200 contest cameras hit the streets
Posted by Hope In Shadows on June 3, 2010
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Waiting for the cameras. The first person, Clyde Wright, pictured here with a volunteer, arrived at 4 a.m. and by the time the doors opened at 10:30 the line stretched right down the block for the 8th annual Hope in Shadows Downtown Eastside Photography Contest on June 1.
Hopeful contestants started to line up at 4 a.m. to get their free contest camera from an enthusiastic group of volunteers on June 1. The contest started at 10:30 a.m. with the distribution of 200 disposable cameras to low-income residents of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. [view Flickr photo essay by Greg Masuda here]
The themes of the 2010 photo contest include several new categories and awards: "Your City Landscape", the Julie Rogers award for "Best Portrait" and "Best Colour Photo." The contest will still feature photographs of the Downtown Eastside as seen by this community's residents. While this category will be exhibited in black and white this is the first time that the contest will also feature photos in colour.
A decision about whether the 2011 calendar will be solely in black and white, or if it will include some colour pics is yet to be made.
Family reunion
This year Hope in Shadows helped reunite Julie Briese with her brother Greg Lesnick after years of separation.
Greg had entered the Hope in Shadows contest in 2007 and took a winning image which was discovered by his family when a nephew entered Greg's name in a Google search. Soon after realizing Greg was in the Downtown Eastside they contacted Hope in Shadows.
Julie, who lives on Vancouver Island, said their family used to live in Ontario and that they had lost touch with Greg several years ago. After contacting the Hope in Shadows office, Project Director Paul Ryan called around several agencies in the Downtown Eastside in search of her brother. Messages were left at several places, but Julie was unable to locate Greg, who was homeless at the time. With the hopes of reconnecting with her brother, Julie came to Vancouver last June and volunteered at the camera handout. But Greg didn't enter the contest that year.
As fate would have it, Greg and Julie met by chance on a street in downtown Vancouver in March this year. Greg was collecting bottles when Julie and her husband Wayne, who were in Vancouver visiting friends, happened to walk past. Greg said he approached Julie saying, "hey lady, I hear that you have been looking for me!" They both said it was amazing and that it felt like they were meeting at home for Christmas. They immediately struck up the relationship they had lost years ago.
On Tuesday both were at the camera handout, Julie as a volunteer and Greg as a contestant. The media was interested in their story and they were interviewed live on CBC Radio 1's B.C. Almanac and featured in the Globe and Mail.
The Photography contest ends Friday with the return of the cameras to the Interurban Gallery between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
