"The camera is an excuse to be someplace you otherwise don’t belong. It gives (one) both a point of connection, and a point of separation. "
- Susan Maiselas, photographer
"I speak of journeys because of course we are all of us on a journey ourselves. The comparison of life to a road is a very ancient one, and you and I are travelers along that road whether we think of it that way or not, traveling from the unknown into the known..... Travel can be a very unmasking experience, bringing us suddenly face to face with ourselves---as when we are gazing out of a train window at the endless line of telegraph poles whipping by, and we find that part of what we are looking at is our own reflection"
- Frederick Buechner, Magnificent Defeat
For years I have been using my camera as a tool for connection to light, color, shadow, eyes. Likewise, I use it as a tool for separation to gain objectivity, composition, distance. However, it has become a tool for access and exposure; I am launching the concept of Photophilanthropy, using photography to recognize the amazing work being done in the non-profit community to address need, and also rewarding and encouraging those who use photography for philanthropic purpose.
My work has brought me into contact with amazing people working daily to address great humanitarian needs, in refugee camps, in AIDS clinics, in inner-city public schools, in the slums of Kampala. I have been privileged to add my small piece of the puzzle to the great effort of people helping people to counter difficulty and challenge. –Nancy Farese, March, 2009