PhotoPhilanthropy

Photographic Skills for Little Wonders
A Community Development Initiative
By Rawan Da’as

How it Began
It all started with my visit to a refugee camp in Jordan called Gaza camp – located in Jerash, a city near Amman, Jordan. I saw three kids who were playing with stones. They appeared to be enjoying themselves, regardless of their less-than-ideal surrounding environment in the refugee camp. They inspired me to take their photo, and I later won the Arab Participant prize for that photo. At that moment, I decided that I wanted to start teaching kids in at-risk areas how to take photographs.

I saw great potential in photography as a way to inspire new vision and new ideas. Based on that idea, I came up with a proposal for a program called “Photographic Skills for Little Wonders.” The vision for the program is to meet the needs of the youth development process in the context of the overall community with a focus on developing creative and critical thinking. The key objectives for the program are to develop creative thinking while teaching kids basic photography skills, and to encourage youth to get engaged in their communities.

Intended Outcomes
Observed results in the Youth who have participated in the program include:

• Development of creative thinking
• Increased Curiosity
• Developed communications skills
• Developed time management skills
• Individual youth empowerment

We use photography as a tool to create opportunities for youth in the local community. With our photography workshops, the participants develop their own critical thinking skills and are better able to contribute to community development.

“I learned that I can build my community when I share my knowledge and collaborate with others. Now I am keen to start a new group to spread this knowledge and raise awareness on the importance of art in community development.” Ali Abu Roman, 16

 
About Rawan Da’as
Rawan is a graduate of the University of Jordan, Amman. In 2012, she was an AMENDS delegate at Stanford University (American Middle Eastern Network for Dialogue). Rawan is a member of the Jordanian Photographic Society, and has participated in the Karama Film Festival, organized by the Royal Cultural Center and Human Rights Association of Jordan. She received the Arab Participant Prize, and second prize at the 8th International Photography Festival of Jordan.

See Rawan’s initiative featured on Jordanian TV. Watch the segment here.
See Rawan’s Flickr photostream here.

Social Documentary Workshops to Advance Gender Equality
By Phil Borges

Are you looking for a real world experience in producing multimedia for non-profit organizations?

I’ve spent the last eight years developing media for organizations that work to advance women and girls. Some of these organizations like UN Women and CARE were large and some like Foundation for Women and OneHeart were much smaller, but for the most part they needed help telling their story; from defining their message to finding the most effective avenues to distribute the media created.

Multimedia storytelling can inspire entire movements, bring communities together, raise awareness about gender-based issues and give nonprofits a vital tool to amplify their message.  It’s for these very reasons that Stirring the Fire is announcing our Social Documentary Workshops with an aim to help advance gender equality by enabling women’s organizations to tell their story effectively.

Here’s how it works.  We compile a team of 6 professional or amateur journalists, photographers, filmmakers and media distribution specialists for an 8 to 12 day workshop to create a multimedia piece that tells the nonprofits story in a compelling and cost effective way. This allows us to delve deep into all aspects of production, including collecting the audio and visual assets, editing and distribution of the final product via new and traditional media. In addition it allows us to discuss the specifics of storytelling for nonprofits and how to work with the client to determine the message, target audience and action outcome for the film.

Our next workshop is going to be held July 13^th – July 21^st in San Diego for Foundation for Women, an international microcredit organization.  We will be building the film around 3 women from the refugee community and Barrio of San Diego to highlight FFW’s domestic programs. Filmmaking is a collaborative process and these workshops are intended to provide an environment that allows the media production team to come together with the nonprofits communications staff to create an effective and successfully distributed multimedia piece.

Find more information and apply here (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/stf_internship) by June 1st.

www.stirringthefire.org

VII (seven) Photo Agency got its name from the number of photojournalists who founded the agency in September 2001. Photographers from VII Photo Agency created VII The Magazine, a web-based publication, as a venue to showcase their most current work, from still images to multimedia to interviews. On May 1, 2012 VII released a new book, Questions Without Answers, by the photographers of VII. The book includes work by eleven photographers, and serves as a visual history of life around the world since the end of the Cold War. The book has a broad selection of photo stories that showcases their commitment to the importance of documenting historic moments through visual storytelling.

With an introduction from the former director at LIFE magazine, David Friend, the book gives us an important look at history from portraits of iconic figures from David Bowie to Barack Obama, to current world issues from the war in Iraq to the impact of AIDS in Asia. You can look at a preview, read a description, and order the book here.

