More from day 1.

Hi, I'm Liliana Conde, one of the participants from New York.
Today was an interesting Saturday for me being that I'm used to the rush and noises of a city such as "The City". I could point out many differences with every other Saturday I remember, but what sticks out in my mind right now is how amazingly big and beautiful this place is. Speaking with two of the other people from New York we agreed on how things seem so much bigger out here. The grass fields, the sky, the distances, are all just so much larger. I love looking at the sunset, and such open sky gives me the chance to appreciate it so much more, while doing some Hula Hooping.
It's just great.

Made it.

Hey, this is Joe, I'm one of the youth participants from Vermont involved in the Exposures program. After a long a crazy travel day we finally arrived at the Oglala Lakota College where we will be residing in the dorm shown in the photo above. Arriving at around 3am mountain time people sorted themselves into their rooms and got a much needed sleep. Around mid morning today everyone gathered around and shared names and discussed what was ahead for us in the next two weeks. After a few hours people started getting comfortable with each other and got into the groove of things. Today for activities we drove through some great scenery consisting of plains as far as the eye can see and I'm glad everyone brought their cameras. I myself have never seen anything like it so I couldn't turn my head away from the car window. Eventually we arrived at the scene of a Lakota sun dance in the making. Our purpose there was to assist them in the construction and to learn all about it. Unfortunately they never arrived but during the wait John took the time to give a explanation on how everything worked and we discussed our opinions on it. We all were really hot and decided to swing by a swimming hole on the way back, we enjoyed talking with and photographing the people who were also swimming there. It was nearing dinner time and it was a good time to head back to the dorm where we prepared dinner and just relaxed. Well that concludes day one of many to come on our adventure here in South Dakota.

Almost there...

On Friday, June 29th 13 youth and 4 adults from southern Vermont, Arizona and New York City will board planes en route to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. This program, called Exposures, is a branch of the In-Sight Photography Project basd in Brattleboro, VT. In-Sight has been offering photo classes to area youth for more than 15 years. The groups will be flying to Denver where they will connect for a seven hour drive to the rez. Once there they'll meet up with program directors John Willis and Erin Barnard along with Leah Dyjak, In-Sight's assistant director and Exposures will officially begin. The months of planning are near an end, we're almost there.