By Lauren LaRocca News-Post Staff
Photo by Doug Koontz
Natalie Duggan, a 10th-grade student at Frederick High School, is preparing a photography exhibit from a recent trip to Cambodia.
What: "Window to Cambodia" photography exhibit by Natalie Duggan. All proceeds will benefit Cambodian Community development
When: Through June 30. Opening reception from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, June 7.
Where: Studio 11 Photography & Framing, 19 N. Court St., Suite 102, Frederick
Information: info@studio11photos.com; 301-696-5944
www.flickr.com/photos/natacoustic (folder marked "Cambodia 2008")
Natalie Duggan left America with a camera and returned with more than 1,000 photos of Cambodia, and a photography exhibit.
She went on the trip in March with a good friend, Elizabeth, whose father travels overseas regularly as a physician, giving aid to third-world countries. Each time one of his seven kids turns 16, he/she is invited to come along and bring a friend. Natalie and Elizabeth have been planning this since kindergarten.
Natalie, who has played acoustic guitar in coffee shops around Frederick and at her church, Brook Hill United Methodist, was asked to provide the music during the trip.
The first thing she saw when she got off the third airplane and landed in Cambodia was a guy holding a guitar -- her guitar. The American doctor living in Cambodia, who would act as the group guide, taking them to each village for clinics, had purchased a guitar for Natalie's trip.
"He and our translators -- young college students, and they beat us, as far as English goes -- they were all there to meet us," she said.
The group traveled, usually by bus, to another village nearly every day for 13 days.
During her free time, usually evenings, Natalie would sing and play guitar and people would gather around her to listen or join in.
"The language barriers -- when I had my music, it didn't even matter," Natalie said. "It's a really unifying thing."
Sometimes, under palm trees, with monkeys and dogs running nearby, they'd sing the same song together in two languages.
"I had no idea it would happen," she said.
Natalie discovered she could express herself through not just the guitar but the camera.
"This was my big test," she said, noting that she comes from a house that is never short on cameras because of her father, who loves photography. "Thankfully I had a subject.
"I tried to capture what was there," she continued. "What you see is pretty much what I saw."
Her shots range from the ancient temple ruins at Ankor Watt to the countryside, faces and places of modern day Cambodia.
Barb Campbell, owner of Studio 11 in downtown Frederick, said Natalie has an eye for photography. Natalie's photography has received recognition and awards through her work with Dave Barber, digital photography instructor at Frederick High School. One of her photographs was selected to be shown in an upcoming exhibition at the State House in Annapolis.
Campbell saw the Cambodia images because Natalie was interested in taking a photography class at the studio.
"I said, 'Well, what can I teach you?'" Campbell said.
So instead of classes, Campbell gave her a solo show, which will run throughout June.
Natalie will be at the opening reception to answer questions and guide viewers through the beauty of Cambodia on Saturday, June 7, from 6 to 9 p.m. Natalie loved her Cambodian experience so much that she wants to help provide ongoing financial support for the medical team living in Penom Penh. All of the profit from the sale of her photographs will be designated for the work in Cambodia.
Natalie plans to show about 15 photos in the exhibit of the 1,060 taken.
"I have so many portraits," she said. "It's a matter of picking."
Many of them are children. At points, Natalie couldn't see her camera because so many kids had gathered around her. A lot of them asked if they could touch her arm because "I'm so white," she said, laughing. "Even for an American."
One photo shows soda bottles, full of gasoline, that fill a rack alongside a dirt road, where people would grab one to fuel their mopeds.
"It was very bizarre," Natalie said. "I just finished driver's ed. I came back here and everything looked so orderly. You never really notice these things until you come back."
Other photos, in vivid colors, show Buddha statues, trees escaping cement pathways, doors and gates and interesting buildings, as well as landscapes and shots of villages.
Her first thought was to order the photos to follow her journey, but then she began focusing on a more creative question: "What do I want to start with, and what note do I want to end on?"
Once home, she put her photos onto a Flickr account and sent the link to family and friends, some of which live in Cambodia.
She left her guitar there.
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