Today I got my photos back and was excited to find out that six of my 10 submissions won ribbons. Best of all, my photo of Trey painted green with a luna moth won the top prize at the Fair – the Award of Excellence.

Oh, and if you were wondering if the moth was Photoshop’d into the picture with Trey, the answer is “No, it was really there.” You can see more photos from the day I painted Trey green in my blog’s archives.

“Camouflage” – 1st Place, I Spy: Green (Color)
Award of Excellence in Color

“Medical Clinic in Peru” – 1st Place, Photojournalism (Color)

“Ashaninka Village in Peru” – 1st Place, Scenic (Color)

“Grangou (Hungry in Haiti)” – 3rd Place, People (Color)

“Jwa (Joy in Haiti)” – 4th Place, People (Mono)

“MLK Jr Blvd, Macon” – 4th Place, Georgia Street Scenes (Color)

2010 GA National Fair Winners is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

I’ve given them the following image I made in Haiti earlier this year. It is a ready-to-hang, 16″x24″ canvas print that was exhibited in May at the Douglass Theatre in Macon, GA.

You can use the form below to submit a bid to them for the art work (or to just ask a question). They will write you back and give you some more information about the adoption. For security reasons I’m not posting their names or email address here.

**Auction Now Closed** Thanks to all who bid!

Silent Auction for Adoption is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

Story by William Haun
Photos by William Haun and Jeff Gelzinis

Download a PDF of this story

TITANYEN, Haiti – Michéléur Désulmé and his family sit in front of their tent under a tattered tarp to avoid the burning Haitian sun. The tent sits on what was once the cement floor of their two- bedroom cinder block house in Titanyen, Haiti. That house is unrecognizable now – the roof is gone and all the walls disintegrated in the Jan. 12 earthquake.

The Désulmés are just one of the hundreds of thousands of families that lost their homes in and around Port-au-Prince.
Michéléur had a good job at a local mill and his wife, Marie Jane, worked at a banana processing plant. Both of their workplaces were destroyed in the earthquake. They have been unemployed for the past five months and living off their meager savings to provide for their family of four.

Despite the hardships, two wonderful changes have transformed their lives since the earthquake. The couple began attending a local church and both accepted Christ. With a new outlook on life, they decided to get married after having lived together for years. Many of their other attitudes and opinions changed as well.

“It’s better to ask God for help than to steal for yourself,” said Michéléur when asked how he provides for his family in these difficult times.

God answered the family’s pleas for help when they were selected to receive one of the shelters built by Baptist disaster relief volunteers.

In mid-May, a team of eight volunteers from three North Carolina Baptist churches served as the construction crew. As the 22nd Haiti disaster relief team to come with the North Carolina Baptist Men, they spent four days building the pre-fabricated shelters provided by Samaritan’s Purse. Each shelter kit consists of four wall frames, rafter beams, tin for the roof, and a 50-foot blue tarp that serves as the wall.

The American crew jokingly dubbed the Désulmés’ home the “honeymoon hut,” but following a tradition of the Baptist construction teams, the work crew gathered with the Désulmé family in their new home for a time of praise and worship.
David Holder, a member of Explore Church in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, points to those times as his favorite part of the construction projects.

“We would sing songs together and pray. The families are genuinely happy and thankful. Even though there was a language barrier, the Holy Spirit can break through that,” said Holder.

The bond with Haitian believers was something that resonated with the entire construction team.

“When I heard the news of the quake back in January, my heart immediately went out to all our Haitian brothers and sisters in Christ. What were they going through? How could we help?” said Rick Gutierrez, a pastor at Explore Church who came with the team. “The moment I walked into the village to start working, I felt an instant connection to the people.”

Scott and Janet Daughtry, North Carolina Baptist Men’s volunteer coordinators in Haiti, have been stationed in Titanyen since Feb. 5. They have worked with over 250 medical and construction volunteers.

“Up until this team, we’ve had 87 shelters built. This team set a record with nearly 26!” reported Janet.

