So you want to change the world with your Leica

["BIRKEY, DUANE" <dbirkey@hcjb.org.ec>]

So, you want to change the world with your Leica.   There are lot's of 
ways and places you can do that.

But, don't expect to make money at it.  In fact you can get involved 
with many organizations if you're willing to pay for your own expenses 
and that includes in some cases, film and processing.  I'm the 
photographer for a missions agency and raise all of my own modest 
living expenses through gifts from Churches and individuals.  (Tax 
deductible donations may be sent to..............)

You can volunteer your services to many a church, school, fire 
department, animal shelter, local park district, community center, soup 
kitchen, homeless shelter,  habitat for humanity housing groups, 
nursing home, nature foundation/reserve, historical society, the list 
of non-profit organizations is quite long. 

A couple of things to remember,  I would recommend you volunteer with 
an organization you believe in and are willing to support with your 
time and need be finances.  If you could care less about whether 
homeless people eat or feel that the reason people are starving around 
the world  is because they are too lazy to work for a living,  
well....... I wouldn't recommend you volunteer at a  homeless shelter 
or relief agency. 

Be honest about your abilities.   Before volunteering, put together a 
small portfolio of images that relate to the particular organization 
you would like to help.  We've had volunteers pass through here that, 
to put it nicely, had no clue about the level of their abilities.  That 
is frustrating to non-profit organizations especially if there is 
substantial time investment involved and if they are footing the bill 
for expenses.  One guy felt he could shoot everything at 1/30th and 
1/60th to be able to stop down to f/16 for maximum sharpness.  It 
wouldn't have been so bad except he was on a 3 week trip to Euro-Asia 
and we have three binders of useless images.  Another couldn't shoot 
studio family portraits to save his life and yet another fainted in the 
operating room much to the dismay of the medical staff..  

Don't make promises you can't or won't deliver.  We had a "quote" 
photographer come through Quito that claimed to be working for National 
Geographic and managed to bump me from getting on flight to a 
significant evangelical event in the Jungle.  She switched stories 
mid-way through to claim she was photographing for our organization.   
When the people involved found out she wasn't with us, they refused to 
grant  her any interviews or do translation as they were furious she 
had lied to get a story.  Needless to say we've never seen the photos 
and from eye-witness accounts she wasn't a photographer anyhow.   

It's hard to judge how much difference in the world your photos can 
make.  In many cases it's the photographer who undergoes the most 
change.  I spent two weeks in Cuba that caused many changes in my life. 


Pretty or dramatic pictures without effective words or stories that 
involve the listener and invoke emotion just doesn't cause much change 
anymore.  People are so desensitized to many of the world's problems 
and some shots have become so stereotypical that it just bounces off.  
It has to move from impersonal to become personal.  My Ecuador book 
project is stalled until I can write in enough depth in a non 
stereotypical way to make it worthwhile.   

People need to see how they can become involved.   The trend in 
evangelical missions is work teams.  They are small groups of people 
from a local church who spend a week or two helping build a church, 
paint buildings, do medical work, give dramas etc. in countries all 
around the world.  In reality, the work and ministry they achieve for 
the expense involved is way out of proportion.  But, the changes it 
causes to many of the individuals view of the world and human needs is 
incredible because it gets them out of the church pew into the world.   


In Ted's case he need to find an organization that wants to work with 
the medical needs around Chernobyl.  There are more doctors who would 
go to help and people who would give if they can be put in contact with 
such an organization.   We have Christian doctors, specialists and 
surgeons who come for a week, a month, a year to work in our hospitals 
and clinics in Ecuador.   If people don't know how they can help in a 
far off place, they won't help at all.

Some of you will never be able to change the world.  You may not even 
want to volunteer to work for an organization,  you might just want to 
teach a kid about photography and show him how to develop a roll of 
film and open his eyes to the world around him.  I had a teacher who 
did that for me and I've never been the same since.  I have that 
opportunity myself this spring as I'm teaching 10 Latin students 
photography.  

There are some people, for whatever reason,  who have no desire to 
volunteer to do any kind of service or give in any way.  If you are 
unfortunate enough to try to convince them to, you will become 
frustrated, some people just don't care.

With a bit of effort, anybody can make a difference.  Sorry this is 
drifting a bit off subject.

Duane Birkey
HCJB World Radio
Quito Ecuador