“I don’t know anybody who’s died from cancer,” says Yasin Osman, slowly pulling on the strands of his beard. “I only know people who have been killed by gun violence.”

Osman, 23, has lived in the east-end neighborhood of Regent Park all his life. Since a young age, he saw friends get shot to death for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Most locals, he says, don’t understand the concept of growing up without someone they know being killed.

Today, Osman wears many hats. For the past few years, he’s worked as an early childhood educator — coaching and inspiring kids at a nearby community centre. In his spare time — and what he hopes to be his fulltime career — Osman is a photographer who mainly focuses on humanitarian work, traveling to countries like Ethiopia and Turkey to document stories of marginalization, culture and religion.

But the project that’s at his core is homebred — #ShootForPeace — the name for a weekly event where he takes youth of Regent Park out with a bundle of cameras and teaches them to not only take great photos, but learn photo-editing and image technology.

And the name, he says, goes beyond just a catchy hashtag.

“I thought, ‘How can I turn that idea of (violence) around?’ When you take photos, people call it shooting — we’re shooters,” he said. “It’s a play on that idea of the streets being a place for crime, you know? It’s pushing these kids to think about what they can do differently. This is a peaceful act.”

#ShootForPeace’s photo walk, which happens every Sunday, is simple: The kids show up at a predetermined local spot at 3P.M. — usually a food joint, mosque, or community center. When they get there, everyone gets a simple point-and-shoot camera, which they’re expected to share with a friend. They then pick a place to explore for the day, and head out with Osman’s simple challenge: Try something new.

10-year-old Adam Elesar, for example, wanted to learn how to freeze a basketball in mid-air, right before it hit the net. He’s learned over time that he has to turn the shutter speed up higher if he wants to capture a moving object, but grabbing it in focus is a whole different story. Some day, he wants to be a photographer, but for now, he said he has a lot to learn.

“I like shooting everything,” he said. “I want to be good at it all.”

Regent Park itself is ground zero for a number of Toronto’s most popular and successful modern photographers. Jamal Burger, known as @jayscale on Instagram, is a world-renowned brand and cityscape photographer who grew up with Osman.

Earlier this year, Burger was one of the featured mentors at #ShootForPeace, accompanying the likes of other Toronto shooters like @visionelie — who has shot frequently with The Weeknd — and @doncharleone — who takes pictures for the NBA. For Burger, his experience as a role model for the kids takes him back to a time when he had no one to look up to.

“Being able to be a positive role model and example was one of the main reasons I work hard and carry myself the way I do,” Burger said.

“I remember being their age and participating in similar activities to stay out of trouble. It went a long way, and gave me a positive outlook on growing up and (let me) know I could make a change.”

Most of Osman’s work is solo. Managing a group of eight to ten kids by himself is a tough job already, but Osman says it’s compounded by the fact that he funds the program wholly out of pocket. Most of his money goes toward pizza lunches or snacks for the kids, and the cameras that Osman has in possession are simple digital cameras that were donated a year prior. Often times, he’ll pass around his own professional gear for the kids to take turns with — most times, someone will hog it and try to get a new profile picture for Facebook.

Regardless of his limitations, Osman tries to teach the kids that good photos aren’t limited to those with professional equipment, ften encouraging his trainees to go home and shoot with their phone before moving on to using a DSLR. It’s a practice he says has refreshed his own view on photography and helped him take progressively better pictures.

“The best photos usually aren’t when you have your camera ready,” he said. “They could be at any moment. I would have missed a lot of shots if I kept thinking in the mindset that (my equipment) allowed me to take the best pictures.”

Out of the nearly dozen that regularly attend #ShootForPeace, Ali Shali is one of the most experienced of the group. At 16, he’s had more time to play around with cameras than most of the kids. During a challenge by Osman to see the most creative shots the group could get in 10 minutes, Shali carefully crouched behind a chain link fence and took a shot of another boy in mid-flight, inches from dunking on a basketball net. Moments later, the image appeared on his screen, and a smile peeled across his face.

In usual form for #ShootForPeace, when Shali turned the camera around to show the group the final product, they went wild. To Osman, times like that are his secret weapon, and speak to the core of what he’s trying to accomplish.

“That reaction is all I want,” Osman says, reflecting on his own excitement when he first started taking photography seriously. “Every picture back then was special. You get to a new location and you’re thinking, ‘Oh my god. This is it!’ We lose that over time, but seeing (the kids) go nuts like that reminds me to be thankful for what I have, and makes me want to be so much better at what I do.”

Shoot For Peace: photos instead of bullets

Founded by Toronto photographer and early childhood educator Yasin Osman, Shoot For Peace is a mentorship program designed to help kids in the east-end neighbourhood of Regent Park learn the art of photography and get better with image technology. The core group, consisting of around 10—12 regulars, is made up of kids ages 10 – 16.

Mohammed Hussein, 15

Hussein, an older member of the group, enjoys taking action shots and photos of cityscapes. Although he doesn’t know what he wants to become in the future, he likes hanging out with the Shoot For Peace group and playing basketball in the area.

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Yasir Ahmed, 12

Ahmed is the younger brother of local Regent Park talent Mustafa the Poet. He loves taking shots of basketball, people, and the city, but he especially enjoys borrowing Osman’s camera to try his hand at more professional shots. Like many in the group, the two have known each other for years.

Osama Gaid, 16

Osama Gaid typically doesn’t take photos when hanging out with the crew from Shoot For Peace, but he is friends with Osman and the kids that make up the group. Osman says it’s not uncommon for local kids who aren’t in the program to stop by for the day or join in on the walk. “It’s all family,” Osman said.

Hoyzayfa Zene, 13

Zene, while only 13, has taken some impressive shots while at Shoot For Peace. Osman says his eye for photo composition is very good, and that he’s constantly trying to find new ways to frame subjects in interesting ways. He spends most of his time in Regent Park shooting the north side, near the older townhouses.

Ali Shali, 16

Alongside Osama Gaid, Shali is the oldest in the group and says that his focus is mostly to stay involved with the community. Going forward, Shali said he would like to become a psychiatrist someday, but that Shoot For Peace provides a creative outlet for him in the mean time.

Yasin Osman, 23

Osman has lived in Regent Park all of his life. Growing up, he saw violent crime as a regular occurence in the neighbourhood, and later founded Shoot For Peace as a way of combating that narrative. “Most people don’t know what it means to live without someone they know, a friend or someone, dying,” he said. “I wanted to get (the kids’) minds away from that.”

Ibrahim Omar, 13

Omar, one of the longtime regulars of the group, loves taking photos of the landscape and sunsets. Omar says Shoot For Peace has helped him move away from mainstream city photography — usually of buildings and architecture — and see the value in people and the environment around him.

Mutada Abdelkarim, 12

Abdelkarim has been going to Shoot For Peace walks since the beginning. Osman says that he was one of the original kids who helped form the group, joking that the first meeting came together after he yelled at Abdelkarim and his friends to go and round up their friends. “I told them, ‘Go, go. Bring back whoever wants to learn and meet me here tomorrow. They actually did it,” he said.

Adam Elisar, 10

The youngest of the group, Elisar says that his dream one day is to be a photographer. “Or a businessman,” he joked, making light of the idea that photography can be a hard field to get paid in. Elisar says that he doesn’t have a favourite style of photography to shoot, but that he loves taking pictures of people.