Step by steppe UK

Meeting n°5 - workshops

 

After having sensitized children of CM1A and CM1B of Vigée Lebrun Elementary school to the history of photography, its essential principles and the technical rules to respect to realize a good picture, we gave each pupil 12 photographic missions: the missions had to convey by pictures French pupils’ daily life in order for Kazakh, Uzbek, Kirgize and Tadjik children to understand at a glance what their daily life is made of.


"Through your pictures; tell me who you are? "
Photograph 1 -- me
Photograph 2 -- my house
Photograph 3 -- my family
Photograph 4 -- my animal
Photograph 5 -- my means of transport
Photograph 6 -- my plate
Photograph 7 -- my school
Photograph 8 -- my favourite object
Photograph 9 -- my preferred play
Photograph 10 -- my friend
Photograph 11 -- signs/symbols
Photograph 12 – free picture


Pupils had the opportunity to use their own camera or we lend them one, so every child could participate to the workshops.
Pictures that we selected are of good quality, from the composition of the subject of the picture as well as from the sensibility expressed by the pupil. On the opposite, some pictures were not very good when the technical rules’ we taught them were not respected (low light, out of focus…).


Children also understood that a picture has more impact on the audience when it has a dynamic angle of sight and when it expresses everything by itself without being obliged to explain or illustrate it.

Discover their pictures soon on the website...

Our Partners

 

Founded in 1853, the most famous rubber boots worldwide, Aigle, is today the Outdoor reference for all excursions.

Aigle imposed its style and its knowledge to make through a complete range of boots, clothing, shoes and accessories for the man, the woman and the child.

iriver is the global premium lifestyle brand for Digital Entertainment enthusiasts.
With its leading portable audio and video solutions, the company offers end-users a full range of high quality products in trend-setting designs together with an easy usability approach.

iriver has become known for its foresight and strategic approach to be always the first market player to implement innovative technology and new standards in mass production products. The outstanding audio quality of all iriver products sets the standard in the field of portable players.
With the leading products, applications and services from iriver, music enthusiasts as well as people of the “mobile generation” can enjoy HighEnd entertainment – anytime and anywhere.

Since 25 years, Pilote Films provide and bring the best materials on both Broadcasting and Home entertainment markets. With more than 30 world famous trade marks ((ADC, Crestron, Lexicon, Mark Levinson Rycote, Telex, etc.), Pilote Films is today a French market's inevitable participant in the qualitative audio-video solutions domain. In his business, Pilote Films collaborate with some of the greatest French TV Network (as TF1, France Télévision, TPS, etc.), Concert Halls, Theaters and many other that we can't quote here.

 

All the staff is happy to support the "Step by Steppes" project with 3 Rycote™ full windshield systems for equipped the video crew camera's microphones.

 

For more informations about Pilote Films and Rycote™, please visit : www.pilotefilms.com

One speaks about Step by Steppe......

Article of Stephan Tilloy, Director of publication and Editor of the newspaper "Le Quinze", June 2005

> Step by step with nomad children...

Beautiful initiative taken by two adventurers and Alexandra Stevens, teacher at the elementary school of Vigée Lebrun in Paris. For several months the pupils of CM1 have the opportunity to learn photography with Maï-Loan Bassot and Thibaut Faures, two impassioned young people of images and ocean voyages. This awakening with the image is integrated in a project which aims to initiate nomad children of Central Asia with photography. First stage, to animate teaching meetings with the small Parisian pupils. The two young adventurers tell them during seven meetings the history of photography, the evolution of its techniques and organize workshops photographs around topic "Through your pictures, tell me who you are? ". A cycle which will be completed at the end of June 2005 by the exposure of their pictures within the Vigée-Lebrun school.

> 365 days and 20 000 kms

Second stage, to prepare the itinerant photo laboratory truck, from February 2006 to January 2007, for a tour of 20 000 kms, they focus on a J5 Peugeot transformed into 4x4 by DANGELCars, a carriage-builder specialist in Paris-Dakar and transformation of the commercial vehicles into machine any ground. It is the time of the sponsors (Kodak, Olympus, Aigle...), of the steps to obtain journalistic purses and contacts. Third stage the travel and common life with the nomads. Once arrived on the spot, begins the approach with the Mongolian children, kazakhes, Kirgiz, tadjikes and Uzbek. Then comes the moment from initiation and of the first meetings around photography "Each 15 days we will stop for three weeks" explains Thibaut Faurès. "We make react these young nomads on photographs taken by the small Parisian ones of their age. We initiate them with the light, stimulate their sensitivity then release them about fifteen days with cameras in their asking to bring back to us pictures around a dozen topics "

