When You Have the Chance

There is one basic fact that no one understands about photography (including amateur photographers *coughmecoughcough*): your first shot is never your best. Case in point: it took me over 24 hours just to sort and choose the photos for this blog post. Out of the 200 pictures I snagged at McDaniel College Advocacy Team's Night of Nets, only 72 were usable. Out of those, I chose the final 20, a.k.a. the ones I'm posting here. I was there from 8:30 to 11:30 PM, so it took three hours to get 20 photos. But I'm not complaining, because Night of Nets is an amazing cause, and anytime Mara (leader of McDaniel Advocacy Team) asks me to do something, I will do it. I don't care what part of my schedule I have to rearrange. I don't care what I have to miss. If she needs me, I will there.

Simply put, Night of Nets is about malaria. The main purposes are to raise money for bed nets and raise awareness about malaria. Participants sleep outside in tents all night, make t-shirts, give donations to organizations that distribute malaria treatment to the most-affected locations, paint and draw malaria-related posters, and write postcards to spread awareness of malaria. Advocacy Team does this every year. Last year (my freshman year) I was a lot more involved. This year, I couldn't be as involved in preparation (thank you, Allies Affinity House and peer mentor job), but Mara asked me if I wouldn't mind coming out and taking some photos on the big night. And like I said, I can never say no to Mara.

The full photoset will be up on Flickr and Facebook by Monday, but I wanted to post a preview here first. I love these pictures, not because they're mind-blowingly good (they're not--I still have a lot to learn about night photography), but because I love Night of Nets and I love that Mara let me be a part of it again. I can't be in Advocacy Team this semester thanks to a class at the exact same time as the meetings, but that doesn't mean I can't stay involved. And believe me, I will do anything I can to stay involved in something as amazing as Advocacy Team.



The highlights of Night of Nets 2012:

The Human Wrong Campaign

This week, a group at my college is hosting an interactive exhibit about human trafficking called the Human Wrong campaign. They set up a tent-like structure with three different tracks: you could see how child slavery and human trafficking occurs in India, Thailand, or even Baltimore--and that last one seems to shock people the most; a lot of Americans think that human trafficking couldn't possibly happen here--but it does. I could say more, or I could tell you to click on the link, and let the photos speak for themselves:

Yes, you read that right - 27. Freaking. Million. Does knowing that make you feel sick? I know I do...

 The very last room in the display was the worst: It was about a young girl who thought she was going to work at a karaoke bar--but it was really a brothel. There was a bed in this room, set up with heels, a mirror, and a stack of condoms at one end...and a teddy bear and child's blanket at the other. At this point, I honestly felt like crying.

But reading people's reactions to the exhibit actually reaffirmed my faith in humanity:

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (the group that set up the exhibit) also had places for people to write postcards to their senators, get literature, and get awareness-raising temporary tattoos. So if you were feeling angry and ready to do something after the exhibit (and as you can see, most people were), you could do something right then and there.

This was my first time taking photos for any kind of nonprofit organization or campaign...and now that I've done it unofficially, I can't wait to do it officially, it was an amazing experience. This isn't the first time that I've felt like I was making a difference with my work (I've made short videos and that sort of thing for my school's Advocacy Team projects), but every time I do it kind of hits me, all over again, that there really is a giant world out there, and it's full of problems...and it's only when people actually give a damn that things change.

One more time, just in case you missed it, here's the link to the Human Wrong page:
Human Wrong at McDaniel Facebook page

Get involved. Do it. It's worth it. Trust me.