Children’s Photography Training Held at the Temple in Preparation for the Auckland Art Festival

This year’s Auckland Art Festival will be holding a new Children’s Photography Competition with the theme of “What I see in my Community” and “What is precious to me?” This competition will be limited to children between the age of 5 to 12. They will be taking photos around the community to reflect how they see their local area. This year’s Art Festival will have 5 categories on display, and the Fo Guang Shan temple has been chosen as the training venue for the young photographers and for displaying the upcoming exhibitions.

The temple has been chosen due to its tranquil atmosphere, natural green sceneries and unique architectures. Under the guidance of coordinator Noma, 12 children came to train for their competition on 12th and 19th January from morning to noon. On the day instructors Raymond Sagapolutele and Emily Mafile taught the kids the camera’s basic functions, how to hold the cameras, how to gauge distances and other techniques. Then Raymond led them to take photos on the courtyard among little monk statues and Shrine, enabling them to get the first exposure of the venue’s art and cultural values.

This was followed by a temple tour from YAD member Nick. He showed the group various Shrine sand buildings and explained their functions. Then he took them through Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery 1 to look at “Way of Life Photographic Exhibition”, “Venerable Master Hsing One Stroke Calligraphy Exhibition” and “Imageries Brushed by the Wind Photographic Exhibition by Tim Teoh” This allowed the young participants to understand the significant values of the temple ground, so they will feel grateful and treasure every moment to capture a piece of the temple.

A 6 year old child’s mother Fion expressed that not only were these children full of curiosity and enthusiasm for art, taking photos can also teach them to be more concern for people and places around their community. Once they have captured these beautiful imageries of the temple, it will surely be able to help bring more awareness of the temple to more people.