When looking back, I remember how I was so nervous about living in a foreign country that I almost backed out. I am so glad I didn’t actually go through with that decision because that would’ve been my biggest regret. I went on the SCO in Rome trip the summer of 2016 and I had the time of my life! Would I have ever expected to be the president of Shoot4Change New York two years later or the abundance of opportunities that came from this trip? No, never. Not in a million years.
Our study abroad program involved working with a non-profit organization named Shoot4Change. Shoot4Change is comprised of both professional and amateur photographers, journalists, artists and others who want to share their passion for social change. Shoot4Change gives a voice to those who may have lost theirs’ due certain circumstances. The organization's goal is to get people to view social photography in a new light and cover stories that mainstream media fails to report. As a volunteer network, we use social platforms and visual communication tools to raise awareness on local social issues through the engagement of the community. Our main goal was to create an international campaign and raise awareness about the Shoot4Change team. The class was divided into two sections, RTVF and public relations. Fitting to my field of study, I was a part of the public relations team. As a group, we established a proposal and final campaign with an evaluation. We combed through their social media, website and composed other materials that would be beneficial for the organization to use. Our time was both spent in the classroom, going to on-site interviews, seeing the conflicts first hand and of course touring the beautiful country of Italy!
We had the opportunity to visit the city of L’Aquila which was struck by an earthquake around nine years ago and the city is still in ruins. The government was doing very little to make the conditions livable. We also were able to visit a refugee shelter that is based out of a church. As a group, we were able to speak with victims and see of what their everyday life consists. After witnessing these situations, our passion for the organization increased tremendously. Well, at least I know mine did. That’s when I came up with the idea that we should start a Shoot4Change club at Hofstra. This would increase awareness and add to the organization’s demographics. Unfortunately, when we brought our excitement to Hofstra they turned down our idea of another photojournalism club. It was understandable, but our mission was different. We took matters into our own hands and made sure our goals were not crushed. We started meeting as a group every other week to brainstorm ideas to impact our local community.
That’s when the idea of putting together a photojournalism panel came to mind. It originally started off as one panel then it evolved into a full day conference with multiple guest speakers. We had no clue how this would turn out or if anyone would even show up but we were so ecstatic with the turnout. We had panelists such as Greg Marinovich, James Estrin, Benedicte Desrus, Antonio Amendola, Max Pelagatti and the Shoot4Change team from Italy.
Each panel related to the main theme of how photojournalism is evolving due to modern technologies and raising awareness for social change. Some of the topics were pertaining to the refugee issues, how traditional photojournalism has changed due to advancements and how social media has altered the field.
I had the honor to help organize the conference with Randy, the program director, and the rest of the team as well as produce one of the panels. I produced the panel titled “Docuhumanitarianism” which discussed how photojournalists today bridge the gap of traditional and modern photojournalism and how social media and advanced technologies influenced this shift. I also interned for the organization and created the Shoot4change New York website.
Although I have only been a part of shoot4change for less than two years, it has impacted my life greatly. It has changed my perspective of life completely and helped prioritize many things for me. Being able to hear these moving stories and seeing devastation first hand always pulls at your heart strings. I have always been involved in volunteer work and passionate about helping others, but because this is connected to media, I became super passionate instantaneously. I am so glad I had the opportunity to be a part of the conference and meet amazing individuals who radiate with passion for photojournalism and social change. Everyone was so humble and willing to share their story or knowledge. One of the many things I took away from the conference was something Antonio Amendola said, that statement was “You’re not going to change the world with your one photo, but that one photo will change your world.”