Matthew Salazar, 13, takes photos of children on a playground near the Albuquerque Museum this past week. Salazar was one of 18 APS students participating in a Pictures of Hope program that lets kids take photos that express their hopes and dreams. One of Matthew’s dreams is to make children happy. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)

Daisy Rosales hopes to go to Disneyland one day, get on all the roller-coaster rides and eat all the cotton candy.

Sweet. Even though thinking about that might make your stomach do flip-flops.

Some of her other hopes and dreams, however, will make your heart smile.

She hopes to make money she can share with her sister and brother. She dreams of helping people in need, of giving a house to people who don’t have one.

Daisy, 10, a student this past school year at Sombra del Monte Elementary School, was one of 18 Albuquerque Public School children, kindergarten through 11th grade, who participated in a Pictures of Hope program at the Albuquerque Museum this past week.

Initiated in 2005 by photojournalist Linda Solomon, a former Detroit News staffer, Pictures of Hope helps children express their hopes and dreams through the lens of a camera.

Linda Solomon, right, founder of the Pictures of Hope program, reviews photos taken by APS student Daisy Rosales, 10, left, while Rosales’ mentor, Judy Venczel, looks on. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)

Solomon knows all too well that photographs can often say what you mean better than words.

“I want to show you how special it is to be a photographer,” Solomon told the children. “I started taking photos when I was 6 years old, and I have never stopped loving my camera. I never go anywhere without a camera.”

Walgreens donated digital cameras, which were given to the APS students to keep. Solomon instructed the kids on the basics of photography, they were paired off with mentors and sent out to snap a dream.

‘Say when’

The Pictures of Hope program has been to more than 50 cities. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation funded last week’s stop in Albuquerque, the 10th time the program has been here.

“I’ve probably brought it to Albuquerque more than any other city,” Solomon said. “New Mexico is the most wonderful state to take photos.”

The young photographers will get an enlarged set of photos they took. A second set will be auctioned at the Albuquerque Museum to raise money for APS scholarships for the kids participating in the Pictures of Hope program.

Students selected for the photo project are in a summer program at Madison Middle School. They were asked to make a list of their hopes and dreams.

Daisy Rosales, a 10-year-old APS student, took this photo for the Pictures of Hope program. Daisy hopes to be able to give a house to people who need one. (Courtesy of Linda Solomon)

These ranged from getting good grades to starting the world anew, from getting a dog to being an artist. Solomon and her support team selected one hope or dream from each list and assigned students to take a photo that represented it.

Matthew Salazar, 13, a student at Madison Middle School last school year, hopes to make friends and have a family, be a math teacher and end war.

But “My dream,” he wrote, “is for kids to be happy.” That’s the photo he was sent to find.

“Nothing like a playground to make kids happy,” said Matthew’s mentor, Joseph Lynch, a former TV photojournalist who now works for City of Albuquerque Arts and Culture. Lynch took Matthew to the playground at Tiguex Park, just across the street from the museum.

Within a few minutes, Matthew was at work in the playground, clicking off pics of willing young photo subjects.

“Say when,” one of them said as he prepared to do a handstand for Matthew’s camera.

“We got a lot of good shots,” Matthew said.

“The only bad picture is the one you don’t take,” Lynch said.

Looking everywhere

Avery Amaya, 15, of Albuquerque High, hopes to travel.

“I want to see new things, see how they impact my own life,” she said.

She hopes to get into police forensics, even though she realizes that work is not like it is portrayed in the “CSI” TV shows she watches.

One of her dreams, however, is to make a difference. That’s the photo she was assigned. She went looking for that picture in the museum.

“It’s amazing,” she said. “I was very lost in there. I was looking at everything in there.”

Solomon Rimmer, 8, gets some help from mentor Sharrisse Welch in preparing his camera for a Pictures of Hope photography session. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)

She found what she was after in an exhibition of religious art, sculptures of wood and clay dating from the 1700s to the 2000s.

“I know that religion is very influential in some people’s lives,” she said. “Sculptures of the Virgin Mary and Jesus on the cross expressed emotions. We were commenting on how long (some of the images) have lasted. If only they could talk.”

Solomon Rimmer, 8, of Inez Elementary School, dreams of designing video games. He brought a stuffed figure of Luigi, from the Mario and Luigi video games, to use as a photo prop.

But his hope is to learn how to read. That was his assignment. To get started, he took a picture of the newspaper reporter interviewing him.

Solomon Rimmer, 8, dreams of reading, a wish aptly expressed in this photo, which he took for the Pictures of Hope program. (Courtesy of Linda Solomon)

Hollyhocks and Daisy

Daisy Rosales and her mentor, Judy Venczel, an employee assistance program therapist with APS, left the museum in search of a photo that conveyed Daisy’s dream of giving people a house.

“It was pretty exciting,” Daisy said. “I liked exploring.” She and Venczel walked from the museum into Old Town. Daisy took pictures of “For Rent” signs and picturesque houses.

“But the best one was the flowers in Old Town,” she said. “I liked the red roses and the orange roses and the one that got my attention – the tall red one (hollyhocks). Flowers belong to homes.”

On exhibit
Photographs taken by APS students participating in the Pictures of Hope program will be on exhibit July 12 at the Albuquerque Museum, 2000 Mountain NW.