PHOTOS INSTEAD OF BULLETS
Founded by photographer and early childhood educator Yasin Osman, #ShootForPeace is a mentorship program designed to help kids in Regent Park learn the art of photography and get better with image technology. The core group of 10 to 12 regulars is made up
Mohammed Hussein, 15
Hussein, an older member of the group, enjoys taking action shots and photos of cityscapes. Although he doesn’t know what he wants to become in the future, he likes hanging out with the Shoot For Peace group and playing basketball in the area.
Yasir Ahmed, 12
Ahmed is the younger brother of local Regent Park talent Mustafa the Poet. He loves taking shots of basketball, people, and the city, but he especially enjoys borrowing Osman’s camera to try his hand at more professional shots. Like many in the group, the two have known each other for years.
Osama Gaid, 16
Gaid typically doesn’t take photos when hanging out with the crew from Shoot For Peace, but he is friends with Osman and the kids that make up the group. Osman says it’s not uncommon for local kids who aren’t in the program to stop by for the day or join in on the walk. “It’s all family,” Osman said.
Hoyzayfa Zene, 13
Zene, while only 13, has taken some impressive shots while at Shoot For Peace. Osman says his eye for photo composition is very good, and that he’s constantly trying to find new ways to frame subjects in interesting ways. He spends most of his time in Regent Park shooting the north side, near the older townhouses.
Ali Shali, 16
Alongside Gaid, Shali is the oldest in the group and says that his focus is mostly to stay involved with the community. Going forward, Shali said he would like to become a psychia- trist someday, but that Shoot For Peace provides a creative outlet for him in the meantime.
Yasin Osman, 23
Osman has lived in Regent Park all his life. Growing up, he saw violent crime as a regular occurrence in the neighbourhood, and later founded Shoot For Peace as a way of combating that narrative. “Most people don’t know what it means to live without someone they know, a friend or someone, dying,” he said. “I wanted to get (the kids’) minds away from that.”
Ibrahim Omar, 13
Omar, one of the longtime regulars of the group, loves taking photos of the landscape and sunsets. Omar says Shoot For Peace has helped him move away from mainstream city photography — buildings, architecture — and see the value in people and the environment around him.
Mutada Abdelkarim, 12
Abdelkarim has been going to Shoot For Peace walks since the beginning. Osman says that he was one of the original kids who helped form the group, joking that the first meeting came together after he yelled at Abdelkarim and his friends to go and round up their friends. “I told them, ‘Go, go. Bring back whoever wants to learn and meet me here tomorrow. They actually did it,” he said.
Adam Elisar, 10
The youngest of the group, Elisar says that his dream one day is to be a photographer. “Or a businessman,” he joked, making light of the idea that photography can be a hard field to get paid in. Elisar says that he doesn’t have a favourite style of photography to shoot, but that he loves taking pictures of people.