Creative photography as a tool for self-expression, connection, and cultural exchange
L.P.B.H.F. “Look, Press the Button, Have Fun” is a participatory photography project created to spark creativity and encourage self-expression in children. It uses photography as a playful yet powerful tool for connection and cultural exchange.
The format invites children in culturally diverse and often remote communities to photograph their daily lives using simple analogue cameras. Through their lenses, they capture their surroundings with unfiltered honesty, curiosity, and imagination. These images, taken entirely by the children, form the heart of the project: a raw, spontaneous, and deeply personal visual narrative of their world.
Alongside their creative process, I carry out my own photographic work — producing images that explore the cultural context, environment, and people I meet. While my work is distinct and authored, it exists in dialogue with theirs: two parallel stories born from the same shared experience.
Unlike more rigid methodologies such as Photovoice, this project embraces openness, playfulness, and spontaneity. It doesn’t rely on written narratives or structured prompts, but instead invites children to express themselves freely — turning photography into a space of autonomy, discovery, and joy.
Born in the highlands of the Peruvian Andes and later continued deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon, this approach has proven to be easily adaptable across diverse cultural and geographical settings. Its simplicity and flexibility allow it to be replicated anywhere, always respecting local dynamics while staying true to its core values: creativity, freedom of expression, and human connection through images.
More than just a project, it is an evolving creative model — one that aims to bridge cultures, empower children, and redefine photography as both a joyful act and a meaningful form of intercultural dialogue.
Choosing disposable analogue cameras is essential to the spirit of this project.
Without screens to instantly show what they’ve captured, children stay fully immersed in the act of seeing — their observations unfiltered, their imaginations free to roam.
This gentle delay turns into a gift: it nurtures a more attentive gaze and transforms the moment of receiving their developed photos into a celebration of surprise, joy, and shared wonder.
In this way, analogue photography beautifully echoes the project’s core values of curiosity, connection, and authentic self-expression.
The methodology behind “Look, Press the Button, Have Fun” is intentionally simple yet deeply human.
It all starts with trust: spending time with children and their communities, sharing small everyday moments, and introducing photography as a playful, open space.
Each child receives a disposable camera, learns how to look through the viewfinder and press the shutter — then they’re free. Free to explore, imagine, and tell their own stories, without prompts or written reflections. Their creativity flows as naturally as their laughter.
After developing the photos they’ve taken, I return to share them — creating moments of joy, pride, and collective celebration within the community.
Unlike structured frameworks like Photovoice, this approach removes boundaries. It believes that when children are given complete creative freedom, their imagination not only nurtures their own growth, but also strengthens the heart of their community, planting seeds for a future yet to come.