From September 2006 to June 2007, I have been teaching history, culture and photography to 14 Cambodian young adults twice a week at the gallery I managed in Phnom Penh, the Popil PhotoGallery. While the class was designed to provide basic knowledge and photographic techniques, the main goal for the students was to practice what they learned during the classes and to develop an individual, photographic project. The result of our work together has been featured at the French Cultural Center of Phnom Penh in July-August 2007; 14 different photographic works on Cambodia by young Cambodian people.

All the pictures have been taken between January and May 2007. The students have used SLR film cameras or SLR digital cameras or little digital snapshot cameras. Two of them have used boxes to capture their images, using the “pinhole camera” technique.
It's been a lot of work for all of us, and we hope you will be as pleased as we are with the results.

This project would not have been possible without the donations and contributions from many art lovers and supporters, both in Phnom Penh and outside of Cambodia. I especially would like to thank the Fuji SPK Photo Shop on Monivong Boulevard, Phnom Penh, which has provided all film, development and prints for the show. It is through their generosity and time that we are very happy to present this exhibition.

"The Making of" presents the students, some images of the opening of the show at the French Cultural Center in July 2007, images of some of our activities together (at the gallery in Phnom Penh and at Angkor Photo Festival in Siem Reap), plus some images produced by the students during experimental workshops in November and December 2006, before they started work on their personal project by January 2007.