Congratulations to Abe’s Flash Mother’s Day Photo Contest Winner Laura Rippey Helleckson! She will be receiving THREE Lexar Memory Cards! Thank you to everyone who submitted and shared their photography!
A Mother's Perfect Sunset
Why Non Profits Need Photography By Kate Siobhan Havercroft
Why Non Profits Need Photography By Kate Siobhan Havercroft, TGL Operations Manager
There’s a long list of modern needs for the average Non-Profit. Gone are the days of mail-out newsletters and pamphlet’s. These days, with the onset of raging social media, Smartphone’s and instant updates, many NGOs, are often operating with limited resources, and as a result they are struggling to keep up.
There are loads resources that NGO needs to utilize nowadays; websites, Social Media accounts (Facebook, Google+, twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Reddit, Instagram, and new ones everyday), blogs, and of course a staff to keep everyday operations afloat! In the midst of all this, we, as viewers, tend to give new websites or fan pages about three seconds to prove their worth to us. It’s not our fault – we’re bombarded everyday with new requests, piles of links, and LOLCatz.
One of the biggest reasons we as viewers move along quickly are the instances when there isn’t enough visual stimulation to hold our interest. We’re a visual society now, and we can tell the difference between an even slightly dated website from a “cutting edge” one in the bat of an eye.
This brings us to just one way – of many ways – that we, at The Giving Lens, are able to step in and help some NGOs. Through media we offer compelling, timeless, meaningful images that tell a whole story at 1/1000th of a second. But how do we do this?
The Giving Lens is an organization that leads international teams, around the world, on travel photography workshops with a twist: We partner with an incredible Non-Profit doing amazing work in-country, and volunteer our photography and our skills to further their efforts. This ranges from photo-education, to documentation, to intimate portraiture, too much more. The possibilities, and the needs, are endless. When not volunteering, we run workshops at places most people only dream of going. And when it’s all over, we share up to 50% of our profits with the NGO we just worked with, along with all the images. 
Congratulations to Abe’s Spring Themed Photo Contest Winner Dawn Stinchcomb-Wade!
Congratulations to Abe’s Spring Themed Photo Contest Winner Dawn Stinchcomb-Wade! She will be receiving a $50 Abe’s Gift Card good towards her next purchase. Thank you to everybody who submitted and shared their photography.
Dogwood bokeh
Congratulations to Abe’s Spring Themed Photo Contest Winner Rick Bianco!
Congratulations to Abe’s Spring Themed Photo Contest Winner Rick Bianco! He will be receiving a $50 Abe’s Gift Card good towards his next purchase. Thank you to everybody who submitted and shared their photography.
Outta Here...!!!
Congratulations to Abe’s Valentine’s Day Themed Photo Contest Winner Priyaraj Banerjee!
Congratulations to Abe’s Valentine’s Day Themed Photo Contest Winner Priyaraj Banerjee! He will be receiving a $50 Abe’s Gift Card good towards his next purchase. Thank you to everybody who submitted and shared their photography.
Love has no colors
Congratulations to Abe’s Valentine’s Day Themed Photo Contest Winner Daisy Austin!
Congratulations to Abe’s Valentine’s Day Themed Photo Contest Winner Daisy Austin! She will be receiving a $50 Abe’s Gift Card good towards her next purchase. Thank you to everybody who submitted and shared their photography.
Bashful Kiss
The Wandering Wayfarer By Mark A. Paulda
The Wandering Wayfarer By Mark A. Paulda
We never want to believe that there is a magical reality, though there are a myriad of magical places in this world. We all too often choose to ignore the wide-open door leading elsewhere, and instead live vicariously through fictional characters beamed onto our televisions. Perhaps the outskirts of town is a foreign land as one gets tangled up in every day life, or maybe even the thought of hopping on a plane today seems like more hassle that it is worth.
Instead, we want to live uncomplicated, and simple lives, staying put. We want to swim in reality, and remain in our “safety zones,” but while swimming through it, we can miss out on so many idyllic landscapes, vibrant cultures, and amazingly beautiful architecture waiting for us to discover. Yes, we do get a glimpse of another world without realizing at times, though there is no real substitute for travel. In fact, no matter how much you have learned in a classroom, there is no better education than experiencing a land beyond our borders first-hand.
During my adult life I have grown tremendously, and have learned to “think internationally” simply by opening my mind while visiting countries foreign to my own. As a travel photographer, I have flown a million miles, trundled step after step, and have clicked the shutter on my camera more times than can be counted.
Throughout this article you will view some rather magical places, and this is my reality. One could say – everything I have learned, I have learned from traveling around this world, and yet, there are still so many lessons to be learned, and so many more corners of this world to discover… 
Congratulations to Abe’s Photo Contest Winner Thomas Payer!
Congratulations to Abe’s Photo Contest Winner Thomas Payer! He will be receiving a $50 Abe’s Gift Card good towards his next purchase. Thank you to everybody who submitted and shared their photography!
Life at 30 Below in Alaska
Congratulations to Abe’s Photo Contest Winner Karen Folsom!
Congratulations to Abe’s Photo Contest Winner Karen Folsom! She will be receiving a $50 Abe’s Gift Card good towards her next purchase. Thank you to everybody who submitted and shared their photography!
Common Redpoll - Moosehead Lake Area - Rockwood, Maine
Ordinary To Extraordinary By Cathy Hickis
Ordinary To Extraordinary By Cathy Hickis
When I was asked if I wanted to contribute to this blog I wasn’t sure what I would write about. I am not a very technical person, even when it comes to the camera. I am more the artistic type. I have a passion for color and the things that are not normally seen by the average person. I bought my camera about 2 years ago because I was going to the Galapagos Islands and wanted to have a good camera. For the technical ones, I have a Nikon D3000 and an 18 to 55 mm lens and a 55 to 200 mm lens. As of this date I do not have a flash except for the one being in the camera. That is going to be my next purchase and next lesson. To date I have just adjusted my ISO when the light wasn’t cooperating. I guess you can say I am a work in continuous progress. Read more…
