About the Book
This book is intended as a meaningful visual and written story about my journey in search of good in the world; this trip specifically focused in Peru. Peru is a country with vastly different landscapes, from desert coastlines to grand mountain ranges and the beauty and magic of the Amazon River basin. Images range from aspects of everyday life and culture to volunteer activities and the grandeur of the ever-changing earth.
I titled this book “Finding the Good” because my journey through this world entails a personal search for greater understanding and an overwhelming need to find those people, environments and organizations that contribute good to our ever-tumultuous existence. I travel to ask questions and to learn about our similarities and our differences. I always ask why things are as they are. In this obsessively connected world, I want to learn how different cultures deal with similar problems. I do not travel with a presumption that I can fix any problems, but rather, I offer my photographs as a reflection of what I observe while searching. Travel offers the opportunity for human interaction and ideological, and very personal, exchange between people of different cultures - which may open the door to a deeper understanding of our essential similarities. I am not satisfied to photograph surface images, just as I am not satisfied to restrict a travel agenda to the well-worn tourist vistas. While I used volunteer tourism as my means to search for the good in Peru, I discovered that good in the richness of the culture, the warmth of the people and in a variety of experiences beyond volunteering.
I titled this book “Finding the Good” because my journey through this world entails a personal search for greater understanding and an overwhelming need to find those people, environments and organizations that contribute good to our ever-tumultuous existence. I travel to ask questions and to learn about our similarities and our differences. I always ask why things are as they are. In this obsessively connected world, I want to learn how different cultures deal with similar problems. I do not travel with a presumption that I can fix any problems, but rather, I offer my photographs as a reflection of what I observe while searching. Travel offers the opportunity for human interaction and ideological, and very personal, exchange between people of different cultures - which may open the door to a deeper understanding of our essential similarities. I am not satisfied to photograph surface images, just as I am not satisfied to restrict a travel agenda to the well-worn tourist vistas. While I used volunteer tourism as my means to search for the good in Peru, I discovered that good in the richness of the culture, the warmth of the people and in a variety of experiences beyond volunteering.
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About the Creator
Amie Vanderford
Memphis, TN
Photography has been my passion since I first picked up a camera at age eleven. After living in various European countries for ten years as a child, I developed an intense fascination and love for varied cultures. At university I majored in international relations, with a focus on peace and conflict resolution, and minored in photography. An integral part of my life’s journey is the attempt to coalesce these two distinct sides of my personality.