MEET ELM PHOTOGRAPHER, TIM PORTER

“The teachers are phenomenal and the kids are funny, wisecracking and hardworking. It is a wonderful combination.”

By Kate Fitzsimmons

Tim Porter is a longtime photographer and a journalist. He’s worked in Mexico, Los Angeles, Nevada, Berkeley and San Francisco, where he served as assistant managing editor for news for more than decade and then founding editor of the newspaper’s web operation, Examiner.com.  All this to say, Porter knows a meaningful story when he hears of one.  

 “I first discovered ELM through a coincidence,” He admits. I was still doing work for Marin Magazine and I was on a shoot for the Marin Community Health Care Clinic. The PR person was a friend of mine, Melanie Hamburger. We ended up talking and she told me about a friend of hers, Jane Kramer, who was doing amazing things. I knew about El Sistema from a friend in Venezuela.  I contacted Jane, to see if I could talk to her, maybe take photos. That was in June 2016. I didn’t do the project I first proposed, but I saw the potential for the programs ELM provides.”

Once he visited ELM, he felt the life-changing value of what the children were experiencing through music education. He explained, “I see something at ELM I’d love to see in Mexico – the changes I see in the children and families. The ELM families got here through hard work. If you are poor in Mexico, you are condemned to poverty, if that is what you are born to. The number one thing is that the program changes the perspective of the children and how they see the world.”

ELM student singing at Spring concert. Photo credit: Tim Porter

Porter continued, “They learn discipline and playing in a group, they learn concentration. That is only part of it. The sense of community that has developed among students and families. All these change the perspective. It breaks that barrier that keeps people from being able to see beyond their world.”

 “It makes me feel good to do this work. I’ve spent a lot of time in Mexico, in poor areas. I knew what opportunities these kids were experiencing. I volunteered to take photos. I took photos in classes and rehearsals. I try to go to all of their end of year performances. Muertos events...”

Children at a carnival, Oaxaca, Mexico – Photo credit: Tim Porter
Experience Tim’s Oaxaca series at timporterphotography.com

Porter revealed that he finds it difficult to express how much he admires what Jane Kramer and her entire team are doing through ELM. He has witnessed the success and growth of ELM over the last three and a half years, "Part of me feels selfish because by doing this volunteer work [photographing ELM students, families, events] it makes me feel good. If my photos help ELM promote themselves that is great! I always try to accommodate families that ask for photos, too. The meaning comes not from my doing the photo, it comes from what people see in it. And I am happy to do it.”

 “I’ve done a lot of documentary work in Mexico, and I don’t feel any of the people there can reach beyond what they are born into. ELM makes me believe in hope. The teachers are phenomenal and the kids are funny, wisecracking and hardworking. It is a wonderful combination.”