At The Giving Lens, we have a vision. Our vision is to see the three things we love most come together for a greater good: our love of travel, our passion for photography, and our deep desire to give back to those in need. Our vision comes is to partner with amazing organizations in developing nations, who are at the ground-level of a community, reaching out with the utmost respect and admiration for the people, and attempting in their seemingly small, but actually enormous way, to help. Our vision is to see photographers moved to action out of compassion, humbleness, and the understanding that seeing the world through a lens and capturing all it’s moments of beauty and heartache, of victory and agony, of joy and struggle must be one of the most blessed roles on Earth – whether you’ve shot half a million frames, or just a few; whether it is your hobby, your job, or your entire life. Our vision is to have willing hands and hearts meet us around the world to do what they can to make the world just that much better. To meet us on a the ground, somewhere far away, and give our time, energy, resources, and love and to humbly hold out our cameras as an offering to anyone who may need it.

We believe that we can make a difference. We build trips that takes your hand and places it in the hand of a worthy Non-Profit doing incredible work. We get you, and a whole team of willing photographers, to that nation and facilitate your experience on the ground. We volunteer our camera, hearts, time, and energy in whatever way the Non-Profit needs most. Sometimes this is by documenting their work for media and website purposes. Other times it is by teaching photography classes to kids who need creative outlets to express themselves. And yet other times it can be physically getting our hands dirty and helping out. There is no limit to what we are capable of. Each trip is different and offers a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience. By participating in a TGL (The Giving Lens) Trip you are allowing yourself the opportunity to explore, grow, 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 grow in your photography you might also be working with school children, helping to protect an endangered species, or empowering women. The ways in which photography can make the world better are limitless.

 

“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 type of trip per country, with little exception. We believe in standing in solidarity with our partner NGOs. We select our NGOs carefully, ensuring they do only good and no harm; that they’re not charity but social justice, empowering communities rather than offering handouts. 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.