2009 photography contest underway

The 2009 photo contest started last weekend when 40 volunteers helped more than 200 hundred participants pick up official Hope in Shadows cameras!

Launching the annual contest is always exciting. The theme this year is a popular one, “the heart of the community,” and everyone seems to have their own idea of what it could mean. Voices start to rise as the contestants share ideas of what the heart of THEIR community is.

One of the volunteers, Sarah Allan, is an intern with Pivot this summer: “Hope in Shadows allows people … to represent themselves and their community, their friends and their families, the way they see it, through their lens.” [read more here]

The main camera handout was at the Interurban Gallery where the first contestant arrived with her folding chair at 8:30 a.m. An hour later we arrived and more than 100 hopeful participants had already joined her. At the same time we were preparing to distribute cameras to the VANDU Womyn’s Group and at Oppenheimer Park.

Now in its seventh year, Hope in Shadows is also able to distribute additional cameras through community groups, including the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre and the Motivation Empowerment and Achievement Society. We’re happy to have the resources and partnerships to do this kind of community outreach because it encourages inclusivity.

Visiting German photographer Nick Grossman has taken a series of photographs of the handout.

You can see a sneak preview of the top 40 photos in a few weeks, and we’ll ask your opinion about what photos you’d like to see in the 2010 calendar. We’ll email you more details in July.

View photo essay of the handout on June 6 by Nick Grossmann

View us on Flickr, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

In preparation for a new Hope in Shadows website, we have put all the top 40 photos from 2003-2008 on the Flickr website. We hope that the format of linking people to and from Flickr will attract more people to our website. This Web 2.0 way of using external websites is done to help promote the Hope in Shadows project. You can also join our Hope in Shadows Facebook group and follow us on Twitter.

Hope in Shadows book reading

Vancouver, April 21, 2009 – The Vancouver Public Library and Hope in Shadows are co-sponsoring a book reading of the award-winning Hope in Shadows book at the central library, West Georgia Street, Vancouver on Tuesday, May 5 at 7 p.m. - 8:15 p.m. more information, (pdf 900 KB)

The event will feature at least five of the photographers whose pictures and stories are featured in the book. Hope in Shadows, Stories and Photographs of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside was published in April 2008 and won the City of Vancouver Book Award in October.

The Hope in Shadows book was based on stories and photographs from the first five years of the Hope in Shadows photography contest, held every year where 200 cameras are handed out to local residents of the Downtown Eastside.

Hope in Shadows book editors nominated for B.C. Book Prize

Vancouver, March 12, 2009 – Editors Brad Cran and Gillian Jerome have been nominated for the B.C. Book Prize: Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize to recognize the authors of the book that contributes most to the enjoyment and understanding of British Columbia. [more]

Hope in Shadows in Chinese

Vancouver, March 6, 2009 - The 2008 Hope in Shadows exhibition is hanging in public again, but with a whole new potential audience - Vancouver's large Chinese-speaking population. [more]

Students win $5,000 for Hope in Shadows

February 24, 2009 - Four high school students from St. John's School in Kitsilano, Vancouver won $5,000 for Hope in Shadows in a contest looking at local Vancouver non-profits. [more]

2009 calendar success

February 3, 2009 - Despite progressively worse media stories of economic crisis, Hope in Shadows calendar street sellers managed to increase their profits by an amazing 140 percent over last year. [more]

Thank you retailers!

A portrait within a portrait

December 10, 2008 - When Garvin Snider first heard that Pivot Legal Society was giving away disposable cameras to Downtown Eastside residents for the Hope in Shadows photo contest, he thought it was a bad idea that was doomed to fail. [more]

Indoor sales opportunities for women

December 10, 2008 - Hope in Shadows has set up a new program to support female calendar sellers. [more]

More articles about Hope in Shadows here!