Matt Cassel: The Picture Balata Project

I got an email from a friend of mine from Chicago the other day apologising for sending one of my photos to a local paper without first asking my permission. As a fellow photographer he understands what it’s like to have people take for granted the use of your pictures, but usually I don’t have a major problem if people contact me beforehand. In this instance, having read the article that he sent through, I certainly didn’t have a problem, in fact I was left feeling rather inadequate in the face of the amazing work he’s been doing. Matt has been, for the past few years now, working with Palestinian kids mainly from the Balata refugee camp near Nablus, and teaching them how best to document their lives with the aid of cameras so that others may see their daily life through their eyes. This hasn’t been an easy task, and if you read the article you’ll realise how much effort and self sacrifice he has made so that others half way round the world from him may be given the chance of a better life. So in a way I’m glad they could use a snap I’d taken of him at work in Balata. If you get the chance check out the article and check out the project.