PHOTOGRAPHER Sam Clements hopes to establish a photo-journalism club in Swindon after raising £2,000 to learn more about “the powerful art of the medium” from award winning lensman Edwin Koo.

Mr Clements, 40, intends to work with over 16 year-olds in Swindon to “help them voice their personal stories through documentary photography” and is looking to set up a club in town next spring.

But to do so, he said, he needed to learn from “master of the art” Koo to “improve my visual storytelling skills and learn the craft of photo-story editing.”

Mr Clements, of Old Town, went on: “My aims are to pass on the skills and expertise I will have learnt to youngsters in my hometown.

“I want to creatively engage young people to participate in photographic storytelling and show them how to create a visual voice for the things that matter to them.”

He said that by establishing Swindon’s first photojournalism club – which would be free of charge to all participants – he would be able to “engage with others through documentary photography so they can express their identity and raise awareness of issues they face, or care strongly about.”

A key part of the project, he said, would be to organise exhibitions to showcase their work. However, learning from Singapore-based documentary photographer Edwin Koo – who runs the eight-day KIO: Kathmandu Inside Out masterclass in Nepal every year – was essential, he said.

He explained: “You may well ask yourself ‘why do I have to go all the way to Nepal to learn visual storytelling when I could go somewhere closer to home?’ “In a nutshell, KIO is unbelievably good value, in comparison to other workshops of the same level. Instruction is one-to-one and intense.

“I would say to anyone who wants to know more about this to take a look on-line at Edwin’s award-winning body of work A Strange Place Called Home.”

Mr Clements became aware of KIO earlier this year when Koo, 36, took part in a photo seminar at Christ Church in Old Town where Swindon photographers were able to chat to him, via a video link-up from Singapore 6,750 miles away.

“It really inspired me,” he said. Mr Clements will soon take part in the course which he feels will become a springboard towards setting up the photo-journalism club in Swindon. During the course he will focus on the remarkable story of Indira Ranamagar, who has spent 20 years rescuing children who have grown up in filthy, cramped Nepalese prisons.

Having now acquired the sponsorship cash via on-line pledges, he is seeking further donations to help Indira who dedicates her life to freeing children imprisoned as a result of a parent being jailed. “They are in prison because there is no-one else to look after them,” he said.

He went on: “The real pay-off of this project is to bring back a powerful story that will enable me to work with youngsters in Swindon.

“My aim is to guide and teach them to create a voice through visual storytelling, and how to use photography to document their own and each other’s lives.

“I want to make photo-journalism accessible for them to open up and feel better connected, bringing new purpose and meaning to the environment around them.

“My goal is to inspire more people to become real-life storytellers, so they can find a vehicle to express themselves and raise awareness of what matters to them.”

Mr Clements, who has worked for local newspapers and an environmental charity journal also intends to present his work on the Nepal prisons project, to schools and youth clubs in Swindon.