This photo was taken for a post-tsunami recovery project based in Madampagama on the south west coast of Sri Lanka. The project is a joint effort between The Sustainable Trust in the UK and The Centre for Environment and Development in Sri Lanka. For more details on this project click here.

Whilst awaiting the completion of their new house, this family were forced to live in a makeshift shack. This image shows their temporary kitchen. Here is one of those situations where I became temporarily blinded by the desire to get a good image over remembering what I was actually there to do. I found myself thinking "wow, how beautiful"; the lady had a lovely face, the fire looked wonderful along with the light caught in the smoke. It is a wierd feeling to bring yourself out of that 'image hunting' mode and back into reality to think, "hang on, this isn't beautiful for this family. It's crap." It makes you realise how perhaps war photographers manage to shut things out so well. It's all about striking the right balance between art and empathy. After all, I had to represent the people, their hopes and issues and the aims of the project as a whole, whilst at the same time producing images suitable for exhibition.

 

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