For aspiring documentary photographers and photojournalists, VII is a great resource for seeing a wide range of excellent work from around the globe. Learn more about VII Photo Agency, and see current projects and archives here.

Photo by Tim Harris on behalf of Word Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. Eric Smith plants a turnip into the garden with his hands. The Smith family uses the least amount of machinery possible when working in their garden.

April 22, 2012 is the 42nd Earth Day!

What started out as an environmental teach-in day proposed by Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, has since become an international celebration. The first Earth Day was hard to implement because there was no governing group, and was promoted by a group of students who rallied for people to come together to support environmentally-friendly practices.

The first Earth Day was held on April 22^nd, 1970. It is estimated that approximately 20 million American’s participated in the event that year. “Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day. It organized itself.”  That first Earth Day in 1970 is considered by many as the beginning of a more organized environmental movement.

To celebrate Earth Day this year, we’ve compiled an assortment of links, projects, photos, and videos that explore various environmental issues around the globe. Enjoy!

1. Watch a great video from the Washington Post, from Earth Day 2010, on the history of Earth Day.

2. Take a look at some great photoessays that document the work of non-profit organizations around the globe who are working tirelessly to promote good environmental practices and raise awareness for the cause.

-See a photoessay by Benjamin Drummond on behalf of the Sustainable Prisons Project HERE.

-See a photoessay by Eli Allan on behalf of Colorado Fourteeners Initiative HERE.

-See a photoessay by Sean Gallagher on behalf of Shanghai Roots & Shoots – The Million Tree Project – Jane Goodall Project HERE.

-See a photoessay by Chris Jordan on behalf of the Nextnow Collaboratory HERE.

3. Watch a multimedia piece, Airsick, by photographer Lucas Olenuik, produced by MediaStorm:

Wondering what can you do in your community to get involved on Earth Day?

Learn how to get involved in your community on EPA’s website.

If you are a photographer, go out and take photos! Images are one of the best ways to share a story and get the word out about a specific cause. If you’d like to get involved in an official Earth Day photography project, see a list of projects HERE.

And course, Earth Day is not the only day we should be thinking about the environment, but it is a great reminder that we should all be thinking about this issue and doing our part 365 days a year.

PhotoPhilanthropy’s founder, Nancy Farese, will participate in a panel discussion at this year’s sold out Non-Profit Technology Conference (NTC)! Nancy’s panel, “Say it in Pixels,” is one of NTC’s breakout sessions. Other speakers on the panel include Nancy Schwartz of GettingAttention.org, and Cara Jones of Storytellers for Good. With these three innovators in the same room, it’s sure to be an interesting and thoughtful conversation, not to be missed!

The discussion will cover innovative ways to fuel awareness and drive action. Nancy will talk about visual storytelling for non-profits and the importance of high-quality visual media for all non-profit organizations. As a social documentary photographer and the founder of PhotoPhilanthropy, Nancy has much to say on the topic! We’re excited to hear what Cara Jones brings to the table. Her organization, Storytellers for Good, is a team of passionate journalists, photographers and multimedia producers who are using their skills to inspire optimism and change. The panel will take place on Thursday, April 5, at 10:30AM.

Will you be there? Tweet @PhotoPhilan hashtag #12NTCSIIP

Help us change the world, one photo at a time.

PhotoPhilanthropy interviews photographer, Josh Meltzer, about his ongoing projects.

Josh won last year’s PhotoPhilanthropy Activist Award, and has some great insight as a

photographer collaborating with a non-profit. If you are a photographer thinking about 

working with a non-profit, or a student looking to learn the ropes as a photojournalist,

you should definitely check out this video and listen to the wise words of Josh Meltzer.

Thanks to Alena Shure for editing the video.

Photo by MScott Brauer

Photo by M. Scott Brauer on behalf of the Pfrang Association. 

See the full photo essay that was submitted to the 2010 PhotoPhilanthropy Activist Awards HERE.

For the month of March, Katya Andresen is hosting a nonprofit blog carnival on her non-profit marketing blog. What’s a blog carnival, you ask? A blog carnival means that bloggers come together to respond to a theme. The theme this month on Katya’s blog is “Picture This.” Katya explains her choice for this month’s theme: “I feel we don’t do enough to pair great visuals with our stories.” She is encouraging bloggers to share their favorite pictures, infographics, videos or tips on how mission-driven organizations can better show the impact of their work with images.

