The Giving Lens is an organization that focuses on blending photography education with giving back to local communities. We offer photography workshops in various locations around the globe, where we work alongside local Non-Profit organizations that are doing exceptional work. These workshops are designed and lead by professional photographer and The Giving Lens founder, Colby Brown, who offers a unique and creative learning environment that not only showcases the latest in digital photography techniques but also touches on the importance of lending a helping hand to help make the world a better place for all life on this planet.

We believe that we can make a difference. Photography is a phenomenal art form that not only allows us to capture moments frozen in time, but share our experiences, thoughts and emotions with others. It allows us to connect to other human beings in meaningful ways that might not have been possible otherwise. By participating in a TGL (The Giving Lens) workshop you are allowing yourself the opportunity to explore, document and work hand in hand to help make a difference with the local communities, NGO organizations and countries we will be working in. As you learn photography you might also be working with school children, helping to protect an endangered species or trying to understand the historical conflict that has plagued many parts of the globe for centuries. Those who participate will grow, both as people as well as photographers.

 

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”  ~Mark Twain

 

What kind of organizations do we work with? The Giving Lens partners with a single organization per workshop and only offers one workshop per country. We love working with NGO organizations that share our passion for creating a better world. There are many causes around the globe that are in need of support. From species preservation to eco sustainability, child education to those displaced by war, disaster survivors to those living with AIDS, we are happy to help where and when we can.

How did The Giving Lens start? The Giving Lens is the vision of Professional Photographer and Photo Educator, Colby Brown. Colby honed his skills traveling the globe, from the peaks of Nepal to ground-zero of post-earthquake Haiti. Through his experiences he felt compelled to help the amazing people he met along the way. He found himself looking for ways to combine his love for photography, and his deep passion to make a difference. In 2011 The Giving Lens was born in an attempt to blend photo education and helping to make the world a better place by giving back to local communities.