Giving Back a Treasure: Providing portraits to impoverished families
To give family portraits to impoverished families in communities in India and Peru who do not have means or access to photography services.
ASSIGNMENT:
Many photographers document the realities of poverty throughout the world, and as a professional in public health, I have done my share. It is often impossible, logistically and financially, to give copies of images back to those who are photographed. When I have been able to bring back a picture, I've seen it become a treasured item within households that would otherwise have no means to document their loved ones.
My dream assignment is to return to communities where I have worked and photograph families – in portraiture, as they want to be photographed. While part of this assignment is respectfully photographing people living in extreme vulnerability, the key point of it is to use the funds provided to give quality prints back to those who would otherwise not have the means to obtain them. Whereas funds exist for a wide range of photography activities to capture landscapes, document culture, and understand health – there is no resource for photographers to simply GIVE BACK to the populations that they document.
LOGISTICS:
Specifically, I will focus the project in urban and rural areas in two countries where I have previously worked. Each area presents unique photographic challenges due to remoteness, expense, and extreme vulnerabilities of the communities.
In India, I will photograph families in the sprawling slum communities of south Delhi, where parents work as rickshaw drivers and sellers of roadside goods in order to provide for their homes nestled together beside open sewer and industrial waste. In Sidhburi, a village in India’s Himalayas, I will photograph refugees from Tibet living alongside Indians displaced from Kashmir. In Peru, I will photograph families living in young towns clustered in the dry sand dunes surrounding Lima. These include the well-known and established Villa El Salvador community and the relatively new settlement of Pachacutec. Finally, in the flooded Amazon region of Peru, I will photograph remote villages reachable only by tiny boat, where families sleep in elevated huts to protect themselves from the constant changes in ebb and flow of the riverbank.
This assignment will create a collection of photographs that showcase a wide range of people in ways that reflect our differences and similarities. In addition, I hope that it will promote the idea the photographers are not people who capture one’s soul and then disappear – but are generous artists who, when they can, give back a little of what they take.
62 Comments
Also, take a photo printer =)
You have my vote please go and vote for me.
Good idea! I voted for you!
Your vote will help others. Please vote for everyone who vote for you. What goes around, comes around! Cast your bread upon the waters and it will return ten-fold. Good luck!
I really like your idea! Good luck! If you get a chance, visit my idea and pic it if you like it :) http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/srebeccan/children-of-redemption/
Interesting idea! You got my vote...check my idea out and vote for me too! Good luck!
Always thinking into help others! You have my vote!!! Go Go!!!
Nice idea!
I LOVE IT!!!!
Best of luck :-)! Fantastic idea!
What a wonderful way to help others! :)
This is a *great* idea! I'm behind you 100%.
Holly,
Great idea! Good luck with the contest. I will forward your email here in Bangladesh to who I can, as there are many folks that have lived/worked in India and certainly those working in development here would see the benefits of this project. YOU CAN DO IT! :)
With you all the way! Come back to India and stay with me :)
Good one!
This is an amazing idea!
I agree! When I travel overseas I bring a polaroid camera because many families don't have pictures of themselves or their children. Even though I am also "competing" - you absolutely have my vote for such a heartfelt idea. Good luck!
This is a fantastic idea!! And if I know you, it will happen. Go for it!
This is a worthy idea. I really would like to see it happen. Good luck. I voted for this. Please consider my ideas as well. Pass around the good Karma.
FINALLY... a realistic idea!! AND, you seem to "get" the power dynamic in photography. You've got my vote!
Best of luck
With love and hopes that you can share your amazing talent
Good luck, Holly!
LOVE IT! Good luck!!
super hosh strikes again!
Glad to see people follow thier dreams !!!
good luck
Proud to be the 100th vote, I heard about this contest through someone from the rock camp for girls, and I gotta say I'm super impressed with this dream of yours and I wish you the best of luck. Hope you get more votes!!
Good luck to you and your dream, and may God be with you. Excellent idea, I hope you can carry this dream out to the fullest. You have my vote.
hugs and good luck!
Nice cast!
Good luck, Holly!
Good Luck!!!
Good luck Holly! Everyone knows that I will always support you in whatever you choose to do.
Holly - Wonderful project - wishing you the best of luck from a NNSY guy your Dad calls the Learned Counsel.
Dave
I Like the project
Holly if anyone deserves this you do.
Hey I'm the 120th vote! Go HA Go! Love you lots, Mom
Holly - love your photography dream assignment! We know how well you bond and ultimately teach all the people you encounter. What a wonderful way to give a lasting memory to treasure. xo Katherine
Good Luck Holly!!!
Love it!
This is a wonderful idea and I support your endeavor. Good luck with it; I hope you find a way to do it even if you don't win this particular grant!
Unite against the “network” that is scheming votes. Support ideas that are “lost” due to unworthy ideas using low tactics. “Insulin” is not the best idea. Something is wrong here and many fantastic ideas are getting lost due to the “network.” If you like my idea on “Vanishing Cultures,” vote for it.
Very cool. Please, check me out too when you've got the time.
Best of luck! (friend of Nancy's)
Go Holly! -Katie Galie
Go Holly Ann Go! I am always MOST impressed by your initiative and integrity to do what is the right thing. Your sincere desire to help others is an honorable goal and makes me very proud.
Love you,
Dad
I love this idea! check out mine and Pic it if youd like! Congo here I come...
Wonderful Idea.....beautiful pics!! Best of luck!!!!
Good luck! I also checked out your website - Ellen and Blake's wedding pictures are wonderful. -Carrie (Roxanne's sister)
Nice job!
Best wishes Holly...Pat A.K.A. Gigi
thanks, like it,certainly some good ideas getting lost in the mix amongst all this computer network votes..and if you like mine,about orhpans in USA and Africa, please return the vote!
Tibet and tibetans is the perfect assignment!!!
my dream is there too, return the vote if you like it!
Good luck, Holly.
Go Holly!
Stacy Owings
What a wonderful idea, Holly! Such a priceless gift to give to others who otherwise would never have such a treasure! I do hope your dream is chosen.
Your adoptive grandma,
Shirley Shore
Awesome idea with a lot of heart, experience and thought. Good luck to you!
yay! holly. i know you can do it xoxo miss shell
Good luck Holly! ~Sarah
You have my vote, If you get the chance, check out my dream "From Australia With Love" and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE vote for it!
Thanks.
-Adam
You have my vote
Great idea. I also work in India and also CCS alumni-view my page on the CCS community Daniel Lalande.
I hope you get picked. Anyway, continue your good work.
Sincerely Daniel
Yes! This is exactly what I want to do as well! I hope you do this even if you don't win. I plan on doing mine anyway. This is a service than can create memories for thousands, and I hope you choose to do it.
Best of luck, friend.