At PhotoPhilanthropy we help non-profit organizations harness the undeniable power of visual images to drive action. We have amazing examples of photographers who have helped non-profit organizations around the world tell their stories and drive their missions, and we are submitting one of those examples for the blog carnival.

For Katya’s blog carnival, we’d like to share one of our most brilliant success stories. Those of you who follow PhotoPhilanthropy have likely seen James Morgan’s images before, but for those of you who are new to the scene, you’re in for a treat. James has used photography and video to help the World Wildlife Fund drive its mission and get its message out to the world.

James was a finalist for the 2010 PhotoPhilanthropy Activist Awards. He has since continued to work with the World Wildlife Fund, and he submitted a new photo-essay to the 2011 Activist Awards.

Background Story: The “coral triangle,” an area of nearly 2.3 million square miles of ocean across all, or parts of, the seas of six countries in the Indo-Pacific, is currently only really known to politicians, marine biologists and industry professionals. Jame’s role is to put a human face on it and to show the people whose lives are intricately tied up with the oceans and depend directly on its continued abundance. James chose to work with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as they understand the humanitarian and cultural side of conservation.

James began the story living with the Bajau Laut, a group of sea nomads, who took him in, taught him to speak Indonesian and how to free dive to fifty feet on a single breath of air in order to photograph them hunting with handmade spear guns. The story will continue as the WWF has pledged to give him a very considerable budget in order to set up a communications department with the sole purpose of continuing to get indigenous voices from the coral triangle into mainstream media and conservation forums.

To see James’s 2010 photo-essay click here.

To see James’s 2011 photo-essay click here.

HERE IS A VIDEO BY JAMES MORGAN, WHICH IS AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE

OF THE POWER OF VISUAL IMAGERY TO DRIVE ACTION FOR SOCIAL CHANGE:

A LONG-TERM AFFAIR – My Photo-Documentation of Bread & Roses

By Peter Merts

I’ve been photographing the work of Bread & Roses – a non-profit organization based near my home – for over 10 years.

There were two things that compelled me to start this endeavor:

1.    On several occasions I witnessed firsthand the heartwarming work Bread & Roses was doing, and thought to myself “This is amazing stuff; more people need to see what is happening here! Someone needs to document this!” Although at that time I was not a photographer, that ‘someone’ was me. It was the urge to document the work of this organization that compelled me to take up photography.

2.     The second factor was my realization that the essence of Bread & Roses is not easily expressed with words. I wanted to help the organization more effectively communicate its core message.

Let me illustrate the second point: In their mission statement, Bread & Roses explains that they are “dedicated to uplifting the human spirit by providing free, live, quality entertainment to people who live in institutions or are otherwise isolated from society.” One of their goals with the performances is to “enrich the soul and promote wellness through the healing power of the performing arts.”

That’s a bit of a mouthful, as well as being a fairly clinical and generic description. Usually, when I say this to someone I get back a rather blank, vague stare. There is no instant recognition, no clear visual image that pops up for the listener, no “Aha!” But when someone sees a photograph of a Bread & Roses show, they get it, and the recognition is clear, immediate and visceral.

So I set myself the task of explaining the work of this organization in images – the isolation and immobility of the institutional residents, the earnestness of the performers, the appreciation and gratitude from the audiences — and capturing, as so often happens, that special moment of magic that occurs when there is a direct, open-hearted connection between a performer and an audience member.

You might well ask, “Has it taken you 10 years to tell this story?” The answer is that the story must continue to be told. As powerful as images are, they have a limited shelf life – they grow stale. The newsletters, slideshows, grant proposals, and publicity/fundraising materials that Bread & Roses continually produces must contain fresh imagery in order to retain the enthusiasm of existing supporters, and to finally win over that financial angel who has been on the fence during the last three fundraising campaigns.

I have noted with mock irony, while packing up my cameras, lights, umbrellas, cables, and battery packs — long after the singer with her acoustic guitar, or the puppeteer with his furry family, has packed up and headed home: “Isn’t it interesting that I have so much more gear than the performer… but I’m so much less entertaining!” But the staff at Bread & Roses constantly reminds me of the value of my contributions, and I am honored and humbled to state that, notwithstanding the amazingly talented entertainers who perform for them, time and time again, I have been more than once designated their Volunteer of the Year.