A different kind of picture

It is easy to get depressed by the news (intractable problems, inscrutable wars, a failing healthcare system). It’s also easy to escape it completely (my vices = Gossip Girl, Grey’s Anatomy, Mad Men). But where do we go to understand the challenges facing the world right now, without feeling paralyzed by them?

One answer is to focus on individual stories. When you look at an issue through the lens of a single life, you get a different kind of picture. You get depth, and humor, and inspiration as well as education about the issues of our time.

There are a lot of people making incredible work like this; work that introduces us to each other. It’s the positive side of globalization. You can meet people from anywhere, just by looking around.

You’ve got On Being, from the Washington Post, which is a section of the online edition that presents poignant, nuanced interviews with all sorts of people about all sorts of human dilemmas and experiences.



There is 6 Billion Others, a project created by French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand, which displays 5,000 interviews conducted with people all around the world. The interviews were built on forty questions like, What have you learnt from your parents? What do you want to pass on to your children? What difficult circumstances have you been through? and What does love mean to you?

I believe it is this kind of conversation that builds the strong communities that allow people to live better lives. So I really enjoy these projects on a lot of levels. It’s fun to hear people talk, and it’s fun to think about a lot of people all listening to each other.

PhotoPhilanthropy is doing this kind of work by focusing on one organization at a time. A lot of people are doing a lot of incredible work to create change on all different scales, from building one-on-one relationships to creating massive networks of social services. We need to hear those stories! What’s working? What isn’t? Who needs more help? What can we do for each other?

The photo essays that are available to see at www.photophilanthropy.org tell remarkable stories. From a prison arts program in California to an opera house’s outreach program in Belgium to the Global Fund for Children in Peru, people have created organizations all over the world to build stronger communities.

This is a moment when all sorts of people are reaching out to help others. Sometimes those “others” are halfway around the world, sometimes they are all the way around the corner. But it’s exciting to see all the great work being done right now. Get inspired. Take a look! And let us know your thoughts.

Comment below or email eliza@photophilanthropy.org