human trafficking – Promoting Passion

Promoting Passion Week 61: Birthday Reflections

brookeshaden — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 15:17:28 +0000

Last week was my birthday. I love birthdays. It is a chance to celebrate someone when, so often, we fail to do so. To be honest my husband and I don’t celebrate birthdays much. We say that we celebrate each other all the time, so there is no real need. But nonetheless, I love birthdays because of how reflective they make us. We think about our lives in terms of years, and we often find a way to define a certain year of our lives. For example, when I think of being 21, I think of it as a huge, life-changing age. I got married, graduated from college, moved across the country, and discovered photography. Big year! When I think of 26, I think of how I bought my first home. When I think of 16, I think about meeting the love of my life.

But aside from reflecting on the things we’ve done, it is a chance to start anew. It is a chance to evaluate if you really are the person you want to be, or if you need to change something. For me, there is always something to change. The only question is what I am going to change. I spent the last year of my life changing course. I stopped doing a lot of the things I had done before – business and personal – and laid the foundation for a new life. This year, I am living it. Year 28 will be one of discovering my dreams. Dreaming bigger. Dreaming in my own way. Letting dreams define me.

I emailed someone the other day about a big project I’m working on. His response was “This is an absolutely crazy idea”. And that made my heart soar with joy. “Yes,” I thought, “that is the kind of life I want to live.”

Getting older means learning lessons. It means failing miserably. It means succeeding wildly. It means changing perspective on life. And this is what it has meant to me:

1. Failing is winning for those willing to try hard.

2. Life cannot be quantified in years. If I died right now, I will have lived the best life possible. This I can say with absolute confidence and love.

3. I would rather be crazy than boring. After all, I am the only one I can count on to entertain myself.

4. Not everything will work out, because if it did, we wouldn’t be able to see the gems through the dust.

5. There is never an excuse for boredom.

6. Being present in all that you do means you will never feel like life has passed you by.

7. Being genuine will get you farther than attempting to please people.

8. When you refuse to compromise your beliefs, you attract like-minded people into your life.

9. If you treat failure like an old friend, he will always be there to help you back up when he knocks you down.

10. Kindness should never be dependent on someone else’s actions.

11. Fears are friends wearing masks. Get close enough to see the face of fear.

12. Give your love without need for reciprocation. Receive love like you deserve it.

13. The words “best” and “worst” should never be used to describe someone. We will only look foolish when we are proved wrong.

14. Tell someone why you love them.

15. Live your life to make someone else’s life better.

16. Look forward to each day you grow older. The alternative is death.

17. If you build a community, take care of that community.

18. Dream as though it will happen.

What I have learned this past year can be summed up in these words: Love wholly. Give repeatedly. Create selfishly. Challenge yourself regularly. Live beautifully.

Goodnight, 27.

Good morning, 28.

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If you would like to send along a birthday gift (trust me, this is not a crazy narcissist sentence…) you can donate to the Fibromyalgia awareness campaign I have running, create an image with a butterfly to raise awareness, or join me on May 9 for the Caterpillar Walk. Alternately, you can donate photo equipment for the photography school I am starting in India for survivors of human trafficking – The Light Space. Signing up for the new After Dark conference will help donate to the school. Or simply check out my Giving Back page for ways to get involved.

Equipment Donation for Photo School in India

brookeshaden — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 19:17:07 +0000

As many of you know, I travel to Kolkata, India each year to work with survivors of human trafficking and abuse. I teach photography and storytelling in an effort to show how we are all connected by the stories we share. This year, I am taking this one step further by opening a photography training program. Last year I asked for your help in raising money for the program, and we raised about $20,000 to start the school. This has proved to be enough to run the school for one full year.

