Photography driven by social change. Social change driven by photography.

You may or may not remember that a little while ago I did a bit of amateur photojournalism for a site called PhotoPhilathropy.org... it is a pretty neat site and I love the idea of using visual evidence to promote social welfare action-- this is precisely what I hope some of my photos will do some day. The whole idea is that you enter a series of photos on behalf of a non-profit organization to explain what they do to the rest of the world. The photography people entered here is absolutely astounding! They received 219 essays, and this amazing collection of images really show the global reach of photography and the incredible efforts made my non-profits all over the world to better the lives of others. My work pales in comparison-- it truly does not belong up there! But I love it-- if I could travel the world and do free photography for non-profits [with a better camera and some skill past "point-and-shoot"], I would in a heart beat. Here is the address to my submission: http://photophilanthropy.org/slideshow/gallery_brittansmith.html

I recently got an email saying that they had looked through the submissions for their Activist Awards and I got an Honorable Mention in their student category. Awesome. I definitely didn't expect that, so I am pretty happy. 

Anywho, my work will be displayed later this month in San Francisco [now that is pretty cool!]. It is a shame I wont be there to see it! But if anyone is in the Bay Area, feel free to take a gander. This is what they sent me in the email:

On January 28, 2010 we will be celebrating the winning works at the First Annual PhotoPhilanthropy Activist Awards Night. We are honored to share these transformational stories brought to us by talented photographers and their chosen non-profit organizations. Each photo essay will be presented with original pieces of music inspired by the work, the music has been composed specifically for this event by a collective of Bay Area musicians as a celebration of both sound, vision and the human spirit.