Today we are shutting down the print buying storefront after raising almost 10K for the people of Haiti.
I want to extend my sincere thanks and gratitude to the many folks who helped turn this into a wonderful adventure!
And a special shout out to Glen and Gabe at Color Services for their huge contribution, without whom this whole thing would not have been possible.
Thank you!
Greg Lawler
Prints for Haiti recently passed the $8,000 mark and we decided that it was time to send what we’ve raised thus far to Direct Relief International and the Red Cross.
Today we had the honor and pleasure of giving the first $5,000 check to DRI in Goleta.
I would like to thank the amazing PFH team, Color Services, all the photographers and buyers who made this possible! Also a special thank you to Brooks Institute and Career Education Corporation for their generous matching grant!
Next week we’ll be visiting the Red Cross :)
Last week I was in a Twitter conversation with a few people about Slavery. Jason Markow reminded me of a TED talk that I found sitting in my podcasts feed, waiting for my viewing. Like most of us I have been to busy to get around to it, to give it the attention it deserved.
It is a recent video of Kevin Bales discussing the issues of Human Trafficking – modern day Slavery. It’s rather profound. The term “Slavery” has so many meanings to our ears, and “Human Trafficking” is getting more press, finally, but it’s easy to let them be another set of buzz words… like the word “Haiti” likely is now.
Haiti was originally a slave colony, in case you didn’t know. And yes, there is still quite a bit of slavery carrying on post-earthquake. Kevin Bales’ talk gives a right-now perspective on the current state of Slavery world-wide. Astounding and hopefully it will give one more piece of the complex problems that come with recovery:
A huge thanks to Photographer/Brooks Institute Faculty/ Speaker/Author Chris Orwig for his recent post on Prints For Haiti. Chris’s approach to the craft of visual storytelling is one of more refreshing, lively, and simply awesome I know.
I first “met” Chris though his Photoshop CS3 tutorials on Lynda.com. I was just getting my toes wet, stepping into the photography pool and Chris’ instruction moved me from hesitation to diving right in. Within a year, Greg Lawler and I were talking about Lynda.com and I had one of those, “Oh, wait… Chris is a close friend, isn’t he?” moments. Chris’ captures of heroes and legends in surfing speak loud with class. Every time I stroll through his work, I can feel the itch for saltwater, wax, and storytelling. Not to mention he has some outstanding, candid interviews that accompany his photography.
You can read how he got connected with Prints For Haiti here: http://www.chrisorwig.com/flipside/2010/04/10/prints-for-haiti/
Renowned Santa Barbara photographer and author, Ralph Clevenger, has donated several of his beautiful nature photography to PFH.
Ralph is a revered mentor and teacher at Brooks Institute and continues to inspire generations of photographers the world over.
To see more of Ralphs photos and a link to his book “Photographing Nature” head on over to http://www.RalphClevenger.com
Lion Gaze by Ralph Clevenger
Amy Postle’s photography explores the ideologies of womanhood and the secret lives and fantasies of women. We’re thrilled to have Amy and her insanely beautiful work on board PFH. Take some time to gaze upon this fresh batch of submissions into the PFH gallery. You can also see more of her work at amypostle.com.
Renowned, award winning photographer Norm Clasen has donated five of his beautiful images to Prints for Haiti. Each of the photos will be available in a limited edition of only three.
One of the many rewarding aspects of this fund raising effort has been the amazing people that I have met along the way. Norm is one of those people! He called my cell out of the blue, introduced himself and asked how he could contribute to Prints for Haiti!
Thanks for the support Norm and thanks to all of you for supporting PFH – now go get your prints before they sell out :)
Ghost Herd by Norm Clasen
As I was getting ready to turn off the TV after watching the latest episode of LOST, I accidentally switched over to the local PBS station. Turns out Frontline was broadcasting their latest episode about drama on an island – Hispaniola – half of which makes up the country of Haiti.
The first part of the report is raw, hard-to-watch footage of amateur video during the initial earthquake and then Frontline’s crew canvassing Port-Au-Prince and the surrounding area. It is the kind of thing you watch because you need to, not necessarily because you want to. It’s the death, the suffering, the amputations, the fighting for food, for water, the failures of everybody in delivering aid in that first week. It’s the stuff we have forgotten. It reminded me why PrintsforHaiti.com was started in the first place.
As much as it is a humble reminder, the report gives some insight into what lay ahead through the rebuilding of a country, given the right tools, and taking the right kinds of risk and innovation.
Take the time to watch, you won’t be disappointed:
Today, I saw on the Twitterfeed a link to a blog post by Capt. Tom Negus, commander of the Bataan Amphibious Relief Mission in which he breaks down the data on a graph detailing relief supplies in Haiti since the day of the Earthquake over two months ago. The graph has a huge spike then trickles down to nothing after February 20th. If I read things correctly, that drop off is because NGO’s picked up the work, leaving the U.S. Navy to take care of other issues.
