August 2007 Winner
Here's this month's deserving winner:
Getting to know the locals, by Mackenzie Berg, Denver USA.
The story behind the picture:
"I took this photo while travelling for three months through Southeast Asia. My housemates and I (I was staying in Nongkhai, Thailand at the time, volunteering/interning at the provincial health department) decided to visit an AIDS orphanage nearby, to spend the day playing with the children there.
This girl latched onto me from the minute we arrived, and spent the whole time by my side, holding my hand and pointing out rooms and places in the orphanage, while rattling off a continuous monologue to me in Thai as if we already understood each other.
We took a million photos, and even turned over our cameras to the kids so we could teach them to take pictures and let them join the fun. They could not get enough of posing in front of the lens and then giggling as they rushed over to look at the images (we all had digital cameras).
This shot is one that never fails to make me smile…and actually kind of haunts me because I look at her face and remember that she is still there in that orphanage and may never leave, yet she carries herself with this beautiful smile and sort of serene acceptance of the lot she has in life. I couldn't understand a word she spoke that day, but I got the feeling that she had the soul of a grown woman in her tiny 6 year-old body."
Keep those entries coming - the Grand Prize can still be yours…
