VIDEO

VIDEO

Storytelling Through Photography: Hannah Reyes Morales

Storytelling Through Photography: Hannah Reyes Morales

Hannah Reyes Morales is a Filipina photojournalist and National Geographic Explorer. Hannah’s photographs expose private moments from the lives of people who are impacted by inequality, poverty, and injustice. Her images elicit deep empathy, highlighting a range of emotions in a single image to emphasize our shared humanity.

Grades

5 - 12+

Subjects

Professional Learning, Storytelling, Photography

Developed in partnership with
Adobe 6

Hannah Reyes Morales embodies what National Geographic recognizes as the “Explorer Mindset.” The National Geographic Learning Framework is the cornerstone of all National Geographic Education programs and it describes the key attitudes, skills, and knowledge that encompass the mindset of a National Geographic Explorer.

In this video, Hannah summarizes her journey to becoming a photographer, and articulates ideas about what makes a great photograph, focusing on the intersecting qualities of connection, empathy, and resilience.

This video was developed in partnership with Adobe, as part of a series of courses called Storytelling for Impact.

Transcript (English)

- For me a good story, it's many different things. When it comes to photography, I always say that a good story takes us somewhere we haven't been before. It has the power to undo assumptions, it has the power to allow us to imagine something different from what we've been given from our own realities. My name is Hannah Reyes Morales, I'm a National Geographic photographer and explorer from the Philippines. When I was younger, I lived in the center of Manila. The source of any information I had about the outside world was whatever was in my house. And one of the most important things I think that ever happened to me was bumping into this dusty old shelf that my mother had where she had National Geographic magazines and Life magazines. I was maybe too young to really process the text and the information there, but when I was looking through the photos, it made me care about the world in a way that no other medium had ever made me feel. There was something about photographs that even if I knew it was far away, I felt that it had something to do with me, and I think that's the power of a still frame. I can stay with it for as long as I want and it doesn't move on. I just always knew that I wanted to engage with the world and this was one way that I would do it, with a camera in my hand, and it became this thing that allowed me to connect. Eventually, I got a grant from National Geographic when I was about 23 or 24. And it allowed me to have a relationship with an organization that has a really wide reach and that can really amplify a voice. I was able to mentor with photographer Erika Larsen, and that truly was very life changing for me, being able to talk to someone whose work you truly, truly look up to. You know when your story is real, when you don't have to grasp for it, you're not like trying to find the story, it's just-

- It's just there. I think we find the most profound and deep things in like what is perceived as the most daily life activities.

- She empowered me in a way that wasn't prescriptive. She makes you realize your own power, and she makes you realize your own strengths.

- [Erika] What I'm noticing is that they're trusting me, because these are really intimate moments, right?

- What makes a good photograph for me has changed throughout my life. When I was younger, to me a good photograph was looking at images of places that I had never been before and just the fact of that. But I think now a good photograph for me is something that makes me go, huh, I'd never looked at the world that way. For a long time, how we define good images have not been defined by women or people of color, and I think that that's important when we talk about what is a good image, who defines what is a good image and how are those images used, and how are those images uplifted? You want the world to be documented in a way that reflects the diversity of it. I'm inspired by Lynn Johnson, Malin Fezahi, Laurel Chor, Maggie Steber, Evgenia Arbugaeva, Erika Larsen. These people are documenting the world in a way that just allows me to think differently. I gravitate towards stories that allow me to meet people who have a certain resilience, individuals who can show me how love and how joy and how tenderness exists amidst suffering, amidst adversity, and then I begin to understand love, joy, and tenderness in a different light. I'm currently working on a project called Living Lullabies.

- I think the way you've structured it is good because I think they feel more complete.

- And it looks at how different caregivers across the world prepare children for sleep in different sorts of environments, often environments fraught with hazard, and it looks at the lullaby as a vector for sense making and place making.

- These are a really compelling set of photographs.

- When we're looking at critical issues that are at the top of the global agenda, we don't realize that in those spaces, women and children are impacted in a different way, and often they're impacted more. For this particular story, I'm trying to engage with that through the lullabies that they sing. What I love about photography is that it's a confrontation with the world. You are not asking questions in a confined, academic setting, you are asking questions out in the world, and I think that every student and every learner has an important story to tell, whether that's their own story, whether that's stories from their community. Photographic storytelling allows you to honor the narratives that are happening around you. People can get behind a good story. People get behind a narrative. People who can tell good stories can truly rally people to get behind certain things, certain causes. Good stories elicit empathy, and I think empathy is one of the most important roots of change.

