Shoot4Change New York: now it’s official

(ph:Antonio Amendola)

Nasce S4C New York.     Punto. Questa è la notizia.

In realtà c’è molto di più. C’è una persona straordinaria a New York, Yelena Posniak, conosciuta durante questa incredibile esperienza della Marcia Mondiale per la Pace (che ha visto S4C riuscire a coprire gli eventi italiani e quelli di New York e San Francisco e…beh…vedrete); c’è un gruppo di fotografi con tanta voglia di raccontare di quello che succede sulle strade di NY; e c’è una passione in comune. Quella della fotografia sociale e dei nuovi mezzi di comunicazione.

Da oggi Shoot4Change ha davvero varcato l’oceano ed acquista un sapore ancora più globale. Grazie a tutti per sostenerci ogni giorno con dei bellissimi messaggi e con le vostre foto splendide.

Grazie a Yelena per il suo entusiasmo e per la lettera che ho appena ricevuto e che volentieri pubblico qui. E’ un omaggio a tutti coloro che credono di poter cambiare il mondo anche con una semplice fotografia…

Antonio Amendola/S4C

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Shoot4Change in NYC

Dear Shoot4Change Team, 
It is with great honor that I welcome the opportunity to extend the Shoot4Change initiative to New York City. 

For the past few weeks, I have been assigned to work on the World March NYC Press/Photo Editing team. I set nightly reviewing photos and felt drawn to the images captured by Shoot4Change.  When I contacted Antonio Amendola to find out a caption for some of the photos, what I found on the other side of our world was more then I expected. 

It turned out, that Shoot4Change was an initiative created by Antonio, which inspires to change the world one photo at a time.   I began to work with Antonio and as days went by and the World March was entering US, we were in dire need of photographers in SF/NY.  

This is where I saw the impact of photographers working together for a common cause, there was something special about S4C and the enthusiasm of everyone involved. 

Suddenly I found myself speaking with pro photographers who were willing to donate their time and help us photograph the World March.  

One of the photographs that worked with us in NY, was Alessandro Barteletti, who was visiting NY on vacation and chose to come out on a cold, rainy day to help us.  When I met Alessandro, there was an instant connection we had due to S4C, the global effects of this initiative were truly felt on that day.   

There seems to be a general appreciation that S4C photographer carry for one another.    This type of teamwork creates a compelling story and the end result of the photographs is beyond incredible. 

The goal of S4C is to support a cause, to give a voice to those that can not speak and tell their stories.  I saw this message clear when I worked on the photos for WM.  
In New York City, I’ve been involved with different initiative related to social justice.  

I have also witnessed the events of 9/11 and the beauty and horrors of humanity on that day.  We are a city of every culture, religion and social class.  From the corrupt streets of Wall Streets, to those homeless men and women that are laying on the pavement of City Hall.  We have it all, yet so many citizens  lack the basic needs for a decent life.   By bringing the initiative of S4C to NY, we, the photographers take a responsibility to document and tell the stories of these people.  

Perhaps if we walked one day in the shoes of Muslim man who lives in NYC and deals with racial profiling daily, we would gain a greater respect and understanding for that religion.   

These are just a few reasons for extending my hand to the S4C team in Italy,   Mahatma Ghandi said “be the change you want to see in the world” and we at S4C are capable of achieving that with our photos.

Thank you and I hope this will be a life long journey of impacting the world and to newfound friendships.

yelena

(Yelena can be reached on y.posniak@shoot4change.net )

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