Changing worlds with photography.

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My name is Ben Blankenship, and I have recently been selected by Photographers Without Borders to travel to Uganda to work with the NGO, The Uganda Village Project, in my capacity as a photojournalist in July of 2018. Photographers Without Borders is a registered non-profit organization in Canada that works with volunteer photojournalists to document and promote the work of non-profit organizations all over the world.

About the Uganda Village Project:

The Uganda Village Project, also a registered non-profit, works directly with remote Ugandan villages to facilitate community health and well-being in rural Uganda. They accomplish this by facilitating improved access, education, and disease prevention. As the vast majority of Ugandans live in rural areas with little to no access to electricity or clean drinking water, this work is incredibly important in raising awareness about how to prevent and reduce the occurrence of HIV/AIDS, diarrheal diseases, complications of childbirth and mortality from malaria. Additionally, the Project provides opportunities for women who suffer from the condition known as obstetric fistula to receive corrective surgery, thus bringing health and strength back to their bodies and insuring them the ability to remain in community with their friends and family.

How We Help:

The Uganda Village Project is a non-profit organization, and much of their funding comes from private donations. Therefore, it is crucial that their incredibly important work receives proper publicity to attract future donors. My primary function while working in Uganda will be to create compelling images illustrating the incredibly challenging but important work that the Project does every day. These images will be used by the Uganda Village Project on their own website as well as in other educational publications to hopefully inspire people to donate and volunteer with the Uganda Village Project.

I will be working directly with Uganda Village Project staff, traveling to several villages where they are working, documenting their day to day tasks and providing an opportunity for members of these communities to express their thoughts about the importance of the Project. By donating to this project, you will be directly helping the Uganda Village Project get their message out to the rest of the world and continue to offer these crucial health and education resources to some of the most vulnerable Ugandans.

How You Can Help:

Photographers Without Borders is a non-profit organization that works with volunteer photographers to promote and enhance the work of other non-profits around the world. They provide housing and food for the volunteer photographers, as well as insurance and ground transportation. I will provide all my own equipment, software and my air transportation to Uganda. Your contributions here will help defray both the costs that Photographers Without Borders will incur to facilitate this work, as well as the costs that I will incur in providing this work. Your donations are fully tax deductible and will allow me to assist The Uganda Project to continue and expand its important work.

About Me:

I have been a photographer and filmmaker for ten years. My professional life began in television and cinema production, working as an editor, cinematographer, photographer and director on commercial and narrative content. While I greatly enjoyed working in such a fast paced and demanding environment, it became my desire to leave the world of commercial production and apply my skills toward causes committed to improve the world in which we live. Three years ago, I left commercial production behind and I now focus all my energy as a photojournalist to doing what I can to help create a more just and verdant world.

I have recently worked in the United States photographing nature throughout the west and current events such as the political conventions of 2016. I have lived in a Costa Rican jungle and on a Belizean island, trekking, scuba diving, and shooting photography and video of endangered or rare species for a conservation research NGO, The Society for Environmental Exploration. I have traveled throughout Italy, North America, South America, and Central America, but this opportunity to travel to Africa is both challenging and exciting. It is an honor and a privilege to create work that aims to inspire positive action from others so that The Uganda Project can continue and expand its important work. And this trip will certainly expand my horizons and enhance my world experiences, preparing me even now for the next opportunity to serve.

You can see my portfolio of work at my website www.ben-blankenship.com

Every year, our photographers and videographers donate hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of their time to document the work of grassroots initiatives that are making a real change in this world where it is most needed. By capturing, honouring and witnessing humanity at its best, we are not only inspiring many, but we are forging new narratives of what is and what is possible. 

You can help by supporting our photographers and videographers (See the side bar to the right to see fundraisers for our most recent recruits).

Each of our official photographers/videographers is assigned a GroupRev fundraising page by PWB upon acceptance. These pages are a privilege we offer that are intended to make our programs accessible to all and enable our volunteer photographers/videographers to raise their program fees and subsidize or cover these necessary project-related expenses:

• Airfare
• Visa's
• Vaccinations
• Health Insurance
• Travel Insurance

The following expenses are the sole responsibility of the photographer/videographer:

• Privately arranged travel / Equipment & Equipment Insurance / Software / Extra Baggage Fees / Donation perks / Clothing / Postage/Postcard / Prints / Etc.

Photographers Without Borders® (PWB) envisions a world where we all put ourselves in each others' shoes and work together. Our mission is to inform and inspire positive change by visually communicating the ways that grassroots initiatives are addressing problems in their communities. PWB is registered as a charity in the United States with 501(c)(3) status and is registered as a not-for-profit organization in Canada. All donations are calculated in US Dollars and are tax-deductible for Americans and Canadians with US income.

PWB is not responsible for any donations made outside of these pages.

Any overage amounts raised on GroupRev will be donated with the photographers direction, 100% to the Organization, 100% to PWB or split 50/50, between the photographer's/videographer's assigned cause and PWB, which is also a volunteer-run organization.

PLEASE DONATE GENEROUSLY !

Learn more about PWB.

All donations are calculated in US Dollars and are tax-deductible for Americans and Canadians with US income.