parked. Behind the car, is a yellow painted house with a balcony, the balcony consists of a dark brown varnished wood. In the right hand corner there are several people with dark blue , light blue and red umbrella's, standing and talking to each other, standing in two separate groups on either side of the street. In the distance you can see another car in silver, parked up, and also a tree with green leaves is visible.
Pic 3.33
This photo is of a white bridge, with a pavement. The bridge has a roof above it that seems to be made out of wood. In the roof are carved triangular shapes. The bridge is based on the left side of the photo, when we look at the right side we can see water. Next to the water are trees with light and dark green leaves. My guess is that they are fruit trees as there lots of them standing together on green grass. On the bridge is a person walking, his back is turned away from the camera. The sky is very well visible, the air is cloudy. Looking at this picture I think it is going to rain.
Pic 3.34
This photo is taken out of the front window of the bus. We can see the yellow bars that you can hold on to, whilst the bus is in motion. We can also see houses that are not clear in focus as the bus is in motion. The houses are yellow and white in colour. The roof of the bus is white, the windscreen wipers are also visible. Because the bus is in motion the picture has alot of depth.
Pic 3.35
This photo is of a block of flats with cars in front of it. It is possible that this photo is taken from a motor vehicle, most probably a car because the picture seems to be taken from behind a window. The flats are white and brown in colour, a big part of the pavement is also visible but is difficult to see. The cars that are visible, are red, blue, silver, white and black in colour. In front of each window on the block of flats are sun screens.
Pic 3.36

Individual Views

This photo is on a light green background, in the middle of it is a clock that you might see in a school classroom or in a train station. The beauty of it is that it has nothing around it and because of this, it gives alot of clarity, because there is nothing that can distract you. A moment of time is frozen and can never be repeated.
Pic 3.37: «Time is a very strange thing when having down syndrome. It gives structure to my day.
I want to know when I get my food, I need to know when I go home. There are also moments where time does not exist were I am in my own world.»
This photo is of two wooden shelves with alot of different dolls on it. Most of the dolls have a white skin colour but one, which is black in colour. All the dolls are wearing colourful outfits in block motif. The outfits are in the colours pink, green, blue and yellow. Below the shelves there is a picture of three bears. The shelves are fixed on to a rack made of wood, which you can see through. It is a typical girl sleeping room.
Pic 3.38
This picture is of a storage room where we can see carton boxes on the right hand side. Coloured ribbons are visible on the top right hand side. The wall is mint green. A folded box is found in the left and a red cloth is visible in the middle next to a wooden frame. The overall picture has a feeling of chaos.
Pic 3.39
This photo consists of a keyboard, it fills the whole picture. The black and white keys are very prominently visible. The keyboard stands against a white wall and above that hangs a white and light green curtain.
Pic 3.40
This photo consists of a male with a big smile. Only his mouth, big red lips, teeth, nose and one blue eye are visible. It looks like he has his nose against the camera. He is wearing a blue pullover and a t-shirt with a collar. He is standing against a black background. I find it amazing how people with down syndrome can just focus on different parts of their body.
Pic 3.41
This photo is very dark, I can see a woman sitting in front of the window. It is raining outside and I can see the shadow of a tree. The woman has brown curly hair and brown eyes. We see her in profile. In the left of the picture outside of the window there is a another shadow visible,which I think is off an electric pole that transports electric to all the houses.
Pic 3.42
This photo, is in black and white, of a smiling face from a man with down syndrome, taken from very close up. Although it has no colours, it is a photo with an amazing energy. The head that we see is photographed and is tilted at one side. The photo depicts pure happiness to me.
Pic 3.43
The photo is taken in one of the students rooms of Danza Mobile. There is a big poster hanging on the wall. On the poster is a giant helecopter. Behind the poster there are books, yellow and white in colour. On the table in front of the poster we see a black digital watch and a chrome harmonica. On the right hand side of the picture there is a red covered LP visible.
Pic 3.44
This photo is of a ceiling. A round white light is visble and next to that is an air con unit, covered by a grate. They both have the same form but they both have a totally different function. The two forms are perfectly complementing each other. It is a powerful picture because it leaves me with unanswered questions. The ceiling is structured with squares, it is white in colour. I find it a very original idea to make the picture of a ceiling, I myself would never think of the idea of doing this.
Pic 3.45
This picture is blurred. You can see a bronze medal with a blue and red ribbon attached to it, so that you could wear it around your neck. Next to the medal are several pictures stuck to a mirror with a wooden frame of Mary the mother of Jesus. In the mirror you can not see yourself because for some reason the photo is fully black on the right side. The mirror is hanging on a white wall.
Pic 3.46
This picture is of a sound system that you use in a studio, it is for changing depth and sound in the music. There are alot of buttons, knobs and wires visible, it is silver in colour and is square and flat. The first buttons are red, blue and black, the other seven are black and one button is pushed to the front.
Pic 3.47
This picture is of a comic figure taken through glass. The comic figure has orange hair, black and white eyes. He is smiling and wearing a green pullover, he has brown thick, short legs which is not fitting the rest of his body. His feet are apart from each other like a duck, and he is wearing light brown large shoes. It is possibly a picture of a comic book in a shop window because the reflection of it is mirrored twice.
Pic 3.48

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