We have stories to tell, and photos powerfully weave layers of color and texture into a single view.

My long-time friend and Pamba Toto business partner, Debbie, and I are newly impassioned to impart insight into our products and the artisans who make them. After visiting Kenya together last June, we are fully cognizant that there is a lot on the line – both the economic advancement of beautiful people buried in the poverty of third world slums, and the progress of their amazing creations, rising like beauty from ashes.

When I’m telling visual stories of Pamba Toto’s products, I reference the textures of slums through peeling paint and urban decay. A magic little alley in Colorado Springs, in above photo and below, provides the setting for this shoot, below, with my very talented and dear friend Brittin Lane of Nxt/Model. (We have too much fun together. You can view more of our co-creative work in my photography portfolio: Modeling Portfolio photos.)

Britt, with a little help from my “assistant”, my daughter Lily.

I’ve lived in several old houses, including our 100-year plus year old current home, and I collect various “souvenirs” from each. Old window frames and cabinet doors create the backdrop for these Kazuri ceramic bead earring photos:

Kazuri ceramic beads, made by women from Nairobi’s largest slum, Kibera, are the focal point of these earrings I make and sell through www.pambatoto.com, with profits benefiting Kenyan orphans at Sanctuary of Hope homes.

At the heart of my photographic stories is this – admiration for the people who create such vibrancy in the slums, most of all through the beauty of their hearts.

Sandra, a member of Tuungane Pamoja artisan group of Kawangware slum, 2016. (c) Colleen Briggs

Some of the amazing Kenyan artisans with whom Pamba Toto is privileged to work.