{"60265":{"#nid":"60265","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Student\u2019s Photography Raises $10,000 for Haitian Earthquake Relief","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on January 12,\nthe images of mass destruction and chaos touched millions of hearts around the\nworld. As the death toll rose and the agony of survivors grew, many people were\ninspired to take action. Georgia Tech graduate student James K. Holder II was\none of those moved to help. With creativity and commitment, Holder raised\n$10,000 in donations through his \u201cYour Face HERE: Haitian Earthquake Relief\nEffort\u201d project.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E(To watch a video of James Holder discussing \u201cYour Face HERE\u201d and his photography, go to \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?hd=1\u0026amp;v=bwzi3SqKCHg\u0022 title=\u0022http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?hd=1\u0026amp;v=bwzi3SqKCHg\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?hd=1\u0026amp;v=bwzi3SqKCHg\u003C\/a\u003E).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHolder, who earned a bachelor\u2019s in architecture from Georgia\nTech in 2008 and is currently working on a master\u2019s in building construction,\nremembers hearing the news stories and being filled with determination to help\nthe people of Haiti.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI knew I wanted to do something that would have a\nsignificant impact on their situation, and I wanted to start immediately,\u201d\nHolder said. \u201cAfter talking with one of my friends about things that I could do\nto raise awareness and money, I figured through simple arithmetic that I could\nraise $10,000 by getting 200 people to donate $50 to the cause.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EA talented photographer, Holder came up with the idea for\nthe \u201cYour Face HERE\u201d project. In exchange for making donations of $50 or more\nto the American Red Cross or Yele Haiti, people could have Holder shoot their\nportraits. Through previous work for the Technique\u003Cem\u003E \u003C\/em\u003Eand classes he took as an undergraduate from the College of\nArchitecture\u2019s Artist-in-Residence Ruth Dusseault, Holder already had a solid\nportfolio and an established reputation on campus for his photography. This\nmade getting his fundraising project off the ground a little easier.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI figured because people already knew me for photography,\nit would be easy to get them to sacrifice a monetary donation in exchange for\nan image,\u201d\u0026nbsp;he said. \u201cIt was also very affordable for me because I already\nowned all of the major equipment necessary to produce the images. I was able to\nsimply leverage the tools that I already had with my time to complete the work.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EEverything came together quickly; he created a website and\nlaunched publicity for the effort within 24 hours of news of the earthquake. To\nshoot the photos, he set up a makeshift studio in his dorm room. With the\nassistance of Dottie Hunt, a multimedia designer in the Library and Information\nCenter, he was able to reserve equipment to film interviews with several of the\n\u201cYour Face HERE\u201d participants. He then uploaded the footage to YouTube and\nother websites to assist in the viral effort. The project quickly took off.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile he did not have a time limit in mind for raising the\nmoney when he began \u2014 only hoping to raise it soon due to the urgency of need\nin Haiti \u2014 he reached his $10,000 goal in July. He encouraged his friends, the\nGeorgia Tech community, and others who lived in the Atlanta area to\nparticipate.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPeople seemed to love the photos, so much so that they\noften donated even more than the requested amount,\u201d Holder recalled. \u201cAt first\nI didn\u2019t know if I would be able to get 200 people to donate $50, but as the\nproject continued and as participants posted their photos on Facebook and\nTwitter, their friends would begin to sign up and so on and so forth.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Tech community was instrumental in helping\nHolder reach his goal; an estimated 70 percent of the money was donated by\nGeorgia Tech alumni, students, staff and student organizations.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe most satisfying aspect of the effort was that I set out\nto accomplish a seemingly insurmountable goal and completed it without giving\nup,\u201d Holder said. \u201cIt was also extremely fulfilling to get so many people,\nespecially young people, who otherwise may not have been so actively involved\nin a cause.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe \u201cYour Face HERE\u201d project has become an inspiration for\nothers seeking to make a difference. Holder noted that friends in places such\nas New York, Los Angeles and Vienna, Austria, have started similar grassroots\nrelief efforts using his concept as a model. Holder also emphasized that\nalthough the media and public interest appears to have waned six months since\nthe earthquake, Haiti continues to need assistance and the country\u2019s recovery\nhas been slow.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAs much as an accomplishment as it was for me to raise the\nmoney, it only provides a nominal solution to the problems in Haiti,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\nhas been a lot of money raised for the relief efforts, but it doesn\u2019t\nnecessarily seem to be translating directly to progress for Haitians. Early\nevaluations of the damage were estimated at $14 billion \u2014 about 1.4 million\ntimes what my efforts were able to raise. There is still a lot of work to be\ndone.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAs he prepares to graduate, Holder has been interviewing for\njobs. He also recently opened a photography studio in the Castleberry Hill\nneighborhood, Atlanta\u2019s historic art district, and is planning his first solo\nphotography exhibition this year. However busier his life has gotten lately,\nafter reaching one goal, Holder has already begun to work on achieving his next\none. He is currently arranging a service trip to Port-au-Prince with a small\ngroup of Georgia Tech students and alumni. He is hoping to secure enough\nsponsorship and funding to offset the cost of travel and other expenses.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThose who would like to help in this service effort through\ndonations, sponsorships or volunteering should contact Holder at\n\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:JKH@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJKH@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E. His portraits for \u201cYour Face HERE\u201d and other photographic work\ncan be viewed at \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.jkh2.com.\u00a0\u0022 title=\u0022www.jkh2.com.\u00a0\u0022\u003Ewww.jkh2.com.\u00a0\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EStudent James K. Holder II used his talent as a photographer to raise $10,000 for Haiti earthquake relief efforts. The building construction master\u2019s student is now planning a service trip to Port-au-Prince.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"James K. Holder II used his talent as a photographer to help Haitian earthquake victims."}],"uid":"27309","created_gmt":"2010-07-30 11:04:49","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:06:39","author":"Daniel Treadaway","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2010-07-30T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2010-07-30T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"60266":{"id":"60266","type":"image","title":"James K. Holder II","body":null,"created":"1449176253","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:57:33","changed":"1475894494","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:41:34","alt":"James K. Holder II","file":{"fid":"191090","name":"JamesKHolder.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/JamesKHolder_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/JamesKHolder_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":368076,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/JamesKHolder_0.jpg?itok=SWmQrYHf"}}},"media_ids":["60266"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.jkh2.com\/","title":"James Holder\u2019s photography"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?hd=1\u0026v=bwzi3SqKCHg","title":"Video of James Holder"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELaura Diamond\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elaura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-6016\u003Cbr \/\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-660-2926\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["matt.nagel@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}