Granted, it made me think of what I wrote a month ago about how we move so fast in this culture that by now, most of us don’t give much thought to Haiti. If we are honest, most of us never did until it was nearly destroyed. I imagine the same is true of Chile. This isn’t a guilt trip. This is just me admitting how much I’ve been preoccupied with too many other things that Haiti hasn’t entered my mind. But then there is that graph. And there is this picture by Jeremy Cowart on his Haiti relief page called Voices of Haiti, Day 16 in which man his holding a folded piece of paper with the words in French, ”You learn to walk by falling.” This is from a series of photos Jeremy took while in Haiti, a series in which each of the people photographed wrote what they wanted to say on whatever was closest at hand as he snapped the shot.
Prints For Haiti is just one of the many ways people are creatively still trying to help. To modernize Donne, “No Site is an Island.”
Gabe Cano from Specialty Color Services just texed over some iphone images of the first batch of Prints for Haiti orders coming off the printers!
Many thanks to SCS and all of you who have donated money by ordering some amazing artwork!
It was a month ago today that Haiti was throttled by an earthquake. Earlier this week, I was talking with someone about the whole situation, about how it is in our human nature to react, respond… and then move on.
Months from now there will be some other crisis in the world that will take our stunned gaze and Haiti will be a small-font headline in the bottom of any-newspage.com. It’s the hope that Prints For Haiti will still be a generative, creative source for Haitian relief, and reconstruction.
As I look over all the images available, and will be available from so many outstanding photographic artists, I think how this must be one of the simpler, clearer examples of how Art can re-humanize us. From the one behind the lens, to the one who buys a prints, to the aid worker that is on the ground to the Haitian who gets food, or a bed, or water – every one receives a bit of their humanity back.
I have a background as a Backcountry First-Responder and have managed various medical evacuations in remote locations, not to mention time spent alongside surgeons in ORs assisting in cancer procedures. So, whenever a catastrophic event shows up on the global radar, there is a wrenching part of me that wants to jump on a plane and dive into the chaos and help. But that’s not as easy as it looks, and most of the time just not practical. So, when Greg Lawler and Specialty Color Services launched this project, I wanted in. Something in me said, “A-ha. This makes sense to me, gives traction to the desire to do something.” And though I sometimes I feel I am in the company of giants – as I see the names of people involved, donating work, getting the word out – I am grateful to be a part of something bigger than myself for a need bigger than any of us can imagine.
On March 12th, we will be looking at two months since the ‘Quake. On April 12th, three months. And so time goes on. May it be that as those markers tick by, and prints are bought, money is donated, that Haiti increasingly comes from out of the darkness of the rubble and desolation into the light of newer days… and you, me, and anyone who wants to can be a part of that.
Photo by Shelton Muller
Thanks to a blurb in the current issue of the Santa Barbara Independent, the Prints for Haiti amount raised jumped to almost $6,000 yesterday!
Thanks to Devon Claire Flannery and the Independent staff for the support!
View the article online here or download the article as a PDF.
World renowned photographer Joyce Tenneson has donated a signed print to Prints for Haiti!
The print, entitled “Suzanne, 1986″ is a stunning and iconic portrait printed on 16×20 fiber paper and was signed by Joyce in Santa Barbara on February 6th 2010.
Brian Mundy interviewed Gabe Cano from Specialty Color Services about what we are doing with Prints for Haiti and posted a link to the PFH site!
The segment is at the beginning of a great interview with Guy Kawasaki about social media marketing.
Listen to the DIMA podcast here…
Thanks for the interview Brian!
WOAH! Brooks Institute just made a $5,000 matching grant! Every dollar we raise on http://printsforhaiti.com will be matched up to 5K!
Now when you buy a $100 print, $200 goes towards the rebuilding efforts in Haiti!
Local Santa Barbara photographer, Paul Liebhardt has graciously donated prints of his iconic 1971 photograph of a young Mohammed Ali to Prints for Haiti!
You can see more of Paul’s photos in the Prints for Haiti Gallery Store.
Our friends Glynn Lavender and Shelton Muller have joined our list of contributors making Prints for Haiti now an international effort. Glynn and Shelton are based out of Melbourne, Australia and together run a very unique business called Creative Photo Workshops. They’re both great guys and have donated some incredible work to Prints for Haiti. Take a second to see their work on the PFH Gallery.
Photo by Glynn Lavender
Tad Wagner has designed a sweet poster for the Prints for Haiti project.
Below is a screen res version and you can download a high res PDF for printing here.
Yay, Prints for Haiti has launched with some awesome photos – all proceeds go to the Red Cross and Direct Relief International.
Spread the word!