Andie Hamilton Photography

So last month I had the amazing opportunity to take a 9 day trip to El Salvador. I went with a group of 14 people through Habitat for Humanity. We spend 5 days working on 3 homes for 3 precious families. It, like my trip to Vietnam the month before, was one of those trips that truly shaped my world view.

I have visited developing countries before, but this is the first time I was able to spend so much time with the local people who and be with them in the environment in which they live. It is heartbreaking to see the conditions that these children spend so much time in.

But the realization that hit be hard was this: Most of the world lives this way. 80% of the world lives on less that $10 a day. But 50% of it lives on less than $2.50 a day. That is where these people are. That is less than $1,000 a year.

So here are a few of the many, many images I took. As you would expect, most of my images were of the beautiful children we were building homes for. But the country itself is a stunning tropical landscape dotted by volcanoes.

 

 

This is an image of the house one of the families was currently living in. What you can’t see in the image is that they have an indoor camp fire going all day long to cook on, and there was constantly dark smoke pouring out of the roof. Living in a house with an indoor fire like that is the equivalent of smoking 8 packs of cigarettes a day. And there are 3 children who live here.

 

This is the kitchen that belongs to another home. They are lucky to have a cooking area outside. On our last day on the work site about 5 women cooked enough food for over 75 people in this kitchen.

 

Obviously these homes have no indoor plumbing. The family must walk about 5 minutes up the road carrying these jugs to fill it with water from the community pump. They make this trip over and over all day to keep their supply full.

 

 

So here is are of some of the other images. I hope I can inspire someone to take a trip like this. I feel very strongly that it is so important for us to expose ourselves to countries and cultures very different than our own. If you are interested in ways you can help please let me know!

 

and an image my friend Judy took…. the kids were all wanting to take pictures of us with my camera!

 

I was digging in my archives trying to find an image of Sam from a few years ago, and I came across this one. It is an image I took about 2 years ago of my niece Penelope. I am so lucky but she is so incredibly photogenic, and LOVES to be photographed. This is one of my favorite all time images, and I just HAD to share!

 

We have been hard at work this summer with our new blog, website and facebook page. We hope you will take a minute to look around and see what’s new. I will post again in a couple of days with some images from my wonderful trip to El Salvador. Until then, let us know what you think of the new look!

Don’t miss out on our next Mini Session Event!

Tuesday June 28

20 minute “headshot” style session

The goal of these sessions will be to create an adorable series print of all those sweet little faces!

$299 includes a $200 print credit

These series are adorable in bedrooms and playrooms!

This event is one day only, and appointments are limited, so email or call now for your desired time slot!

214-821-8477

info@andiehamilton.com

Whew, the long awaited post is finally here! We came home with so many images to sort through it was crazy. First, let me say that Vietnam is an amazing place. I encourage anyone who has the chance to go. We stayed at a small little hotel in Hanoi and were treated like family. The man who books the tours at the hotel told us the top 5 reasons to visit Vietnam:

1. The people. They are, hands down, the friendliest people I have met in my life so far. Everyone is so happy to see you. When you go riding by on your scooter (which is a blast!) They all yell “Helllooooo!” as you whiz by. I can’t say enough about them.

2. The beauty. It is truly awe inspiring in its natural beauty. So many people said they expected it to look “gray”. But it is vibrant and full of rich color and beauty. A photographer’s dream.

3. Cheap. The most expensive part is getting there, and if you look for deals that isn’t even too bad. Our hotel was around $40 a night and we never paid more than $15 for a meal for all three of us. Tiger Beer included!

4. The language. Unlike most other Asian countries, the Vietnamese language uses Latin letters like us instead of the characters you see in Chinese or Korean. That makes it easy to read. Not easy to pronounce or understand, but easy to read.

5. OK, it’s been 3 weeks since we’ve been back and honestly I can’t remember what the 5th reason was. But I will say the history, adventure and architecture have to be up there.

 

So here are a few images that I really liked. The landscape is magnificent there, but being a people photographer it was the beautiful faces that I fell in love with. We have so many images that we set up another website… www.idaptlife.com but I have selected a few of my favorites to share here. If you have time to check out the site and the blog that goes with it, that would be great. The blog explains a little more about why we went on this trip.

So here are a few favorites: