Point. shoot. See: in Zambia, a New York City photographer teaches kids orphaned by AIDS how to take pictures. They teach him a lesson about living.(Klaus Schoenwiese)

KLAUS SCHOENWIESE traveled down the road eight miles north of Lusaka, Zambia, through soft hills, still lush from the rainy season, and fields of maize that were beginning to dry. Charcoal sellers whizzed by on bikes. His Land Cruiser turned at a sign marked CCHZ. Along this rutted, dirt road were a few small farmhouses, open fields of tomatoes and a fluttering flock of blue finches.

Another turn took him to the Chishawasha Children's House of Zambia, an orphanage and school. In a yard shaded by low trees, Schoenwiese barely had time to step outside of his SUV before he was bombarded with hugs. "Uncle Klaus!" the kids shouted.

Schoenwiese, a 43-year-old native of Germany who lives in New York City, is a photographer specializing in travel and portrait work. He went to Chishawasha this past May with the backing of the New York …