So, next month Robyn and I will begin shooting a pre-natal yoga calendar, the proceeds of which going to fund the work of the Shanti Uganda Society. But lets back it up just a sec. There is a story here.
Our involvement in the project is just a blip on the Shanti timeline. Last month, when Robyn mentioned one of her yoga-friends was looking for a shooter to photograph a yoga-themed calendar, my ears perked up right away but my motivations, I must admit were selfish.
I’ve been wanting to branch out photographically and tackle some subjects outside of our bread-and-butter, weddings and families for some time. Not that I don’t love those shoots (I still believe these to be some of the most important and impactful photos a person can have), its that I wanted to reach a wider audience and a calendar with thousands of copies in print was just the vehicle.
When Robyn and I met said yoga-friend, Brenna Coupland to discuss the shoot, I was blown away at the scope of the project we had just become a part of. Shanti Uganda, I learned, is an organization started by Natalie Angell, a local yoga instructor and co-founder of Heart Center Yoga in Burnaby. The aim of the Society is to empower Ugandans affected by the physical, emotional and spiritual toll of war. Human Rights Watch has called the conflict in Northern Uganda one of the worst violations of human rights, predominantly in response to the use of child soldiers. (The New York Times’s Jeffery Buttleman has some insight into that conflict here and I found a good backgrounder on the war here.)
Along with a number of community development projects, Natalie and Shanti Uganda has began construction of a birth-house with the aim of revitalizing local birthing techniques.
Enter our calendar, featuring local Vancouver women (including Natalie!) who have volunteered to bare their bellies in support of the society and the women who stand to benefit from the birth-house.
Robyn and I are presently scouting locations and generally working on wrapping our heads around the shoot. Knowing the motivation behind the calendar makes it that much more meaningful for me and will hopefully help us capture some of the grace and beauty of our models. We will be meeting as many of them as possible ahead of time during their fitting sessions at Tonic (who has graciously donated outfits for the shoot) and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank them all for being a part of this wonderful project!
Oh, and if organizing all of this wasn’t enough, Brenna will also be taking part in a little self-propelled adventure she’s called the MoonCycle where she will be taking 28 days (one full moon cycle) to bike the 2200 or so kilometers from Vancouver to Winnipeg… you guessed it, with the aim of raising money to help Shanti Uganda continue to improve the health of women and their communities in Africa. You can follow her on Twitter @themooncycle .
Last by not least, in an attempt to get to know our models before we put the cameras on them, I have made up a little questionnaire. Hit the jump below to fill it out!
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