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Courtney Menzies visited one of their sessions today and has this story.

In the age of social media, churning out content for the sake of clout has become the norm, and if you're not a creator, then you're a consumer, liking and sharing the content you see.

But Menyeleck Marin Coleman, an international photographer with roots in Belize, wants to turn the tables by teaching young Belizeans to become content creators.

However, it's more than just taking pictures and posting to get likes, he wants to introduce a new route, out of the ordinary, that can lead them to fresh opportunities.

Menyelek Marin Coleman, International Artist, Photographer, & Cinematographer
"My main goal, coming back, really, I've travelled the world, and the camera has opened more doors for me than I could have ever possibly imagined so I travelled the world all through the power of photography. Why Belize? Because I'm Belizean and if I could do anything for my home country and where my people came from it's to inspire another youth, another generation of photographers to do the same thing that I do. My main goal is to show people that there is another way out of your situation through the power of telling your own stories."

"Children are going to be outside during the summers anyways. I figured, if you're going to be outside, if you're going to be doing whatever you're doing, more than likely, most children these days are on TikTok they're on Instagram, they're on social networks, it's to take that same energy that they have towards looking at everybody else create their stuff, and putting that into themselves. So I told the children, if you're going to walk, if you're going to the beach, if you're going to the store with mom, if you're doing anything, take a camera with you because you're story is just as important as the stories of the people that you're watching everyday."

And this four week camp is aimed at teaching the children how to properly use a camera, and finding that moment that they want to capture forever. But though many of us simply open our camera apps and click on a button, these kids are starting off with film.

Menyelek Marin Coleman, International Artist, Photographer, & Cinematographer
"Each child has their own disposable camera, we specifically decided to shoot in black and white to show primarily the starting basis of photography, before we had color photography, we had black and white photography. And black and white photography plays a lot on light and shadows. One thing it is in Belize is bright, it's bright everywhere. So instead of giving the kids so many options and so much pressure to try and make the perfect photograph, I wanted to show them how to take the correct picture. So each child has a Kodak 400 T-Max which is the name of the film, disposable camera, they have 27 pictures."

"With film photography as opposed to digital photography, there's always an allotted amount of moments that you have to capture it so each moment has to be special, each moment has to matter. So in an area where everything is kind of eaten up and spit out in a very fast way, it kinda give kids the opportunity to take a minute and stay in the present."

"A lot of children in this camp may just focus on photography but by the time they get done, they may learn that they don't like photography, they like editing, they like curating, they like maybe frame making, there's so many way in the visual arts that children can progress, especially in Belize, to move forward with their future."

And in the upcoming summers, Marin Coleman hopes to see these children progress, while growing his group of students.

If you are interested in getting your child involved, you can reach out to YaYa Marin Coleman, the chairperson for the UBAD Educational Foundation.