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February Staff Pick Award

2013-02-07T12:49:03+00:00

Join us in celebrating January's Staff Pick Award for Ben Hodson's gallery, "Peace for Luton". In an effort to bridge a divide forged in his local community and begin a more peaceful dialogue, Ben utilized his craft as a visual peacemaker to share a story. Ben traveled with his camera to Iraq to document Kurdish artists' valiant efforts to use their art as a means for peace in a war riddled area. We see in his photo gallery that Ben himself joins the artists' efforts by painting a message for his local community that is also at odds for similar reasons. May your project accomplish its admirable mission, Ben, and may Luton be changed for the better. Here's to your work as a visual peacemaker! Enjoy your new BlackRapid Strap!

View the gallery here.

Ben's Profile

Upload your work! We want to promote your stories & give away another Blackrapid strap!

American Stories ROAD TRIP + Film

2012-08-05T11:39:23+00:00

Over the past three years, more than 60,000 people have engaged with A Peace of My Mind, a photographic project that asks us to consider the common humanity that we all share - to look for the human goodness that is all around.

It is with a great deal of excitement (and the natural dose of anxiety that comes with tackling an ambitious plan), that I would like to announce the next phase of this project: A Peace of My Mind - American Stories.

Over the next 18 months, I will organize a series of road trips across the country, gathering content for a new exhibit, a new book - and this time - the raw material for a feature-length documentary film.

In each community, I will partner with local organizations, present public programming, share A Peace of My Mind, and produce new interviews. Plans are taking shape, and there will be more news in the weeks and months ahead.

There are funding sources to find, logistics to coordinate, places to go and people to meet. To learn more, follow this link.

If looking back is any indication of what lies ahead, this is going to be an interesting ride. I invite you to come along and see what we discover. With peace and gratitude.

John Noltner, A Peace of My Mind

email: john@apeaceofmymind.net
web: http://www.apeaceofmymind.net

June Staff Pick Award

2012-06-16T12:57:35+00:00

We’re happy to announce the Staff Pick Award is going to Joe Murray’s photo gallery, “Portraits”. In his gallery, Joe shares with us images of men, women, and children in various everyday circumstances. Working well with the light and color available, Joe caught our attention as spectators and drew us into the unique story of each individual photographed. This is truly a gallery in which a visual peacemaker has demonstrated the beauty present in ordinary moments. Above all, it’s clear that Joe had a rapport with his subjects, adding to his reputation as a peaceful visual communicator. Congratulations, Joe! May you enjoy your new BlackRapid R Strap!

View the gallery here.

Joe's Profile

Upload your work for July & August! We want to promote your stories & give away another Blackrapid strap!

IGVP is now on Flickr!

2012-05-30T15:15:51+00:00

From IGVP Representative, David Galalis.

IGVP is now on Flickr! You can see our photostream here, which will be used to highlight exemplars of visual peacemaking from within the Visual Peacemaker Community.

IGVP is also moderating a public Flickr group, "Visual Peacemaking," which is open to all who create strong works of visual peace. The purpose of this group is primarily outreach -- to let the wider photographic community know that there is a new way to do photography in a world dominated by cultural preconception and sensationalist narratives. If you see great works of visual peace on Flickr, invite their creators to submit their works to the group. And in the meantime, submit some of your own, so that we can build a vibrant repository of visual peace for others to see and emulate.

Hussain & His Father
preemptivelove.org/blog

Thank you Preemptive Love Coalition for contributing to the Visual Peacemaking public Flikr group.

Now it's your turn to contribute!

The ONE-SHOT Project in 2012

2012-03-16T09:37:45+00:00

The ONE-SHOT Project is creating new visual communicators who will be able to present their own culture, show the challenges of their society, create awareness of their situation through multimedia, and advocate for peace.

The ONE-SHOT Project works through a series of “ONE-SHOT Workshops”, supporting organizations, groups, and schools that are already working with children in need. ONE-SHOT identifies talented children, and provides them with education and vocational opportunities, through the teaching of photographic, documentary, and story-telling skills. These skills can provide students with a profession they can use for their whole lives.

In 2012 we will be running four workshops in Sulaymaniyah, northern Iraq. These include workshops for a group at the local girl’s orphanage, a group at the local boy’s orphanage, a group of street kids at the city’s bazaar, and a group of refugee children.

