Last month Samaritan’s Purse launched a beautifully BIG photo blog. And right now it’s a great place to see real time, large image coverage of the Samaritan’s Purse relief efforts in Haiti. I’ve been trying to update it every day with new images. Every day since the earthquake there’s been at least 1 photographer on the ground shooting. Check it out here… and check back often. We’ll be posting images from all over the world soon.
During December I visited Cameroon where I took a week off to document the work of a local grassroots NGO called Life Water Development. LifeWater is headed by a man named Peter Njodzeka who is quite honestly one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met. I won’t attempt to tell his story now- I want to save it for the video- but just believe me when I say that Peter is passionate about helping his own community, starting with providing clean water to schools in some very remote locations. Peter’s work is supported by another great organization named Thirst Relief- you should definitely check them out here. More pictures from Cameroon coming soon….
In other news- I’ve been asked to encourage my visitors to check out a humanitarian photography competition sponsored by Photocrati. It is for Non-professionals and has been described to me as “a rare opportunity to get both funding and a platform for becoming known in the photography world. It provides $5000 grants to non-professional photographers working on important humanitarian and environmental projects. The grant is intended to identify great up-and-coming photography talent and give them a high profile platform for carrying out a worthwhile project”.
Sounds like a great way to get your name and work out there. Go here to learn all about it .
Also, I’m heading to Hatii on Tuesday. I’ll be looking for glimmers of hope. Stay tuned for more on that…
As someone who shoots weddings on the side, I’ve started to believe that really good wedding photographers are some of the best shooters on the planet. Now here’s a project that just might prove me correct. 14 wedding photographers on assignment in Tanzania to document the relief projects of Thirst Relief. I’m excited to see the images that come from this. You can follow their blog here. Looks like they will also be doing a bridal fashion shoot on location, with images to be published in the Spring 2010 edition of Grace Ormonde|Wedding Style Magazine. What an innovative way to obtain high quality images and further a good cause!
Evidently Thirst Relief’s founder & president Jim Hicks is a wedding photographer himself, visit his website here.
Today I had the opportunity to write a guest article for the blog of my favorite author & photographer David DuChemin. It’s called Dream Globally, Act Locally, & it’s about pursuing your passion in photography.
Here is a GREAT article in the New York Times about how the enormously fashionable relief organization charity: water was started. Scott Harrison was quite simply a missionary photojournalist for Mercy Ships who had a spiritual awakening. I LOVE this story because it clearly establishes the direct connection between visual storytelling and the ability to tangibly help others overseas. This was just one guy with a camera and a serious vision from God. I know of other organizations that were started in exactly this same way, but Scott’s story clearly points out the power we have as concerned photographers to truly make a difference with our passion and our skills. Of course, in the case of charity: water it also points to an appropriate utilization of Web 2.0 marketing techniques- another topic that should interest all of us considerably.
As humanitarian photographers; socially concerned, Christian, or otherwise, we have an enormously powerful set of skills and tools at our disposal. Of course, as David DuChemin frequently reminds us, “gear is good, vision is better”. Therefore we must constantly dig in to discover what we want to say visually, what we want to do with these skills that we’ve been blessed with- then design our plan for making it happen.
Art & Altruism. That is my interest. And Love, Light & Melody is an organization that is doing a fine job of combining the two. “They use music and the arts to rebuild, restore, and bring healing to communities ravaged by extreme poverty.” When I find an effort like this it reminds me of why I have been put here on earth, and it encourages me that I have much work left to do. Visit their website here, or watch this video to be inspired:
I’m very excited to announce- after far too many years of the same old site- that I have a new portfolio website coming out with a complete overhaul of images and design. It’s not here yet- it’s in the final stages. But here’s a taste of how it’s looking. This blog will also get a re-design to match. Expect to hear much more from me once I get all this stuff completed….
PDN Magazine just published this killer article about newspaper photojournalists who are getting laid off and forming multimedia companies. And they seem to be targeting primarily non-profits & NGO’s with their services. This is what I’ve been waiting for and it points to some encouraging realities:
Photojournalists ARE finding new and growing outlets for visual stories about social justice and social responsibility.
BECAUSE of the decline of the traditional news media we ARE witnessing a renaissance of humanitarian & advocacy photojournalism- helping to return it to its’ roots.
Thanks to print/video convergence, there ARE powerful new avenues for organizations to get their stories told, and for photographers to help them.
So check out these new companies. And please let me know of others doing similar work.