> the Friendship mountain

At 26 years Maï-Loan is not with its first long trip abroad. At 8 years old, she had the taste with great spaces and moved back regions during a one year long trip around the world with her family. Today project leader in a great top-of-the-range travel agency, she continues his dream of escape with Thibaut, Manager Director at euro RSCG. They leave both for great transhumances at the rate/rhythm nature and its very hard seasons sometimes. Their work is exposed and supported by greatest media coverage(National Geographic France, Paris Match, Métro, Grand Report, Wild Ground...), the steps and the discoveries accumulate but passion does not fall down. This time the objective is to traverse the high plateau of Pamir, the lake Issyk-Kul (Kirghizistan), the chain of Moldo Too where they will take part in the disassembling of yurts, the valley of Fergana, in the east of Ouzbékistan without forgetting the borders of Altaï and the top of the mount of the Friendship which culminates with 4 374 meters. A name which summarizes with him only the spirit of this forwarding which hope for we it will return well quickly in XVe to expose the sights of these splendid landscapes through the paths borrowed a long ago by the Mongolian riders. Good road...

Stephan Tilloy

Why supporting us?

> Be part of a unique experience
> Benefit from the project media coverage

Step by Steppe is an original and focused project around photography and travel with a unique objective to build and share a pictorial testimony of Central Asia age-old nomad tradition through children eyes.
Our value proposition to our financial partners or sponsors is two-fold :

Be part of a unique experience

Be part of a unique experience and associate their name and values with our drive and motivation to reinforce the strength of the Step by Steppe project.

Our partners will have access to Step by Steppe stories and pictures for their internal or external communication. We also offer to organize an exhibition in our partners' premises (or be part of selected internal seminar or conferences) after the expedition in order to share our experience with their employees and customers.

Benefit from the project media coverage

Benefit from the project media coverage (Press, TV, Radio) to gain efficient and free visibility. Through their involvement, our partners' name will appear on our van and our pictures. Furthermore we will explicitly name our partners in our media coverage. We will be happy to discuss the best use of the project's media coverage in order to fill your needs.

We truly believe that Step by Steppe offers a unique opportunity to be part of a special and cultural project that will be covered extensively through our media partners.

The journey

> The opposite path of Gengis Khan’s army
> Highlights

The opposite path of Gengis Khan’s army

Nomad families move their yurt camp from late spring to early winter.
To meet them we will follow the opposite path of Gengis Khan’s army invading the area during 12th to 13th century. Starting from Paris we will follow the Silk Road up to Altaï’s mountains.

Highlights

Fergana Valley
In eastern Ouzbekistan, Fergana Valley stands between Tian Shan Mountains in the north and Allay Mountains further south. Dary Chelek Lake lays there around fertile soils.

Moldo Too
Moldo Too Mountains still remain quite remote. In September we will help dismantling yurts.

Issyk-kul Lake
In north eastern Khirgizistan at 3,000 metes high, Issyk-Kul Lake never freezes. In summer, fascinating horsemen struggle to settle their herds.

Pamir
We will participate to herd’s daily life following hunters in this astonishing region situated at 3,900 meters high.

Altaï
We will enjoy the particular atmosphere of Youyi Frontier at 4,374 meters high, meeting point of Mongolians, Chinese, Kazakhs and Russians.

Team

> Mai-Loan Bassot, 26
> Thibaut Faures, 30

Mai-Loan Bassot, 26

Master in International Relations, Paris - La Sorbonne.

Her interests are travel, photography, and international politics. She travelled extensively in Asia for long periods, meeting local people.

Her assets for Step by Steppe are her open mind, her expertise in video, and her language skills (Chinese and Russian).

Thibaut Faures, 30

Master of Economics and Politics, Paris - Science-Po.
Director in a communication agency

His interests are travel, photography, modern literature, paintings, and sport. Having lived and worked in China for 2 years, Thibaut has acquired a local knowledge of Asian countries ; he also travelled extensively in the region. He has 15 years experience in photography, and has received awards for his work.

In 2002, he was awarded the second prize for the “Just a normal lazy day” contest organized by the Lomographic office in Paris. Since then, his work has been shown in the Artazart gallery in Paris, and published in the French newspaper ‘Le Monde 2’.

