Introductions/Introducciones- Cass Kissam

We would like to introduce you to Cass Kissam

Tell me about The Fifty Grand Project and how are you involved?

The idea behind The Fifty Grand Project was the brainchild of two concepts. The first was my love of working with kids. When I was living in Oakland I worked with inner city kids who were in and out of gangs and running the streets and what I came to understand is that these were very smart, creative beings who if given the chance and attention could become even better young adults and people. I mean most of these kids just never had anybody care about what they saw or felt on a day to day basis. The second converging concept came from watching the Documentary “Kids With Cameras” about a photographer who goes into the brothels in India and gives these kids cameras and teaches a kind of Guerilla Photo Class. So what I would like to do is to combine those two ideas and give these kids in the inner cities of America the chance to take some images of the world around them, a world which just happens to be very gritty and real and sometimes beautiful and sometimes really terrifying. So the concept behind The Fifty Grand Project is that it’s kind of a mantra which means if you can raise Fifty Grand then you can change these kids lives, you can change the world. The fact of the matter is that you dont even need Fifty Grand to make an impact, you really just need to believe and roll up your sleeves and get dirty and take the time to go down into these places that most people wont go into. Once you do that not only will you help change other peoples lives you will end up finding that it changes your own life. All of that being said the website currently is just a figment of a dream and right now it’s really just acting as a place I can put up my own work as I havent had a chance to make a site devoted to just my own images. However my long term dream is that someday I’ll be sucsessful enough that I can get a website up and running and teach a workshop that is dedicated to the core values and ideas that are at the root of The Fifty Grand Project. I also have a problem of starting Blogs and then forgetting about them or I guess you would call it an addiction! So I have all kinds of links on my site to Blogs which I have started and then forgotten about. So if anyone wants to contribute, feel free!

Tell me about the narrative you are completing with the farmworkers. What has been your biggest challenge and what do you hope the farmworkers and your audience will learn from that narrative?

This is a project which was born from a discussion I had with my father regarding Farm Workers in the Central Valley. The discussion started when, through the course of his own work, my Father brought to light that a lot of these people were being over looked and forgotten by the census as well as society as a whole. The irony is of course that these workers who are Mexican immigrants (mostly unauthorized) and indigenous coming from places like Mixtec, but also Triqui and Zapotec, these people are really the backbone of California and the United States as a whole. In large part their work fuels the economy of our state and yet they miss out on a lot of the basic rights that we take for granted. So the idea is to try to go along to interview them and hopefully get some images. From what I understand one group of them is living in a Cherry Orchard in tents or lean to’s or just small shacks. The biggest obstacle of course is that it’s a fragile situation and you cant just walk up and start taking photos. Your basically dealing with peoples lives and jobs, jobs which they use to put food on their tables or to send home to their families so it’s a situation and a project that may take a little time. Time to gain their trust. But I think that it could be a very interesting and compelling set of images which hopefully will show a very proud group of people who really are forgotten and under appreciated

Can photography be used for social reform?

Absolutely. I think Photography can be used for a lot of things. I mean for me images inspire. when I pick up a magazine or a book and I see an images that speaks to me, it makes me want to go to that place or to be that person or as a photographer to make a photo like that, because what are photos but the world through another persons eyes? That being said I think that if done correctly you can use photos to move people to make change, to WANT to make change, to care about something. Somewhere someone is looking at a photo and it’s making an impact and in todays world it seems that people are starting to become numb, so if you can do that to just one person your making a difference. So I think that as photographers it’s our obligation to try to reach out and show people what they wouldn’t normally see. We are obligated as Warrior Poets, as Image Makers, as human beings to at least try and if you do that I think along the way you end up having some fun and what’s more you can hold your head up high and feel good about yourself and the world. Because it really is a great world that we live in, there are a lot of things wrong with it, but that’s true about anything, but at its heart, in it’s marrow, it’s a great world and life is good.

If you won the lottery what would be the first thing you do with your money?

I should probably say pay off my student loans but truth be told I’d probably end up traveling a lot and putting the money back into the things which I love, which also happen to be what Im hoping to do for a living and that is writing and photography. As silly as it sounds I would probably end up using the money to promote the things Im currently trying to do and to pay to further my career. I’m hoping one day to be able to Freelance and go and cover a story or something which catches my eye and be able to write and take photos, kind of like a roaming photographer. So if I hit the lottery I’d probably by a nice house somewhere warm and buy lots of books and cameras and gear and film and then I’d just go out and work. Which I think says a little something about the profession we as photographers have chosen. I mean most people, when they hit the Big Spin, the first thing they do is quit their job, right? But for me, taking photos, that’s like something I do when I have time off, that’s something I do when I have a free day, that’s something I do everywhere I go, so I think there is something to be said about doing what you love. Of course I’m not saying I wouldn’t buy my own Tropical Island or a a super fresh ride but that would probably be a little bit further down the list…