The story of Mike and Ray is one of love and intimacy. They are getting married in July and have taught me a lot not only about love but love without fear. I was interviewing Mike the other day for the multimedia portion of this project and he said something that really stuck.
“I don’t see Ray as a person with HIV or AIDS. I just see Ray as Ray. The fact that Ray does have HIV doesn’t define us. It is an insignificant part of our life but at the same time it is a huge part of our life….because it is his life.
I just finished listening to an interview with the woman I have been photographing for the documentary project on HIV. Her words spoke volumes to the amount of love a mother has for her children.
She was talking to me about doing things over — the possibility of never meeting her ex husband that infected her.
“But then I wouldn’t have these two boys,” she said. “So I can’t say I wish I would have never met him because I love those boys more than anything. I wouldn’t give them up for anything…even not to have HIV.”
This statement strikes a real chord in me. For years, I had no desire to have children but after hearing something like this, I want to know love like this. I want to know what is like to look at another human being and know you created them and want more for their life than yours. To know a love that you would die for.
I have asked the people that I am photographing for my HIV project to play a major role in telling their story.
The other day I went to photograph “Mary” after she had caught the stomach flu one of her sons had brought home from school. My intention to photograph her was to show that even a 24-hour flu can be harder for someone with HIV to fight off. When I told her my intentions, she said that I am free to come over to photograph her recovering on the couch but that she is able to fight off these colds etc. just as easily as her sons. While, in the caption I will write how a common cold might be harder for someone with HIV to fight off, “Mary” is able to fight it as easily as her sons.
I think approach has allowed trust and a true voice from the people I am photographing. By telling my subjects my intentions, I feel as they have an investment in this project as well. It is not just me trying to tell a story. They are rather telling their stories and allowing me to document that process.
Today I found the real premise behind my HIV project — No one deserves HIV and AIDS.
Yet, in the region where I am photographing, people think that those with HIV did something [wrong] to get the disease.
No one deserves this disease. Not one. This fact became real today when I took a photo of a 29-year-old with his 6 -year-old brother swinging on the swings before saying goodbye. I started thinking about the thread that is holding these four separate stories together. It is the fact that they are all great people with great love for life and people and they all have HIV. Throughout my project, my objective has been to show that these people are good people and they have similar desires and loves and they are just as susceptible to the disease as anyone. The perception that HIV is a “disease for bad people” needs to be erased and I hope that my photos will help to do just that.
I hope my project will reveal that you don’t have to be promiscuous or share drug needles to get infected. You can be a mom or a brother or a grandmother or a friend. It is my hope is that these images will help those who are positive hold the same respect as those who are negative.
Hazel Thompson is a photographer I ran into on the Internet right after I returned from the Danish School of Journalism in 2005 and decided I wanted to do this thing called photojournalism.
Her work struck me among the thousands of websites. She has a heart to tell their stories and with great dignity, I thought. The more I dug around the Internet the more I realized that those photographers are hard to find.
She is driven to make a difference. And because she is driven by her heart and that desire to make a difference, she has been acknowledged this month by American Photo as a Hero of Photography.
Danny Smith, a human rights advocate, writes this about her:
Hazel doesn’t walk, she runs. Her energy matches her enthusiasm as she chases ideas. Her zest for life ignites brainstorming meetings, yet she has a canny knack for tempering wild ideas with logic and can handle complex situations deftly….
She guards her moral code, faith, and creative focus with a zeal I have grown to admire. It isn’t just that she wants to reveal the truth she has witnessed; she wants that moment of revelation to make a difference. The story becomes important in the context of her worldview.
This is my hope for my work and the work of my classmates, that we will be driven by the power of a moment. Thank you Hazel fro being a great model for students and the profession as a whole. It is a great reminder that we can be driven by content and our desire to make a difference.
I have been photographing five people living with HIV in rural America for the past couple weeks. These five amazing people have given me access into their lives and are constantly helping me learn about the disease.
I respect these individuals and thank them so much for allowing me to learn and absorb their stories.
I hope that I can tell their stories with as much respect as I have for them.
The Open Society Institute released a report this month outlining a plan to fight AIDS in the U.S. The plan holds the government more accountable for AIDS spending in order to cut down on new infections and increase access to care.
This proposal comes as a response to the fact the US does not have a national plan to guide strategic use of AIDS-related dollars.
Today I read an interesting article that examines the definition of being thin.
“Being thin doesn’t automatically mean you’re not fat,” said Dr. Jimmy Bell, a professor of molecular imaging at Imperial College, London….
According to the data, people who maintain their weight through diet rather than exercise are likely to have major deposits of internal fat, even if they are otherwise slim. “The whole concept of being fat needs to be redefined,” said Bell.
…Doctors worry that thin people may be lulled into falsely assuming that because they’re not overweight, they’re healthy.
…Experts have long known that fat, active people can be healthier than their skinny, inactive counterparts. “Normal-weight persons who are sedentary and unfit are at much higher risk for mortality than obese persons who are active and fit,” said Dr. Steven Blair, an obesity expert at the University of South Carolina.
This study is an interesting introduction into a world I have wanted to enter - helping women define beauty and health from something other than a mirror.
Footvolley is a combination of soccer and volleyball. Natalie Stallings and Avery Solomon are members of the US National Women’s Footvolley team. Both are natives of Virginia Beach and grew up around the beach and soccer which has made them great candidates for this sport that is gaining popularity in the US.
This is my first attempt at video, please let me know what you think.
Although the HIV/AIDS epidemic emerged in urban areas, it has spread to rural America. Factors such as geography, availability of health care and social services and community perceptions make preventing and treating HIV/AIDS in rural areas a challenge.
The increasing number of HIV/AIDS cases in rural parts of America has resulted in increased demands on rural health care facilities, many of which were financially unstable even before the emergence of AIDS. Many rural communities have not encountered large numbers of persons living with AIDS. The result is a lack of sources of social support for individuals and families affected by HIV/AIDS and organized public health HIV prevention efforts.
Because HIV has been associated with urban areas, many rural residents perceive they have a lower risk of becoming infected. Concerns about confidentiality, stigma and discrimination keep people from getting tested. Because fewer HIV/AIDS cases have been reported in rural areas than in urban areas, community leaders and residents may not recognize that HIV is a problem that needs to be addressed.
Posted by Jenn Ackerman