“We’ve got a nice little system going,” said Eder Dadul, a volunteer from First Baptist Church, Mayodan, North Carolina as hammers pounded furiously around him. The team divided into three crews – one that put up the frames, another that added the roof, and a final one that wrapped the tarp.

With the help of local believers, the team was building 6-8 shelters a day.

“They’ve got nothing to do. Their homes were destroyed, too,” shared Dadul. “They see their fellow Haitians and they’re helping out… every single day, morning to afternoon.”

It wasn’t all back-breaking work for the Baptist men. Team member Jeff Gelzinis from Explore Church shared on his mission trip blog that the best thing was the “interaction with the children and the families in the community.”

One day while walking through the village, they realized a crowd of 20-25 curious locals, mostly children, were following them.

The team decided to present an impromptu vacation Bible school.

With the help of René Romil, a Haitian translator, Gutierrez shared God’s redemptive plan from creation to Christ.

“When I finished telling about the hope they have in Christ, I asked if anyone didn’t know Jesus and wanted to accept him into their heart,” he said.

A young, 19-year-old man named Lionel stepped forward and said that both his parents had been killed in the quake and he wanted Christ in his life.

“Ramil and I asked him a few questions to make sure he understood and then he prayed for salvation,” Gutierrez recalls. “I told the crowd that we had a new brother in Christ and they all started clapping.”

The sense of community that the eight Baptist men witnessed in Titanyen had a profound impact on them all.

“I really feel our hearts were knit together,” Gutierrez shared. “For the first time, I was able to relate with Paul saying in his letters to believers ‘I long to see you.’ I genuinely feel that. I want to go back!”

Find Out More

Head over to Explore Church’s blog from their trip to read their first hand accounts and see their photos from the trip. http://exploringhaiti.blogspot.com/

Get Involved

Want to help build houses and reach hearts in Haiti? Find out how you can get involved through these reputable Baptist organizations:

Baptist Global Response – http://www.gobgr.org/
North Carolina Baptist Men – http://www.baptistsonmission.org/
Baptist Medical-Dental Fellowship – http://www.bmdf.org/

Haiti Story: “Building Houses, Reaching Hearts” is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

He does a great job of sharing how impressed he was with the Haitians’ eagerness to join them in rebuilding their community.

Baptist Volunteer Video is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

Story and photos by William Haun
Download a printable PDF of this story

TITANYEN, Haiti – The heat index is 115 degrees. Two Baptist volunteer physicians from North Carolina have spent the last seven hours working with Haitian Dr. Francise Milien to see more than 150 patients in a sweltering clinic.

Each one has only taken one five-minute break to eat a melting peanut butter jelly sandwich.

When asked how she feels at the end of the day, Milien replies with a tired smile.
“I’m happy,” she said. “We saw everybody who has come.”

Titanyen, a small village on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, has seen more than 250 volunteers from North Carolina Baptist Men (NCBM) come and go since the earthquake. Francise and her older sister Dr. Merline Milien have worked with every single one of the 22 teams.

Every weekday they split the volunteers into two teams, Alpha and Omega, and lead them to different locations to hold a medical clinics. They set up in churches, school houses, orphanages, and outside in tent cities using whatever is available: pews, desks, buckets, and tattered tarps.

They have seen over 15,000 patients with ailments ranging from general aches to malaria to elephantiasis.

“What we are doing now is very hard. But it is something we wanted to do six years ago.” Merline said.

Six years ago Merline was in her first year of medical school in Port-au-Prince. Her father, a Baptist pastor in Les Cayes, took $50 a month from his meager salary to pay for her tuition, leaving only $12 a month to cover the rest of the family’s living expenses.

The following year, Francise also felt God calling her to serve the Haitian people as a doctor. She was accepted into medical school, but it was impossible for her parents to pay both sisters’ tuition at the same time.

The sisters give their father credit for teaching them to rely on God – and Francise put that into action when she decided to attend medical school anyway. She prayed daily that God would provide a way to pay off her the mounting bills.