We have made great leaps forward during my last trip there and are almost ready to open the doors to the first class of 15 students. I am partnered with Blossomy, the amazing organization that I work through in India, as well as New Light, an organization in Kolkata to help survivors of human trafficking. The partnerships are in place, a location is rented, a curriculum has been set, we are securing the main instructors, and we will open doors officially in October 2015. Now it is time to fill the space…”The Light Space”, to be exact…a play on our partner organization’s name, New Light, and referencing the safe space that these individuals will have to create in.

We are looking for donations to run the school, as using our limited budget for equipment would deplete it quickly, and we need that money to go toward payment of instructors and rental fees.

What we need (any brands, new or used!):

DSLR Cameras
Lenses
Batteries/Chargers
Memory Cards
Tripods
Camera Bags
Laptops/Chargers

If you would like to donate, email me for an address.

My assistant will be gathering the equipment. This address expires in May, so please ship donations before MAY 2015. I will be sending HUGE THANK YOUs to everyone involved. And really, truly, thank you for aiding in the fight against human trafficking and for your generosity. Even if you cannot give anything at this time, thank you for reading and for spreading the word. You are light.

For any questions regarding donations, you can contact me through my website at:

www.brookeshaden.com/contact

Dress Sale for School in India

brookeshaden — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 15:58:08 +0000

Two things happened this week.

1) I realized I had way too many dresses compared to the amount of closet space (case in point, the trunk of my car has become extra storage).

2) I realized I could raise a little more money for the school I’m helping to create in India (watch the video about it below!) if I sold some of those dresses.

VIEW THE COSTUMES ON EBAY!

If you’d like to bid on any of these, all money is going to the school and I would be so appreciative. And my husband would be too, because he would like possession of the closet space back.

If anyone else has a costume or prop that you’d like to sell for the charity, you can link to your Ebay below so others can find it. That’d be super awesome! The school needs all the help it can get. Or if you’d care to make a private donation, email me through my website and I can give you all the info for non-profit donations.

New Exhibitions for March

brookeshaden — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 14:46:33 +0000

I have some new exhibitions opening in the month of March and I wanted to share in case you can make it. I will be attending one of them (boo! wish I could go to each!) and if you do go, snap some pics for me!

Art Gallery AFK: Staging and Revelation, Group Show
Lisbon, Portugal
March 7-April 12

This show is going to be an absolute delight, this I already know…and I’m definitely not talking about my own work, but the work of so many artists that I adore, like Daria Endresen. I wish I could go…I’d be totally starstruck!!!

Harrington Street Arts Centre: IF I COULD FLY
Kolkata, India
March 7-12

Completely near to my heart, this is, finally, the exhibition of the pictures I shot in India last year featuring the women from the shelter home benefiting survivors of human trafficking. Also featured are the self-portraits the women did to tell their own stories through art. I will be attending this exhibition and doing a live self-portrait demo as well.

The Project Room, Group Show
Chicago, IL
March 1-31

I’ve had my work in The Project Room for the last year and now we’re collaborating on a group show for the month of March. I really love this gallery and I wish I could be there in person! I have two pieces represented there and I hope you enjoy them!

Promoting Passion Video Blog: Photography School for Survivors of Human Trafficking

brookeshaden — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 15:14:44 +0000

I know that I can’t say in so many words what the video already does, but let me give this a short try. My life was changed last year when I visited Kolkata, India. I taught photography to survivors of human trafficking with emphasis on storytelling and confidence. We did self-portraiture and learned about the importance of finding your own voice and using art to tell it. After that experience I felt something was missing, and with the beautiful idea from Dave Junion in partnership with Blossomy.org, we decided to take it one step further:

A self-sustaining photography school free for survivors of human trafficking.

This is where we hope to have your help and support. The incredible photo community is one of a kind and I believe that if everyone donated just one dollar, the could fund this project. I am so hopeful, nervous to ask, humbled, and eager to see this project off the ground. So many emotions running through my body…so I’ll leave it there. I’ll let the campaign page say it all.

And if we do nothing else today, let’s promote passion in our own lives and in the lives of others.

Donate to the
Photography School for Survivors of Human Trafficking