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Inspirational Photography Projects: April Edition

The photography section of Kickstarter has seen over 10,000 projects since its launch eight years ago. In fact there are 90 live inspirational phot...

The photography section of Kickstarter has seen over 10,000 projects since its launch eight years ago. In fact there are 90 live inspirational photography projects right now. We love that we get to be a part of what’s happening through our “Funded by PhotoShelter” efforts, where every month we look for inspirational photography projects to fund.

It takes tenacity to go out and tell the stories you want to tell and raise awareness for the causes you care about, and we want to support your ideas. Here are just a few of the projects that caught our attention recently.

Project: Remembering Rhinos
Creator and Photographer: Margot Raggett
Original Goal: £20,000
Amount Raised: £103,447

PS: Tell us about the project.
Remembering Rhinos is the follow up to the hugely successful Remembering Elephants book of 2016, which sold out of 2,500 books in just two months from launch. Remembering Elephants raised more than £135,000 for anti-poaching initiatives in the process. We funded that book on Kickstarter too, raising an initial £58,000 to cover our costs and the rhino book surpassed that.

Both books are full of images donated by some of the world’s best wildlife photographers. It is a true collaboration of people wanting to stand up to poaching and use their photography for conservation.

inspirational photography projects

Photo by Denise Eriksson

PS: Why Kickstarter?
We decided to fundraise for both books because that advance money allows us to pay for the print and production. This means that after we fulfill the Kickstarter rewards, 100% of the revenue—the total cover price—will go directly to the charity.

As a formula it worked well last time, so we were pretty confident it would work again this time around, and I’m thrilled that’s proved to be the case.

PS: Do you have any advice for other photographers interested in fundraising through Kickstarter?

We raised a lot of awareness and built a ready market of supporters before we went live on Kickstarter. I’d say that’s essential for anyone considering the same route.

You also can’t just sit back and hope for the best—I’m working every day of Kickstarter trying to keep the interest up.

PS: What’s next for you now that Remembering Rhinos is funded?
Remembering Rhinos is a year-long project more or less (the book launches with a London exhibition at the end of October), so that’s going to be keeping me busy for the rest of 2017. And after that, it is highly likely we will announce the next book in the series. We see real long-term potential now for the ‘Remembering Wildlife’ series. But I want to do a decent job on Remembering Rhinos first before I can confirm that for sure!

You can sign up for updates about the book here.

inspirational photography projects

Photo by Margot Raggett

inspirational photography projects

Photo by Ross Couper

Project: Moment 2.0: Make your iPhone or Pixel A Better Camera
Project Owner: Brian Cason
Original Goal: $500,000
Amount Raised: $767,897

PS: Tell us about Moment and this project.

At Moment, we believe that the future of photography is in your pocket. Oftentimes, the best camera is the one you have with you, and that camera is your phone.

This is our most ambitious project yet. Introducing not one, but three new products. With support for iPhone 6/6+, iPhone 7/7+ and Google Pixel/Pixel XL, our new line will change the way these already great devices can be used. With a cinema quality aspheric wide lens, slim Photo Case, and Battery Photo Case; your phone can capture what it was never made to capture.

inspirational photography projects

Photo courtesy of Moment, Inc.

PS: Why Kickstarter?
We’re back on Kickstarter because as a small startup we need the help of the community to validate the need for these types of products. Pursuing expensive manufacturing endeavors at this stage could shut our doors if we’re wrong about what consumers want and need for phone accessories.

PS: What’s next for Moment now that the project is funded?
We’ve been blown away by the support we’ve received over the last couple of years and as we look to the future we’re excited about continuing to offer premium quality products to enhance every part of the photographer’s journey.

inspirational photography projects

Photo courtesy of Moment, Inc.

Project: panAFRICAproject: Redefining the Modern Image of Africa
Photographer: Lou Jones
Original Goal: $25,000
Amount Raised: $27,631

PS: Tell us about the project.
A few years ago I read in the New York Times that the African Union was considering limiting western access to the continent because of their biased, negative coverage of the continent. I thought this was egregious until I realized they were mostly right.

So for years I have been contemplating how to use photography, “the universal language”, to potentially change western preconceptions of Africa. We just returned from our tenth country documented, Burkina Faso.

Instead of the usual coverage of pestilence, poverty & conflict so prevalent in the media, we chase industry, innovation, education, culture, agriculture, music, business.

We are interested in the personality of each individual country & we seek out local people to educate us to what is unique & important about their place.

Africa is the fastest growing continent on earth. The resources, history and human potential are boundless. A billion people are moving forward at breakneck speed. There are many problems to overcome. We document those as part of the entire story but our emphasis is on the real life activities that make up contemporary life, not the sensationalism that the press is pursuing.

inspirational photography projects

Photo by Lou Jones Photography

PS: Why Kickstarter?
In order to pay for this ambitious, long-term undertaking we turned to crowdfunding. We chose Kickstarter after much research because it is the most visible of the programs for this purpose. Our project did not fit into any of the categories that usually seek funding so we had to be very innovative about our approach. Since we already had a few countries covered we were able to present actual results both for proof of our intentions, the project website & the all-important video we made to introduce ourselves to the world.

We spent a lot of time deciding on a multitude of rewards & “incentives” for people to contribute. Since we had plenty of materials i.e. photographs, we were able to offer existing images as rewards. We also set up several stages during the thirty day fundraising schedule & reminded people about what was going on.

To raise the $28,000 we had to be proactive before, during & after the period of fundraising. We worked out the cost of the trips & the costs of rewards before we set the value so we had enough to pay for all contingencies. This was the hardest part. We made our goal relatively small but adequate.

PS: What’s next for you now that panAFRICAproject is funded?
We are continuing the www.panAFRICAproject.org and may very well revisit crowdfunding in order to finance it.

inspirational photography projects

Photo by Lou Jones Photography

inspirational photography projects

Photo by Lou Jones Photography

If you have a project you’d like us to know about, add a comment below and be sure to include the link so we can learn more. The more photographers we can support, the better.

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