PICTURE A CHANGE

It all begins with an inspiration, then an idea.

   For the majority of my youth, I got into more trouble than I should have. Growing up in Oakland was like being in a fishbowl - I only saw what was around me and knew little about the outside world. I got accustomed to losing people around me to gang violence or poor life decisions; This inspired to capture more memories with the people that were still around because tomorrow was never promised. The saying feels more and more real each day when I look back at my old photos and videos and see that many are not here today.

When I took my first photo, I knew, it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I am extremely grateful that I was able to turn my life around through photography, sometimes wondering if I would still be here without it. Because of this, I wanted to give back to the kids in my city by teaching photography, hoping it might help them see more possibilities in their world. I was blessed to have the opportunity to work at an afterschool program in Oakland, where I created a curriculum and taught photography to over 300 students. My friend Adrian saw the impact that photography had brought to my life and pitched the idea to do the same in other parts of the world -This is how Picture a Change was created.

MISSION

We believe that a picture can make a change, no matter how big or small. Our mission for Picture a Change is to create a platform for marginalized communities to tell their stories, and to explore the positive aspects of the human spirit. Each country has its own segment focusing on unique solutions, but all stories share a common theme: The resilience of the human spirit and its desire to live in a better world. 
For our first project in 2013, we chose Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, known mostly for its beautiful beaches, but also as the second most dangerous place in the world at the time. We started fundraising and were able to buy a bunch of camera gear for the project, which were all eventually donated to the communities where we taught. Projects like this are quite sensitive; a lot of people take more than they give, and this was one problem we wanted to address as part of our mission. One thing we both believed in was being with the community - we didn’t want to be those people that came, put a camera in peoples faces, and just leave. Instead we did our best to integrate with the community by living where we worked; this not only helped people open up to us, but also let us meet amazing individuals while learning about the different cultures. We worked and stayed in the favelas of Rocinha for a month. We were able to teach at a community center where they believed in trading guns for tools to create art. With this project, we were able to find photographers from the area to continue teaching after we left. The goal was not to turn each of our students into photographers but to let them know they were capable of becoming whoever they wanted to be and not just what they saw in their environment. We wanted to make our students published photographers, so with the pictures that they took, we hosted a show at the Diego Rivera Gallery in San Francisco, CA, and published a book of their work, where the proceeds went back to their community art center to continue their beautiful work.

For our next project, we wanted to build on the impact of our work in Rio De Janeiro and sustain relationships with the people we worked with. The second leg of our Picture a Change project was called PAC International, where we collaborated with non-profits around the world that were already doing amazing things in their community. We created visual images and short documentaries to tell their stories to a broader audience. We intend to sell this work as a docuseries and half of the proceeds going back to those nonprofits, and the other half to fund future projects with more non-profits around the world. Through this journey, we were able to work in the farms of Nicaragua, townships of South Africa, and the slums of India. More details about PAC International will be available once the video series is ready.

Picture a Change is currently self-funded, with help from friends and family. The Purchase of the (Picture a Change) NFT collection will help us give back to these communities and fund our future projects.