In August I spent a week in the beautiful coastal town of Rockport, ME at the Maine Media Workshops taking a course titled "The Humanistic Photo Essay" taught by internationally renowned photographer David H. Wells. It just so happened to be the same week that the Windsor Fair was going on so we spent a couple evenings wandering around taking photographs. In the far back corner of the fair, I spotted the bright orange and green Red Thai food truck, far away from the other food stands, and I knew this was going to be my photo essay.

First a bit of background on one of my personal photography projects. As a photographer who is passionate about social justice as it relates to refugees and immigrants, for several years now I have wanted to document the story of resettled refugees in Lancaster. Having worked as an immigration counselor at Church World Service Lancaster for 2.5 years and continuing to do freelance photography for the organization, I have grown and maintained a network of contacts in the refugee community. I hope to be able to create an honest and intimate portrayal of the successes, hardships and hopes of refugees and shed a positive light on their contributions to our community. This photo essay workshop helped me shape my vision for this project and I plan to make it happen!

And now on to The Red Thai Food Truck! Meet Supannee and her father Samer, owners of the U-haul converted to food truck for over a year now. Supannee also owns a restaurant called Jasmine Cafe in the area. Without hesitation she agreed to let me squeeze into the food truck and take pictures while her dad was cooking and she was serving customers. At the end of the day she very generously gave me a heaping plate of food with a variety of tasty Thai dishes. It was definitely an unexpected and much appreciated gift. I really believe the key to great story-telling involves building relationships, especially when it comes to documentary photography. Starting a conversation with someone and taking an interest in their story and what motivates them usually opens a door to not only learning something new, but also builds trust which helps in creating genuine and true-to-life images. Telling stories with photos also gives me an excuse to meet new people which is one of the reasons I love what I do.