Sharing the experience

> During the expedition
> After the expedition

Our unique approach to capture the nomad life in Central Asia is based on experience sharing. In this project, we see ourselves as a link between two different cultures. Bringing photography to the steppe, we will deliver to the world an inner vision of Central Asia, based on a different testimony the one of nomad children's pure eyes.

Step by Steppe is already supported by exhibition showrooms and media partners who have expressed their strong intent in becoming our communication channels both during and after the expedition.

Sharing our experience during the journey will allow us to offer spontaneous pictures and travel stories ; they will also prepare the media coverage of our return and the associated events. The conferences, exhibitions and movies that we will produce after the expedition will offer a more mature and long-lasting testimony of the Step by Steppe project.

During the expedition

Organize photographic workshops with nomad children. They will be directed to complete photographic missions, and will be the main producers of the project.

Publish follow-up articles on Step by Steppe through specialized press, daily national press, radios, and travel cable TV channels. National Geographic France, Terre Sauvage, Metro, Grands Reportage, Paris Match, Globe-trotteurs, Carnets d’Expé and Etendues Sauvages will cover our expedition.

Publish an animated travel book on Internet (www.stepbysteppe.com), following-up our stories and photographic achievements. Regular follow-up through the Lomography website (www.lomography.com), etendues-sauvages.com, and lemagazine.info. The Lomo event “Don’t think just shoot” will broadcast steppe children’s best shoot each months.

After the expedition

Exhibitions : we will present Step by Steppe photographic achievements in galleries in Paris.

Movies : two movies (26 minutes each) will be produced
Workshop will show children visual point of view on Central Asia.
Nomad Moves will relate our travel, the daily life of nomad children in Central Asia
These two movies will be available for the International Adventure Movie Festival in Dijon in October 2006 and Explorimage 2007.

Conferences illustrated by pictures and movie extracts : we will organize such events for partners of the projects, i.e. companies, social or local centres

A lomowall will be exposed at Artazart’s gallery composed with children’s shoots.

In brief

> Build a pictorial testimony of Central Asia age-old nomad tradition through children eyes
> A mobile photographic laboratory through central Asia
> An extensive premium media coverage

Build a pictorial testimony of Central Asia age-old nomad tradition through children eyes

Step by Steppe is an original and focused project led by two young adults with a common passion for photography and travel. Their aim is to build a pictorial testimony of Central Asia age-old nomad tradition through children eyes.

A mobile photographic laboratory through central Asia

The Step by Steppe team members are experienced in photography and have travelled extensively in Asia over the last few years. They will drive 20,000 km through the region in total autonomy for a year from December 2005 meeting nomad populations. In their mobile photographic laboratory, they will teach the basics of photography to Central Asian children from the steppe, help them develop a photographic eye, and let their creativity capture age-old nomad traditions from Kazakhstan, Ouzbekistan’s steppes, Tadjikistan’s yurts and Kirghizistan’s mountains.

An extensive premium media coverage

Step by Steppe is already supported by media partners showing a real dedication to promoting the project through extensive media coverage and exhibitions.

Our ambition

> Nomad children : from models to photographs > The nomad singularity > Share our cultures through our passion for photography Nomad children : from models to photographs Our past experience travelling in Asia taught us how photography is a source of curiosity, interest and enthusiasm for local population, and how it can help develop close relationships. When in contact with a camera, this interest translates quickly into a desire to learn more about making pictures and ‘playing’ with a camera. Our approach consists in developing this aspiration by teaching the basics of photography to nomad children, transferring our technical know-how, and helping them develop their own creative eye. Usually used as models, nomad children would then become apprentice photographers being the active founders of a more spontaneous and more interactive testimony of their daily life. The nomad singularity Nomad people have always changed their behaviour over the years. The last century experienced many geopolitical changes in Central Asia, and part of the nomad population settled down in cities. However the tradition goes on and nomad families move their yurt camp from late spring to early winter. Their lifestyle, carrying hundreds of years of history, is still transmitted today to the youngest generation with an incredible enthusiasm. Our objective is to reveal this strong culture, through our pictures and those of the nomad children with an eye free of prejudices. Share our cultures through our passion for photography Photography is a passion for us, for which we have been awarded many times. We wish to use it to share our cultures, get closer to the nomad civilization, and build a strong testimony of this unique experience. The local relationships that we will develop, the learning process and the participation of the children are key to this photographic project

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