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Community Photography Outreach

Community Photography Outreach is a project based non-profit organization collecting and disseminating used cameras and photgraphic equipment to worthy non-profit photography programs around the world. We are working in partnership with ForwardFocus.org, a non-profit organization utilizing the power of visual imagery and the written word to support and encourage grassroots nonprofit initiatives dedicated to fostering social and environmental change, and the Santa Fe Digital Darkroom Photography Workshops. Together we aim to provide a collaborative forum that combine education, adventure, and creative purpose to celebrate what people are doing to create a better world, supporting and encouraging acts of connection, compassion and contribution, i.e. creating works that matter.

We look for organizations that are, or want to, utilize the power of photography as a tool to promote positive change. We are committed to expanding the impact of photography by exposing under-represented voices, visions, and perspectives to the photographic medium.

Historically the global perspective recorded through the photographic image has often been limited to that of the economically advantaged. From fine art to commercial, documentary to editorial, almost every photographic image is an expression of a perspective defined by a certain socio-economic class. It is our goal at Community Photography Outreach to ensure that the perspectives of all populations-marginalized or otherwise- are represented through the photographic image, by creating greater access to equipment and materials. Thus creating a greater awareness and understanding of the issues and challenges facing society as a whole.

We support local, national and international community non-profit organizations, which provide youth or other marginalized populations with the postive, supportive environment that fosters the development of skills in the art of photography, and provides a medium for empowerment and self-expression.

CURRENT PROJECT:

Santa Fe Community Closet

We are currently collecting photography equipment and supplies for a community based lending closet.

Got a project and need some equipment?
Writing grants can be long and arduous process. We would love to lend you our equipment to assist you in fullfilling your project goals for the duration of your project.
Please contact us for application guidelines.

The goal of this projects is to provide individuals, organizations and small groups access to cameras and other photographic equipment for project based programs. We would like to help you help give others a chance to discover their creative potential through photography.


PROJECTS WE SUPPORT::

The Santa Fe Boys & Girls Club: Photography Program

This program created the Reality from the Barrio book project, a social documentary honored in the PDN Photography Annual 2003-The Best Photos of the Year. This project was inspired by a traditional wet darkroom photography program that Leslie Alsheimer developed and directed in partnership with the Santa Fe Boys & Girls Club's gang diversion program. The book became a thesis project for Leslie's master's degree in social work. Books and DVD's are available for purchase in our on-line Store. Also available a 6 minute audio visual presentation available for Free Download in our Shop Books and Tutorial Manuals page under FREE TIPS.

Reality from the Barrio is a powerful collage of photographs and prose about life as seen through the eyes of native Santa Fe youth. It is a celebration of family, culture and community through rites of passage, and the pain and love of every day living. This book offers a glimpse into the hope and potential for change that can emerge in communities where marginalized populations are afforded legitimate means of expression.

"When we are no longer afraid to see things as they truly are, we can possibly bridge the gap between worlds that seldom meet and often misinterpret one another. The more we listen to and validate all cultures, the more capable we may become of resolving conflict and celebrating the beauty in diversity. Reality from the Barrio hints at the kind of artistic expression that might issue forth if ever such programs were adequately funded in our schools and communities."

Empowerment International, Nicaragua Photography Program


Photo by
Elvis Colochan

"Our vision is to enable every child to go to school and achieve the level of education they desire."

Empowerment International is lookiong for your used camers to build a program for children in Granada, Nicaragua. These young people are already doing Amazing work!

PROGRAMS IN NEED:

Al-Rowwad: Images for Life a community-based photography and video project in Aida Refugee Camp in Palestine trying to provide a "safe" and healthy environment to help children creativity and discharge of stress in the war conditions they are forced to live in.

… because we believe that the images are a powerful tool for change and a beautiful means of resistance.


Shooting with cameras from a Palestinian refugee camp


The first project of its kind in Palestine, 'Images for Life' is a two-year program giving professional film and photography training to forty locals in Aida refugee camp, Bethlehem. 'Images for Life' is a window of creative opportunity in a community where unemployment is sky-high, living conditions are cramped and seperation wall and military incursions are a brutal reality. With your support, 'Images for Life' will be able to continue and expand, enabling more local people to use art to tell their stories in a non-violent struggle against the injustices they face.

see clip of the project on http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=LfWgFAEGVGU
(or put Palestine photography as keyword)

Images for Life is giving the Palestinian people a chance to tell their stories to their families, communities, and world.  This is the first photography and video training center in a refugee camp in Palestine, and its appeal has drawn participants not only from the camp, but also from surrounding villages, Jerusalem, and even as far as Hebron. 

In an area of the world where so much of the media is focused on violence and conflict in the region, this project puts cameras in the hands of local people.  They are given the opportunity to show the world through their own eyes.

The group is now in the middle of the training portion of the program.  They then plan to use their professional training to make a collective work.  Altogether, the project will last two years with the hope it will encourage similar training centers in other communities.

The photo group is very active. In June, we finished preparing the dark room (possibly the only darkroom for youth in Palestine) and we participated to a competition called "the colors of my city". The group meets at least twice a week to develop their technics and look at the pictures they took during the week. In September, we plan to have a photo exhibition on their lives stories, and we will be preparing a book from December on.

