Hope is More Than Wishful Thinking

Dear Amazing Hopeful Shutter Sisters,

It is with so much joy and happiness that we are writing this morning to tell you that the Shutter Sisters' Picture Hope Dream Assignment entry won the $50,000 Grand Prize for the Microsoft/Lenovo sponsored photography contest!

Can you believe it???

We're crying, we're laughing, we're in a state of disbelief. We've been fighting and working and hoping and dreaming for a moment like this our entire lives. And it's here.

Because of you. Because of us. Because we hoped. Because we believed.

Thank you Microsoft and Lenovo for choosing us out of a brilliant group of finalists. Thank you for seeing our ideas and believing in our dream and for understanding that without hope, none of us stands a fighting chance.

Shutter Sisters, take this win straight into your heart, because it is yours. The way you find life and hope and beauty and truth through that lens every day matters--every bit as much as the stories we will find from women around the world who love and live the way you do--with all their hearts, one tiny incredible moment at a time.

Thank you for believing. Thank you for working so hard at what you do. Thank you for hoping.

As they say in Rwanda, Turikumwe. We are together.

With so much joy,

Tracey, Stephanie and Jen

photo by Stephanie

Picture Hope: Gathering Images for the Journey

Picture Hope: Gathering Images for the Journey from LittlePurpleCow Productions on Vimeo.

Tomorrow will be two weeks since we first announced the Shutter Sisters Picture Hope Dream Assignment. Since that time we've watched in total awe as this community and our friends around the globe have taken this dream and skyrocketed it to the Name Your Dream Assignment Top Ten.The outpouring of support has been nothing short of phenomenal.

If you haven't voted yet, it's not too late. Vote hope now, and when you're finished, come right back and pick up that camera. Because we are convinced this community like no other has a heart for hope, every single time you see through that lens. Add your images to the Picture Hope Flickr Pool and watch with us as our dream unfolds into hope notes in hand and a way to make it really happen--no matter what happens when the contest ends. How hopeful is that?

Will you take Picture Hope to number one, sisters? Vote here (if you haven't already) and invite everyone in your circle to do the same. Registration takes just a minute, promise. Voting ends this Friday at midnight.

Picture Hope

Shutter Sisters Dream Assignment: Picture Hope v.2 from LittlePurpleCow Productions on Vimeo.

Announcing our Picture Hope Dream Assignment. We are delighted to have Jen Lemen and Stephanie Roberts represent the Shutter Sisters community as they travel to capture Hope around the world.

Here's how it works: This amazing community will generate the most powerful images of hope we can find. From those images we'll create tangible hope notes for Jen and Stephanie to take with them wherever they travel to tell the world we're listening. At each destination, Jen and Stephanie will introduce the world to a new story of hope while the Shutter Sisters at home show us all the ways hope flourishes in the hidden everyday spaces. From these images and stories, together we'll generate a visual catalog of hope--images that that can be transformed into practical print resources and literacy tools for the hopeful people we've met from around the world. People who know and embody the essence of hope in spite of war, poverty, loss or the threat of despair.

That's the dream, sisters. Now we need your hopeful shots and the power of your own creative and compassionate voices to help make a real world difference. If the thought of making an impact with our images moves you, then please Vote Hope and ask everyone you know to do the same.

Grab a button, display it with pride. Blog it, twitter it, facebook it, email it, talk about it. We have between now and April 3rd, to make this dream for our hopeful world a beautiful reality. Let's picture hope.

* * *

April 1 Update: You did it! We're beyond thrilled to have finished the voting phase of the Name Your Dream Assignment contest in first place thanks to your votes and support. The final decision now rests with the judges and we look forward to hearing their final decision in two-three weeks. In the mean time...

We're gathering your images for the journey. Watch our latest video and join us?

* * *

Portfolios for Name Your Dream Assignment Judges:

Stephanie Roberts's documentary images and stories and her biography.

Jen Lemen's biography, portfolio and photo essays.

Signs of Hope

What if one powerful community of women photographers with a kind and beautiful vision of the world could make one hopeful dream come true?

Stay tuned, sisters.  All signs say our turn is just around the bend.  Hopeful dreams work best when we're all in this together, and goodness knows it wouldn't be the same without you.  Leave us your best "yes, count me in" images in the comments below.