Post 45 in Canton, Ga., is hosting free Fresh Eyes Veterans Photography classes, created by a Vietnam combat photographer and VA clinical psychologist.
American Legion Post 45 Service Officer Jim Lindenmayer, Vietnam combat photographer and Army veteran Mark Maloney, and retired VA clinical psychologist Dr. Alan Bernhardt have joined forces to provide free photography classes for veterans as a resource to support mental health.
The Fresh Eyes Veterans Photography Program was created by Maloney and Bernhardt and is held at Post 45 in Canton, Ga. The program provides free photography classes for veterans, spouses and first responders in the community to create connection, camaraderie and therapy through art.
“Having worked with veterans in various programs over the course of 23 years (at the VA), I came to understand some of the issues that they face post discharge, notably loneliness and isolation, which are key risk factors for suicide,” said Bernhardt, who has a passion for photography. “There's a lot of evidence that the arts can be conducive to positive mental health as well as other pluses, including physical health. So when Jim heard that I was interested in offering photography class to veterans, he was all in. And he's been very supportive from the very beginning and continues to be.”
Fresh Eyes Veterans Photography Program received a $10,000 Creative Forces Community Engagement Grant, awarded through the National Endowment for the Arts and Mid-America Arts Alliance, that will provide funding for photography classes taught by professional photographers free of charge to veterans and significant others. A matching grant also was awarded by the Cherokee County Homeless Veteran Program, where Lindenmayer serves as director.
“We need alternative ways to reach out to veterans because there's a stigma of going into mental health therapy by itself,” Lindenmayer said. “And this kind of offers people a chance to basically get out, learn something new.”
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The first Fresh Eyes six-week class, Fundamentals of Photography, ran from August through September once a week for two hours. It was taught by professional photographer Martin Longstaff, an adjunct professor of photography at Kennesaw State University. Participants can use their own camera, including a cellphone.
Participants of the class learned how to:
· Become fully present in their surroundings
· Take well-exposed pictures
· Understand the basic rules of composition to make a picture pleasing to the eye
· Focus on something they have interest in
· Recognize and use different qualities of light
· Tell a story through images
“With the mindful photography, we try to get them to focus on the physical environment that is composed of shapes, colors, textures, lines, and to use their eyes to really notice what's around them,” Bernhardt said. “You give them a mission, they're on it. Photography is one way that they can have a new mission.”
“I think one of the key benefits is to increase their capacity for awareness and to see the unseen in their everyday lives,” Maloney added. “In my work as a photographer, I can remember the day, the instant, the time that I could literally see for the first time. It was like an epiphany. It was like 6:30 in the morning, and I was walking along the beach in South Vietnam on Nha Trang and suddenly what I saw through my own eyes, I knew was going to be the picture I took. Most photographers, they've experienced that same phenomenon.”
Participants complete their assignments and photos captured are discussed in class to encourage engagement and constructive feedback.
“This is an enjoyment at a different level that I get from seeing these veterans share their photographs and compliment each other and help each other with figuring out how to get the camera to do this or that,” Bernhardt said. “It's another way of them getting the camaraderie that they experienced when they were in the service.”
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Bernhardt shared the story of an 85-year-old veteran who took a Fresh Eyes class. Bernhardt encouraged him to find something in his backyard that caught his eye to photograph. With that, the veteran found a statue.
“I said, explore it from different angles. He did, and he came up with a nice collage of photographs of this statue and with different backgrounds. Given his age, you might expect he has health issues. But just the fact that it gave him something to do to take his mind off his health issues, or whatever other problems he has, is what other veterans say. ‘Thanks for giving me something, a moment, of where I'm not thinking about X, Y or Z.’”
That moment of distraction or connection with a fellow veteran is key to supporting the mental health side of this program.
“One of the reasons why we have focused on the mental health aspects is, I think social interaction is as important to oxygen to have any kind of a healthy life,” Maloney said. “And isolation and loneliness is a key factor in veteran suicides. But this program, just through the simple tool of using a camera and teaching them to see sometimes what they don't see every day, what Alan and I have witnessed, it's amazing with some of the pictures that they take and how they open up.”
While participants bring home their finished photography, the goal is to feature reoccurring exhibits like at the county fair to showcase their artwork to the community.
“It's important that we get these veterans out there, because again, that's going to help build their self-esteem a little bit and basically say, ‘Look what I did,’” Lindenmayer said. “We get the veterans who want to get out in the community, who want to be part of the community. They just don't know how to do it. This helps them get out there.”
Another Fresh Eyes class started on Nov. 11 and runs for six consecutive weeks, once a week for two hours, at Post 45. Visit the Cherokee County Homeless Veterans Program Facebook page to learn more or email Bernhardt at bernhardtaj@yahoo.com.
“I would say that the people who have participated in these classes have benefited just as much from the photography classes as my veterans in their outpatient therapy (at the VA),” Bernhardt said. “These classes that Martin teaches and the ones that Mark and I do with the mindful photography, they change people's lives little by little.”
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