When I first started photographing four years ago, photography was less product oriented and more about developing a perspective of the world. I was drawn to the personal meditation I found therein. Photography gives us a chance to reframe the viewfinder and thus reframe the way we think thoughts about the world. Walking through an exhibit, I decided to use photography as the medium to develop self. I singled out qualities that I hoped to embody and began to photograph them. A month was given to only photographing joy, the following month to sharing. I found in the end that the images were all identical. But I wasn’t. I think all art has the power to transform. Eventually my interest in the image itself and my interest in photojournalism began as I realized the potential of turning reality into art through recognizing the beauty that exists (even in the most horrific of circumstances). – Kitra Cahana via. Eight Diagrams

Kitra Cahana is a young emerging documentary photographer who had an early start in her career when, at the age of 17, while photographing the Israeli Disengagement from Gaza, one of her photographs landed on the front page of the New York Times.

I went down to Gaza on a whim with a fellow photographer. I had a flight scheduled to go home to Montreal for the following week, but failed to show up at the airport when I realized how significant it would be both personally and professionally to stay in Gaza. Without a plan or a press-pass (because I was 17 and too young) and with little more than my camera body, I found a lot of support with the photographers who were already based in the settlements. I was able to fully learn from the outstanding photographic sources living around me without the stress of working for somebody. The Disengagement was the first major story that I found myself in the middle of. There was no way I couldn’t have done it. When I was first trying to convince my hesitant mother that I needed to stay, I just said: “This is something I know I have to do,” and she understood. – Kitra Cahana

She worked as the Thomas Morgan photographic intern at the NY Times and later received a one-year scholarship to live in Treviso, Italy working at Benetton’s research communication centre, Fabrica. During that scholarship she worked on stories around the world on Pacific Islands of Vanuatu and Niue and in Africa in DR Congo, Ethiopia and Kenya.

I recently returned from an independent project in Ethiopia and Israel where I photographed the Falash Mura, a group of approximately 12,000 impoverished Ethiopians, who are immigrating to Israel under the auspices of the Israeli government. The story itself is fascinating and has many political as well as humanitarian aspects to it, which has challenged me on multiple levels. It has forced me to take time aside and meditate on my story and its flow. While unsure of my outcome, I am more understanding of the process of story-telling and the conflicting responsibilities that a story can pose to the narrator. – Kitra Cahana

She recently won 1st prize in the prestigious World Press Photo’s Art and Entertainment section for her work with Colors magazine. Rainbowland shot by Cahana for Colors 76 – Teenagers documents The Rainbow Family, a non-hierarchical group that holds free gatherings around the world.

I’ve sat through a lot of lectures distracted by the interesting light that falls on my professor’s face. But distractions aside, I find that being a student has allowed me the space to think about photography. To not only look out into the world for vision but to also look inwardly and bookwardly for understanding. I think the school year gives a nice balance for the growing photographer. The school year is devoted to reflection while the long, juicy, passion-filled summer breaks are devoted to story making. I appreciate being able to take my time developing an emotional maturity before taking on a full-time career. – Kitra Cahana

In July 2009 they brought 25,000 people together for a week in the wilderness in New Mexico, U.S.A. Kitra was there for Colors. It’s a great edition dedicating itself to the ambitions, dreams and defeats of teenagers in the rest of the world – to their choices, their body, their relationship with themselves and others – to the looks and dilemmas teenagers face, the society they grow up in, the tribes and groups they join or align themselves with.

Knowledge is a tool that is wholly empowering. It gives us a context to see what is in front of us and the ability to live on multiple levels. That translates into the ability to create layers in photographs and to make use of symbols that can turn a normal image into a historical or religious reference. So far, studying has only broadened the number of stories I want to photograph and the depths to which I want to cover them. It gives me the language to speak about my images and the ability to refer meaningfully to what it is I am doing. – Kitra Cahana

Kitra Cahana – Official Website

Kitra Cahana Interview with Eight Diagrams

Fabrica Communications Research Centre

Colors Magazine

Tags: Gaza, Israel, Photography, Photojournalism, Teenagers, The Rainbow People

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