Our current gear needs are:
-20 point and shoot cameras
-15 DSLR camera bodies with lenses
-memory cards

If you’ve upgraded your gear, please consider putting your older camera into the hands of Iraqi children, so they too will gain the experience of “making a difference.” When these young people receive your camera and/or lens, they will know that someone beyond their borders cares enough to give them something special. They’ll be able to experience firsthand somebody believing in them. That is powerful.

Please contact cameras@theoneshotproject.com to determine a shipping location most convenient for you.

The ONE-SHOT Project operates under the umbrella of Millennium Relief and Development, (MRDS). Please stop by The ONE-SHOT Project website if you’re interested in learning more about providing student scholarships or volunteering as a guest instructor.

The ONE-SHOT Project founder and humanitarian photographer Heber Vega(@hebervega), already does amazing work with his MRDS staff that live on site in Iraq. Now, with the help of IGVP Cameras 4 Kids and your donated camera, we can empower Iraqi children!

New Year’s offer! Standard Membership - Free R-Strap

2012-01-09T08:05:26+00:00

Happy New Year! To ring in the new year, IGVP is offering a limited time gift for the first 12 people to upgrade to a-- Standard Annual membership in 2012. The first 12 people to upgrade their memberships will receive a Classic RS-4 Strap from BlackRapid, valued at $53.95! With an annual membership of only $50 you receive 25% off Craft & Vision eBooks, discounts from Guild member offerings, ability to upload unlimited photo stories, and much more. With the special limited time offer of the RS-4 strap, you'll get over $200 value for only $50! Upgrade your membership now, this offer won't last long.

COMMENTS Now Enabled!

2011-12-27T14:54:09+00:00

Cheers! We can now comment on each others' work here on the site. Let's increase our community connections and offer one another both positive feedback and respectful, constructive critique.

Commenting gives us the opportunity to talk to each other while keeping our work--and effective Visual Peacemaking---at the forefront of the conversation. Of course, some conversations can digress away from the work and lead to new ideas for personal projects or collaborations between our members… hint, hint. This can also be a place for each photographer to answer any questions viewers might have for them.

Below all IGVP galleries, photo stories and documentaries you will see in all-caps & in blue text +COMMENTS. Simply click this to expand the commenting functionality. You can report inappropriate comments via our contact form. And show support for comments you appreciate by "liking" them.

Clicking a second time collapses the comments. Comments are collapsed by default so that the design and presentation of content maintains its integrity.

When you comment be sure to click on "subscribe by email" so that you can follow up on the conversation.

We hope you see how something as simple as this addition can reap large rewards once we begin talking to each other. You may even want to revisit a gallery or documentary you've seen before but couldn't comment on previously. Go for it!

November Staff Pick Award

2011-12-07T14:17:02+00:00

We’re happy to announce November’s Staff Pick Award is going to David Galalis’ (@davidgalalis) photo story, “Food Vendors of Zuccotti Park”. In his gallery, David wanders through Zuccotti Park during the infamous demonstration, “Occupy Wall Street”. As Galalis looked around with his camera, he was intentional and saught an angle not yet explored by popular media. Galalis shares the alternative story. In his gallery, David highlights the thoughts of vendors who have been in the park since before the demonstration began, and he shares their perspective in the midst of the change in business. The IGVP staff raises a glass to David Galalis’ efforts to use his camera to encourage peaceful accountability. This is truly a story in which a community member shows compassion for people who may tend to be passed over by other visual communicators.

Upload your work for future Staff Pick Awards. We want to promote your stories.

IGVP co-founder interviewed by Paul Giguere

2011-10-04T11:50:45+00:00

Click Below to Listen. Hear about IGVP's history, what is visual peacemaking, what it is not, why we do it, and a brief vision for the future of IGVP.

August Staff Pick Award

2011-09-06T16:40:38+00:00

Congratulations to Lydia O'Neil Bullock (@lydiabullock), winner of August's Staff Pick Award, $50 cash prize and Blackrapid camera strap. Lydia's photo story 30 Days of Forgiveness gives us an inside look into individual Iraqi stories during the recent Islamic Holy Month of Ramadan.

View her photostory here.

Lydia's Profile

Follow her on Twitter

Upload your work for September. We want to promote your stories. We will be giving away another $50 and a Blackrapid strap.