Transcripción (Español)

- National Geographic inspira a Hannah Reyes Morales

- Para mí una buena historia son muchas cosas diferentes. Cuando se trata de fotografía, siempre digo que una buena historia nos lleva a algún lugar donde no hemos estado antes. Tiene el poder de deshacer suposiciones, tiene el poder de permitirnos imaginar algo diferente de lo que nos han dado en nuestras propias realidades. Me llamo Hannah Reyes Morales, soy fotógrafa de National Geographic y exploradora de Filipinas. Cuando era más joven, vivía en el centro de Manila. La fuente de cualquier información que tenía sobre el mundo exterior era lo que había en mi casa. Y una de las cosas más importantes que creo que me ha pasado en la vida fue toparme con esta vieja estantería polvorienta que tenía mi madre donde tenía revistas de National Geographic y revistas Life. Yo quizá era demasiado joven para procesar el texto y la información que había allí, pero cuando miraba las fotos, hizo que me preocupara por el mundo de una forma que ningún otro medio me había hecho sentir. Había algo en las fotografías que aunque supiera que estaba lejos, sentía que tenía algo que ver conmigo y creo que ese es el poder de una fotografía. Puedo quedarme con ella todo el tiempo que quiera y no avanza. Siempre supe que quería comprometerme con el mundo y esta era una forma de hacerlo, con una cámara en la mano y se convirtió en esa cosa que me permitía conectar. Con el tiempo, conseguí una beca de National Geographic cuando tenía unos 23 o 24 años. Y me permitió tener una relación con una organización que tiene un alcance amplio y que realmente puede amplificar una voz. Pude tener como mentora a la fotógrafa Erika Larsen y eso realmente me cambió la vida, poder hablar con alguien cuyo trabajo realmente uno admira. Uno sabe cuándo su historia es real cuando no tiene que tratar de atraparla, cuando no intenta encontrar la historia, simplemente es...

- Simplemente está ahí. Creo que encontramos las cosas más íntimas y profundas en lo que se percibe como las actividades más cotidianas de la vida.

- Ujú. Ella me empoderó de una manera que no era prescriptiva. Ella le hace a uno darse cuenta de su propio poder y le hace darse cuenta de sus propias fortalezas.

- [Erika] Lo que estoy notando es que confían en ti, porque estos son momentos realmente íntimos, ¿cierto?

- Lo que hace una buena fotografía para mí ha cambiado a lo largo de mi vida. Cuando era más joven, para mí una buena fotografía era mirar imágenes de lugares en los que nunca había estado y simplemente el hecho de hacerlo. Pero creo que ahora una buena fotografía para mí es algo que me hace pensar en que nunca había mirado el mundo de esa manera. Durante mucho tiempo, la forma en que definimos las buenas imágenes no ha sido determinada por las mujeres o la gente de color y creo que eso es importante cuando hablamos de qué es una buena imagen, quién define lo que es una buena imagen, cómo se utilizan esas imágenes y cómo se resaltan esas imágenes. Uno quiere que el mundo se documente de un modo que refleje su diversidad. Me inspiran Lynn Johnson, Malin Fezahi Laurel Chor, Maggie Steber, Evgenia Arbugaeva, Erika Larsen. Estas personas están documentando el mundo de una manera que me permite pensar de forma diferente. Gravito hacia las historias que me permiten conocer a personas que tienen una cierta capacidad de recuperación, individuos que pueden mostrarme cómo el amor, la alegría y la ternura existen en medio del sufrimiento, en medio de la adversidad y entonces empiezo a entender el amor, la alegría y la ternura bajo una luz diferente. Actualmente estoy trabajando en un proyecto llamado "Living Lullabies".

- Creo que la forma en que lo ha estructurado es buena porque creo que se siente más completo.

- Y observa cómo diferentes cuidadores de todo el mundo preparan a los niños para dormir en diferentes tipos de entornos, a menudo entornos cargados de peligros y examina la canción de cuna como un vector para la creación de sentido y de lugar.

- Se trata de un conjunto de fotografías convincente.

- Cuando examinamos cuestiones vitales que están en lo más alto de la agenda mundial, no nos damos cuenta de que en esos espacios, las mujeres y los niños se ven impactados de una manera diferente y a menudo se ven más impactados. Para esta historia en particular, intento comprometerme con eso a través de las canciones de cuna que cantan. Lo que me gusta de la fotografía es que es una confrontación con el mundo. No se hacen preguntas en un entorno académico confinado, se hacen preguntas en el mundo y creo que cada estudiante y cada alumno tiene una historia importante que contar, ya sea su propia historia o historias de su comunidad. La narración fotográfica permite honrar las narrativas que están sucediendo alrededor. La gente puede apoyar una buena historia. La gente puede apoyar una narrativa. La gente que sabe contar buenas historias puede realmente congregar a la otra gente para que apoye ciertas causas. Las buenas historias provocan empatía y creo que la empatía es una de las raíces más importantes del cambio.

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Last Updated

September 17, 2024

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