God did provide – through a sponsor in Indiana who gave them both full scholarships to finish medical school.

After they graduated, the two sisters were ready to serve the neediest in their community.

“We really wanted to do free community clinics,” said Merline. They volunteered 7 days a week at a clinic in Titanyen and when they would raise enough money, they would hold free clinics at their father’s church.

When the earthquake hit on Jan. 12, the two immediately rushed to help. Their clinic was destroyed, but the burn center across the street run by Global Outreach International was still intact. They worked tirelessly for nearly three days straight attending to hundreds of critically injured earthquake survivors.

On Jan. 15, the sisters joined the first Baptist medical team that arrived from North Carolina. They worked alongside the American doctors and nurses, helping them to overcome language, cultural, and logistical barriers in the chaotic aftermath of the earthquake.

Five months and 22 teams later, the two are still going strong.

Dr. Fred Loper, Executive Director of the Baptist Medical-Dental Fellowship, worked with the Miliens in mid-May as part of the 22nd NCBM team. That medical team saw a record 1,516 patients in a mere four days – proving that the demand for medical care has not abated six months after the quake.

“They are a source of personal encouragement. They are professional, competent, and highly committed to their people.” said Dr. Loper. “We get to go home at the end of the week, but they continue working.”

Merline admits, “Sometimes I am so tired when I wake up in the morning that I feel I want to cry. I think ‘I cannot do it,’ but I just pray and God gives me the strength to continue.”

The Milien sisters are not the only Haitians joining the Baptist disaster relief volunteers to help rebuild their communities. The construction workers on the 22nd NCBM team were amazed at the number of Haitian believers joining them in their work.

“Every single day 20-25 local volunteers come out to help us build these houses. They aren’t even getting paid!” said volunteer Eder Dadul, a member of First Baptist Church in Mayodan, North Carolina. “It’s a beautiful thing seeing a village come together to rebuild and sing the praises of the Lord.”

Despite the immense need surrounding them, Francise and Merline are also praising God for the help He has sent via the Baptist volunteers.

“We are so grateful for the American volunteers’ help. There is a big job ahead and we need help to help ourselves.”

But Merline hasn’t forgotten a lesson she learned about the true Helper when she had an opportunity to shadow doctors in a hospital in the US.

“They took us into the emergency room,” she recalls. “While we were there a man came in and the doctors tried to save his life. I thought ‘They have all the machines you need to save a person’s life and this man still died!’ God is in control. He decides who lives and who dies.”

She smiles and adds, “I don’t have any machines. All I have is my stethoscope and my two hands. But I am willing to serve and God can use me.”

Get Involved

Want to help Haitian believers like Merline and Francise make a difference in Haiti? Find out how you can get involved through these reputable Baptist organizations:

Baptist Global Response – http://www.gobgr.org/
North Carolina Baptist Men – http://www.baptistsonmission.org/
Baptist Medical-Dental Fellowship – http://www.bmdf.org/

Haiti Story: “God is in Control” is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

BMDF Haiti Video Reports is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

I just got here today and was welcomed by some intense heat & humidity. I haven’t taken many pictures yet, so here are a few I never posted from my trip to Jacmel in February. More to come!

Back in Haiti for a Week is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

Recently I was invited on Macon’s local CBS station 13WMAZ‘s Weekend Mornin’ show to share a photo tip. This topic was what I talked about because I don’t think there are any secret or magical tricks to it – it really boils down to some basic (and polite) human behaviors.

I truly believe that the best portraits are made by interacting with the subject before hand. Not interacting or asking permission and literally “stealing” a shot can make people angry and contribute to a general distrust/dislike of photographers. Plus you’ll end up with a mediocre image (at best) and you won’t know the person’s story (and I guarantee they have a great one to tell).

