I believe most of us want to help others. I also believe we often fail to act because we don’t know how to help.
People say, “I can’t swing a hammer, build Habitat houses. I’m not a doctor who can travel to faraway countries and offer medical expertise.”
This may be true, but you can use your camera—a powerful tool for good—to help others in your community.
There are many ways to make others’ lives better using your photography. In the process, you will enrich your life.
Opportunity to do good exists everywhere. As with everything in life, we can choose to see obstacles that stop us or hurdles to overcome.
Photographs have helped humanity through the ages, opening the eyes of the world to atrocities or human needs.
There was a time when “seeing was believing.” Real documentary images were powerful evidence to validate injustices and make the plight of fellow humans real and personal.
Haunting photographs of Hitler’s Holocaust and poverty in rural America during the Depression as documented by Farm Security Administration photographers are examples of pictures making a difference and stirring people into action.
But photographs do not have to be shocking or made in times of crisis to change lives and have an impact.
Here are a few ways you can use your photography to enrich the lives of others and give your life more meaning:
- Photograph seniors in nursing homes as keepsakes for their families. This helps an individual feel valued. Portraits validate us.
- Document a person’s final days. Not long ago, that was taboo. But society finally realized how valuable photographing our last days can be. There are organizations that specialize in hospice photography. Sign up to volunteer. For sound guidelines, see www.nextavenue.org/hospice-photography-legacy-families.
- Listen with a camera. People need to be seen and heard. Never underestimate the healing power of listening to someone while making their picture. This can be medicine for both subject and photographer. Take a look at the Humans of New York project, www.humansofnewyork.com.
- Teach a class for children or young adults looking for purpose and direction. Don’t worry that someone will know more than you. Someone always does. You know things they do not. Put pride aside and learn together.
- Mentor students interested in photography. You might change a life.
- Document historical sites for posterity. Keep an archive with dates and times.When your town changes, those who follow will be thankful you kept visual records.
- Help with projects that bring awareness. My wife, who has a compassionate heart for refugees, recently completed a project, “We the People”—a series of 25 large portraits of Northeast Ohio residents who are refugees from various countries. The project was sponsored by Kent State’s Global Understanding Research Initiative. Each photo tells a story in that refugee’s own words, and invites viewers to see the world through their eyes.
- Make free portraits for those who cannot afford them, especially during the holidays.
- After disasters, volunteer to document people’s belongings, copy family photos and make portraits at no charge.
Photographer Trent Bell wanted to give prisoners a voice and created an amazing body of work, “The Reflect Project: Portraits of Prisoners.”
If you want see compassion with a camera in action, look at a project called Help-Portrait by Jeremy Cowart.