Have you heard of the ShootQ yearly grant for photographers? It’s a $12,000 grant given to a photographer to fund a project that raises public awareness about an important social, environmental or economic issue.
I applied. Can you guess the topic of my application?
Sure you can. Sex trafficking of young girls in Atlanta (and the United States). It was an obvious choice and near to my heart after creating the Voices of the Victims photo series and the short film “Numbers,” along with being involved earlier this year with Street Grace. I used my writing challenge to create captions for each of the 13 images in the series, as well as write a bio and proposal for the application.
Once I spent the time reviewing the images, statistics and videos again, I was even more committed to being involved in ending this tragic reality in our world and city. Say a prayer for me that I’ll be chosen and given the opportunity to raise awareness, as well as reach out and help unleash the true beauty of young girls caught in the web of sexual abuse and exploitation.
Inspired by the application process (and encouraged by a free coupon for an 8×8 photo book from Shutterfly), I decided to put together a book that captured my photo series and some of the thoughts and statistics surrounding the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
Won’t you take a look and let me know your thoughts? We are considering offering these books for sale and using 100% of the profits to help in the fight.
