Afghan schoolgirls, seen through the window of a Humvee, wave to a passing American convoy in June 2010.
© Chris Hondros/Getty Images
EDUCATION
Chris and many of his colleagues often spoke about opportunities they were given early in their early lives and careers as being pivotal in their path to a career in photography. These opportunities are slowly becoming a thing of the past with newsrooms struggling for funding and fewer paid internships and entry-level positions.
The Fund’s work ensures that his legacy lives on by working to build a new generation of artists and advocates. We believe in the power of photography to bring attention to stories often overlooked, but also to create empathy and action to ignite change.
The Fund works to build the next generation of empathetic visual storytellers by supporting education and awareness programs focused on children, youth, and underserved communities.
PARTNERING WITH BRONX DOCUMENTARY CENTER
The Fund is honored to partner with the Bronx Documentary Center to strengthen the BDC’s child- and youth-focused photography and educational programming. We believe in the power of photography to bring attention to stories often overlooked, to create empathy, and to spark action to ignite change within and between communities.
Founded in the aftermath of the deaths of Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington, BDC is a nonprofit organization that holds exhibitions, screenings and public programming that spotlights the work of emerging and internationally-renowned photographers and filmmakers.
BDC has developed innovative free education programs for primary grade students, middle school students and high school students that engage them with photography and film. These aim to spark early interest in visual storytelling.
Importantly, BDC provides professional development and education programs for historically underrepresented Bronx-based photographers. Each year, the Fund provides support for the Bronx Junior Photo League and for education workshops focused on launching young adults into photography careers. We are developing, in concert with the Center’s Summer Education Program, a unique week-long “photographer in residence” summer intensive course for high school photojournalists.
CHF is proud to support the educational programming at the Bronx Documentary Center. CHF and BDC’s mission align in our vision to expand access to documentary photography and provide skill development for traditionally underrepresented photographers. Photos Courtesy of BDC
War and Peace in Liberia Exhibition Catalog
Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros’ powerful photographs played an important role in moving the world to action and ultimately bringing the Liberian Civil Wars (1999-2003) to an end.
Trapped with Liberian dictator Charles Taylor’s forces in besieged Monrovia in the summer of 2003, Chris braved artillery and rocket fire to send frontline pictures of women and children being killed by the hundreds. His photos ran on front pages around the world and provoked outrage at a brutal war whose victims were almost entirely non-combatants.
Together, these two photographers alerted the world to Liberia’s humanitarian disaster and helped to build the international momentum which resulted in the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping mission that brought the war to a close, helped set the stage for democratic elections and created a lasting success story for the West African nation and the subregion. The UN closed its Liberia mission last year--the last of three successful operations in the Mano River basin—leaving being a country still fragile but with a fighting chance for peace and development.
This catalog, created in conjunction with the Bronx Documentary’s exhibition, was designed by Bonnie Briant and Bobbie Richardson and funded by the Chris Hondros Fund. To purchase a copy of this catalog, please click below - all proceeds directly benefit the Bronx Documentary Center.
Enlight
Collaborative
Thanks to a generous grant from The Enlight Foundation, the Fund is developing a curriculum to help young adults begin their photography careers. We believe we can maximize the time they spend honing their craft and telling compelling stories by minimizing the time they spend learning to start and launch their businesses.
The curriculum will include a series of video vignettes for both in-person education as well as on our digital learning platform (LINK). Vignette topics will tackle issues such as “Finding the story,” “How to approach unwilling subjects,” “Marketing yourself and your work,” and “Protecting yourself in contract negotiations.” Material for these vignettes will come from past Chris Hondros Fund Awardees.