Photo Illustration and Being Kind

So a couple weeks ago in my photo illustration class, we were given an assignment to photography "abuse". We could pick any kind of abuse. I chose BULLYING.

I'm sure we've all seen it happen. In my mind, bullying happens as much from neglect in noticing people who are beaten down by words and action than anything conscience we do. I was able to go down to the Vegas Valley and had a group of student volunteers to help me. My idea was to use two images for each concept: one with the problems that build up, the second showing someone being kind. There is a foundation that has permeated the Clark County school district in the best way possible. The Josh Stevens Foundation is an organization started in honor of Josh, who passed away a month before his 13th birthday. (Go to the link above to read more about Josh!) The idea of this foundation is to reward kids who are caught doing genuinely kind things. Their motto:  

BE KIND!

So here's what I got during that shoot!

 

Just a little additional explanation: to me, the words that we're called get stored up. So I wanted to have the locker filled with the things that are sometimes said without thought. The students wrote all sorts of stuff on white paper and I used their hand writing. So they were definitely more than just models!

 

How often have you not done something kind because you thought people would think you were stupid? (Others as well as the person you may want to do something kind for) Moments I will never forget are those  when I do something in spite of nagging worries and the person tells me "I needed that today". This set was one I did with that in mind.

 

The other half of this one didn't quite work out (I couldn't quite catch the right moment... the kids did awesome!) I think the idea in this one is a little more straight forward, but it featured our one guy who came. 

A last thanks to everyone that helped make the shoot happen and everyone go visit the Josh Stevens Foundation. (There. I linked you twice. No reason to not go check it out now!)

I hope this is a movement that makes it nationwide.