Images for Life is currently looking for other partners in this project, such as professionals who can offer workshops or their expertise, training materials, equipment, and continued funding. The youth group is also interested in establishing exchanges with other film and photography groups internationally. For more information, to volunteer, to partner with us or to make donations, please contact imagesforlife@gmail.com

We live in a news culture that presents the most traumatic and tragic sound bites of world events from one catastrophe to the next. It is easy to become overwhelmed by desensitization, fear and disempowerment and withdraw. Those who stay engaged often do so in the form of polarized political or intellectual debate.

How Can You Help?

We collect and disseminate donated cameras and equipment to worthy organizations and programs in need. Have old cameras? Old iMacs? We can put them to good use! Film & digital cameras, digital & darkroom equipment needed! Your donations are critical to the success of Community Photography Outreach.

 

Forward Focus
Workshops with Creative Purpose:

Who We Are
ForwardFocus Workshops are a pioneering series of nonprofit educational journeys for experienced and emerging photographers and writers who want to cover developmental, environmental, and relief efforts worldwide. Through intensive instruction and hands-on participation, the Workshops provide an opportunity to complete a body of work, to contribute in a meaningful way to projects that make a difference, and to embark on a profound adventure of personal discovery and cultural exchange.

Forward Focus Workshops

Mission
Forward Focus Workshops utilize the power of visual imagery and the written word to support and encourage grassroots nonprofit initiatives dedicated to fostering social and environmental change. The Workshops provide a collaborate forum that combines
education, adventure, and creative purpose to celebrate and promote acts of compassion, connection, and contribution.

HOW IT WORKS

Forward Focus wants to help the helpers. We work with NGO's by hosting volunteer-vacation photography workshops where photographers are guided to combine adventure with philanthropy while learning digital photography techniques in the field.  We believe that by bringing our gifts and our talents—whether web design, photography, writing, labor, or money—and by pooling our efforts with projects already in place, we can become giants with our efforts.
Working with ForwardFocus’s experienced instructors—including veterans of the prestigious Santa Fe and Maine Photographic Workshops—small groups of 8 or fewer participants will embark on an intensive creative journey. The emphasis will be on shooting, and for those interested in publishing their work, reporting. We’ll spend most days in the field photographing NGOs at work in our host communities, and  combine that experiential learning with sessions in PhotoShop, how best to approach subjects.

PILOT WORKSHOPS
Many of the most exciting and meaningful conservation, development, and relief projects underway today are taking place on the continent of Africa. Beginning in fall 2007, we will launch several workshops in Uganda and Tanzania. 
In Tanzania, the focus is conservation: Participants will embark on a remote, luxurious safari with Corbett Bishop, an American-born guide whose Ol Tukai Conservancy is pioneering grassroots conservation efforts in the villages near Lake Tanganyika.
In Uganda, the focus is development and relief work. Participants will be based on the Nile River.

Workshop: Photographing Uganda & its People
Small Group Exclusive!
Ask us for details!

We at Forward Focus: Workshops with Creative Purpose & Community Photography Outreach believe art has the power to inspire, move, create new understandings, perspectives, as well as to motivate action and change on a personal and global basis. Personal stories and images appeal to the heart as well as the intellect and are therefore able to transcend political, social, and economic beliefs and boundaries.

OUR BACKGROUND:

Leslie Alsheimer is the director of the
Santa Fe Digital Darkroom Photography Workshops, which provide professional and customized photography workshops in exotic locations around the globe. She believes in using photography to help empower others to find their own creative voice and vision. She was the creative director of the book Reality from the Barrio, a social documentary honored in the PDN Photography Annual 2003: The Best Photos of the Year. Inspired by a traditional wet darkroom photography program that Leslie developed for a non-profit's gang diversion program, the book became a thesis project for Leslie's master's degree in social work.
Elizabeth Hightower is the literary editor of Outside Magazine, North America’s premiere environmental and adventure magazine. A native of Nashville, Tennessee, living in Santa Fe, Elizabeth worked at several national magazines, including National Geographic; her own articles and book reviews have appeared in Outside, The New York Times Book Review, Play: the New York Times Sports Magazine, Preservation, Organic Style, and The Washington Post. Developing the reporting and writing aspects of ForwardFocus Workshops, she is eager to help writers and photographers turn their adventures into meaningful, publishable stories that can gain valuable exposure for the nonprofits they document.

OBJECTIVES:
-to provide an online clearinghouse to link photographers with projects and nonprofits fostering social or environmental change
-to hire local college students to serve as guides, liaisons, and to learn technology
-to give back to projects materially: donate cameras, photographs, write brochures, etc.


 

HOW CAN YOU HELP?As a non-profit organization, we rely on foundations, sponsors and individual donors. Your donations are critical to the success of this program.Forward Focus: Workshops with Creative Purpose & Community Photography Outreach operate in partnership with Santa Fe Digital Darkroom Workshops and the non-profit organization Santa Fe Council for the Arts. These organizations have come together to build on our shared vision. Please join us in giving the gift of photography!


PLEASE SEND YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS TO:
Photography Outreach or Forward Focus
c/o Leslie Alsheimer
551 W. Cordova Rd. Suite 155
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505

Make a Donation


MAKE YOUR CHECK PAYABLE TO:
Photography Outreach Projects: SFCA Inc.

Or for more infomation e-mail:

Outreach
outreach@santafefdigitaldarkroom.com