So here are the 4 steps I shared on 13WMAZ that sum up the way I approach taking pictures of strangers:

1. Smile
   A person approaching you with a camera can be intimidating – perhaps even creepy. Make sure you smile – that is the most important body language you can express (especially when you and the subject don’t speak the same language).
2. Talk
   Strike up a conversation. You don’t even have to mention taking a photo yet. You obviously found something interesting about the individual or what ever they are doing so talk to them about that. Let them know you are genuinely interested in what they are doing and let them tell you about it.

   People love to talk about what they are doing and your interest in them can give them a sense of validation & confidence in their actions. I try to listen attentively, ask questions, and even crack a few jokes (at my expense not theirs).

   When you don’t speak the same language you can still use body language to ask questions. I’ve been known to make whacky hand gestures and goofy faces to try and get my point across. It isn’t hard and they usually get the drift.

3. Ask
   If you’ve done #2, this next one is a breeze. Often times the conversation turns on me – what am I doing there? am I a photographer? This is a great segue to ask permission to photograph the person. If you’ve already had a friendly chat with the person and shown interest in them they rarely say “No.”

   If I’m interested in something a person is doing or something they have, I’ll ask to photograph that first. Then when I show them that photo (#4) it opens the door for me to photograph them.Don’t speak their language? No problem. Hold up your camera, point to it, point to them, make an inquisitive face, and ask “Photo?”. It doesn’t matter wherever the heck you are in the world, that will translate into asking permission.

4. Share
   Digital cameras have give us the wonderful ability to share photos instantly. Always turn your camera around after taking a photo and show them their image on the LCD. In some parts of the world this is akin to performing a small miracle.

   Give them positive feedback about their image. I always learn the words “Beautiful” and “Handsome” in whatever foreign language I’m dealing with. If you can make them feel good about that first photo you can usually follow up with a 2nd or 3rd or dozens more photos. It also puts them at ease with you in your role as photographer and gives you a chance to compose different shots and sometimes even ask them to pose a certain way or move to an area with better light.If your subject is pleased with their image they can be your biggest promoter – get them to you introduce you to their friends and family for more portraits. Get friends together and photograph them as a group. Just keep smiling and keep talking.

   The second part to sharing the photo is to offer to send them a digital copy. You’d be surprised how many people have email addresses, even in the most remote locations. I keep a notebook with me and I’ll jot down their email address and the file number shown on my camera LCD of their photo. Then when I get back from my trip, I set aside some time one evening to send out all the photos to the email addresses I collected.

   If it is possible (and feasible) you can even mail prints of your photos to them by getting their address. In some remote areas your print may be the only photo a person has of themselves or of a family member. It can be an incredible gift! However, NEVER PROMISE this if you aren’t sure you can follow through with it. If you do mail them prints you will be amazed how excited and grateful they will be if you ever re-visit the area.

I’ve found that smiling, talking, asking permission, and giving back quickly turns those strangers into new friends. Following are some photos from real examples of wonderful experiences I’ve had around the world photographing strangers.

Taking Pictures of Strangers is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

Hundreds of thousands of Haitians are still homeless – living in temporary shelters. The rainy season is coming and it brings with it landslides, malaria, dengue fever, and dozens of other diseases and hygiene issues.

These are portraits I made in February of survivors in Jacmel, Haiti. As you look at their faces try to imagine what they are feeling right now, 2 months after the photos were taken. Pray for each of them and thank God for the blessings you enjoy. Visit the Baptist Global Response web site to share a portion of your financial blessings with those less fortunate than you.

Joy in Jacmel’s Tent City is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development

I had a chance this afternoon to walk around the city and see the damage first hand – it is pretty overwhelming. Being able to speak French is a true blessing as it allows me to converse with the locals and hear their stories. It is unbelievable how positive the people are despite their hardships.

I’m hoping that in-between my translation work I’ll be able to record some stories via pictures and video.

Below is one of my favorite photos I took today. If you look carefully you can see me in the TV the guy is looking at.

In Haiti for a Week is a post from: William Haun Photography, Video, and Web Development