India: A cacophonous mixture in Sadar Bazaar
Sadar Bazaar is a virtual gridlock of humanity, erupting in an explosion that impacts all the senses. A cacophonous mixture of hawkers, porters, rickshaw wallahs and traffic-trapped motorists add a sense of urgency and thrill to the mesmerizing turmoil. Aromatic spices of vendors peddling food waft in and out of the congested, overflowing labyrinth of [...]
India: 525 children living in a tiger preserve
In the middle of a tiger preserve, eighty miles from medical facilities, in an area frequented by Maoist terrorists, live 525 orphans and children at risk. They have no electricity and live in mud and straw homes. Yet, Central India Christian Mission provides food and education for them in the best way their current resources [...]
India: Daily life-wheat harvest
Last fall, while traveling throughout India, I hoped to happen upon a woman in a colorful sari working in the lush green of a rice paddy. It did not happen. This spring, on a return trip, wheat was being harvested and I began to wistfully search for a red sari in one of the amazingly [...]
India: Disowned by family
The serenity on her face is evidence of the peace she says is now in her heart. Maya, 21, raised in a Hindu home, chose to follow the teachings of Jesus and express her decision by baptism. But, painful memories of her family’s rejection after her decision are still very close to the surface. In a [...]
India: Rescued from a lifetime of rejection
Neighbors in her rural Madhya Pradesh village of 700 would have nothing to do with Ghansobai. Born with a cleft lip and palate, Ghansobai, 11, was ostracized in her village. Her neighbors blamed her horrible disfigurement on a curse by the gods for sins in a past life. Children were forbidden to play with her. Mothers [...]
India: Creative jumpstart
This most recent trip to India was the first time I really used the iPhone, along with the apps Instagram and Snapseed, to produce images that are worth sharing and archiving. My travel companions @jonsturdevant and @Andrewtuce and I were constantly comparing the images we produced in our downtime. The term we used when scouting [...]
India: Cemetery sunrise on Easter
Sakshi, 8, sprinkles flower petals on her brother’s grave on Easter morning in central India. Four-thirty on Easter Sunday morning, the cool pre-dawn air in the cemetery is infused with the sweet smells of incense and candle smoke. The cacophony of morning traffic and the dry heat of 100+ afternoons is still hours away. Stillness [...]
World: The Begging Conundrum
Begging. It makes us nervous. We squirm. We try to look away. We attempt to ignore. But many places I go in the world I can’t ignore those that are begging. My heart screams to help. My head, in frantic fits of logic tells me why helping is a bad idea. While the poverty is [...]
Hawaii: Teaching Amid the Palms
Vivian and I love being guest teachers in Hawaii, at the University of the Nations in Kona. That’s easy to believe, right? For more than a decade now, we’ve had the opportunity to teach here for one week each January. Ok, it’s an awesome gig spending a week in a tropical paradise, but even if [...]
Pakistan: Persecution covered by CNN
Few people know about the plight of Pakistani Christians. My photos on the persecuted community living there are on CNN’s photo blog. Vivian’s reflections on our experiences are linked on the Belief Blog. Please go to the links below and feel free to comment and share to get the word out. CNN Photo Blog CNN Belief [...]
India: A success story for children
“We’ve found babies in the trash dumps.” “We’ve found babies in the train toilets, on the train tracks.” “We’ve found babies at our doorsteps.” “People leave babies at the hospital sometimes.” “In Hindi, the word orphan means ‘a godless child.’ So we call this place a children’s home. Bal Bhavan (the name of the home) [...]
University of North Carolina: Energized by Students
Vivian and I appreciate photography lovers of of all kinds. We especially love talking with college and university students who are launching their photo careers. This year we’ve spoken at several schools where we’ve had the privilege of reviewing portfolios, and listening to the unique stories that have shaped these students’ path. It’s energizing and [...]
India-Nepal: Four Faiths and a Lot of Questions
Four faiths all leading to the same place? The same end? Can everyone be right? Are there multiple roads to eternity that all join together as they near a place called heaven? Can I do enough good works to merit a place in heaven? What do I really deserve? Is it us vs them…a fight [...]
India-Nepal: Choosing the “right” lenses…at least for me…right now…until next trip!
The combination of lenses I use when I travel is constantly changing. On one trip I will go super light, so light that I, on purpose, don’t look like a pro. Other times I will carry everything from 14mm up to 300 and throw in a tilt shift and an extender just to test airline [...]
India: How can we understand the desperation?
This child is more fortunate than many babies abandoned in India. She and her twin sibling were found in a railway station and immediately rushed to the Mission Hospital run by CICM, Central India Christian Mission. Just two days old in this photo, the twins will become part of the growing family of children given [...]
Home: New Website
A new website is up thanks to the very helpful people at APhotoFolio. They make great sites that look good big…no, HUGE on large monitors. Very nice folks to work with should you need a new site. Check out my new site: www.garyschapman.com
Rwanda: Portraits Under Pressure
Have you ever felt the almost paralyzing fear of realizing you have 5 minutes to pull off a story-telling, engaging portrait and nothing seems to be working in your favor? There is no time to set up the lights you brought, even though you ditched your mantra of “carry-on luggage only” to bring the extra [...]
Rwanda: Farmers of Mbilima
While in Rwanda, working for Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee in Atlanta, I had the privilege of spending time with a group of coffee farmers that were thrilled with their harvest and excited to be working with the Atlanta based company. Before this trip, I knew little about coffee and only occasionally drank it. [...]
Rwanda: Survivors Become Forgivers
Salafina, 29, a survivor of the genocide with the man that killed her family. “I am the only one that remains. They beat me and I am no longer strong. The church started teaching us to forgive each other. He asked forgiveness and I have forgiven him. I can forgive because I am a Christian. [...]
Home: Simplify
Simplify. Throw away. Give away. Sell. And above all…think before buying anything else. This has been our mandate for the last several months. Vivian and I tossed twenty-five full, black garbage bags of prints, transparencies, tear-sheets and photo album pages in the trash. Things once precious had become an anchor. We decided to get [...]
Atlanta: Under the Bridges
Matt Brandon of The Digital Trekker once asked me during an interview if I ever did any humanitarian photographic work in my own backyard, Atlanta. I was stumped. I have traveled days to get to a remote village in many of the 60+ countries I have photographed in. But I have never had an assignment [...]
Home: Drink Coffee. Do Good.
Drink coffee. Do good. This is not just a catchy phrase, but the premise by which Jonathan Golden started Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee Company just north of Atlanta in Roswell. An Anglican priest by vocation, he started a coffee growing business that also fosters healing among warring tribes in Rwanda. Former enemies [...]
Israel: The Art of War
I have only been to Israel once and harbor no pretense of truly understanding the horrors of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in and near Gaza. On a recent trip, I was shown the remains of the more than 6,000 rockets that were launched from Gaza into the Israeli border town of Sderot over [...]
Kenya: Outpouring for Orphan Care
A few days ago I received an email from a friend in Kenya telling of an emergency need for food and hospital care for several orphans. Vivian and I gave some, but knew more would be needed. I decided to share the need via Twitter and Facebook and within hours the immediate emergency need was [...]