Inspired by various videos and exhibitions by French artist JR and his Inside Out movement, I have just started a new project which I'm tentatively calling "Ollos que non ven..." - meaning literally "Eyes that don't see.." in Galician. The meaning however, really only makes sense in the context of the expression "Ollos que non ven, corazón que non sente" (Eyes that don't see. Heart that doesn't feel), which is the equivalent of Out of Sight, Out of Mind in English.

No, it's not blind people but it does send a powerful message to the relevant people.

Unfortunately, I can't go into more detail for the time being because part of the project involves an element of anonymity.

What I can do is show you a few of the raw photos I've been taking and the different styles I've been playing around with.

more to come shortly...

My latest project "Ollos que non ven" has been directly inspired by a now very famous French street artist called JR. I'd seen some work he did in the slums of Rio de Janeiro but it wasn't until a friend sent a video link of him being awarded the TED prize, and the presentation that followed, that I realised how to go about setting up my new initiative.

Here's the video.

So, although the project I'm undertaking is slightly different in the way I've decided to present it, what JR and his art did was to open my eyes all of a sudden to the potential of street exhibitions. Why not exhibit in the street? It's certainly the best place for people to see your work. It's certainly the most "democratic" way of presenting art to the public.

If you want to get involved in the Inside Out Project, take a look at their website here.

Praying Mantises (or is it "Mantii") aren't uncommon in Swaziland and this one only caught my eye because it was relatively large and I because I needed a subject to try and my new Kodak point and shoot (which also happened to be my first ever camera). It wasn't until about 3 snaps into the photo session that I realised the mantis had something in its mouth.

I submitted this photo to the (then) BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition in the Animal Portraits category I think. Needless to say, I had absolutely no idea how to properly prepare an image for a competition and I think that, instead of reducing the file size slightly, I converted all my images into small thumbnails. Anyway, this shot actually reached the semi-finals.

Would it have made the finals had it been taken with a better camera? Who knows? All I know is that it was about a metre from my front door.

Prompted by my colleagues, I managed to catch this girl with her incredible eyes moments before we were completely surrounded by excited children and she disappeared into the crowd

So this is where it gets really fun.
I recently spent the weekend working at the Bushfire festival in Swaziland as part of a larger installation organised by Yebo ArtReach. As part of Creative Beans we set up a section called "Out the Box" - an area where people could express themselves through dressing up.
The results were spectacular and the portraits below really don't do justice to the creative explosion that was going on inside that box.
It's worth bearing in mind that the subjects all only had about 3 or 4 minutes from start to finish.
True release

One of the most enjoyable aspects of following Clowns without Borders South Africa was the audience reaction. The children were very often squealing with laughter but part of the magic was in watching their expressions change and the different emotions they revealed - confusion, intrigue, wonder, curiosity, joy and even pity (for the clowns) at times.

And of course, with such a large number of children, you find so many different personalities - from the wild, excitable ones who leap up at every opportunity, to the quiet, reserved ones who reveal their emotions in a more introverted way.

Here is a selection of some of my favourite "faces" from the Vuka Mphakathi (Awakening the Community) programme in Swaziland.

I could be accused of removing all the fun from these photos by publishing them in black and white. I'm probably guilty but I think the true colour of the images is in their faces.

As part of the International Save the Children Conference in London (2010), we prepared a short montage of key projects undertaken by Save the Children Swaziland.
The three main items were:

• Neighbourhood Care Points (NCPs)
• Schools Feeding Program
• Ses'Khona Youth Radio

more info: Facebook > Save the Children Swaziland