{serve} photo philanthropy part three

This is the third post in a three part series. Read about my passion {part one} and then check out some of my favorite bloggers {part two} who have gone on humanitarian trips and have huge hearts. 

Thanks for reading about my dreams and why this kind of blogging really speaks to me. 

Thanks for sharing and supporting and encouraging. Thanks for being here.

Every reader who was blessed by my posts about Ethiopia, every commenter who shared their similar experiences with me, every person who shared my posts with their networks on Facebook -- thank you. It means so much.

I'm working really hard to make this photo philanthropy traveling humanitarian blogging thing work. I want it to be awesome. I want my message to be interesting, informative, powerful. I want to reach people and inspire them.

What am I doing to reach my goal?
I'm using my camera as much as possible. It's been a self-taught journey for me, learning about ISO and f-stops. And now I'm focusing on my composition and the story a photo tells.

I'm writing more. As much as possible with one happy lego-building now-five-year-old and a silly lego-stealing almost-three-year-old for quality control. 

I'm working on blog design. It's still incredibly hard to take what's in my head and put it into html code, but I'm getting better. I have big dreams for this space of mine.

I'm paying my own way to go on humanitarian trips, volunteering as a photographer/writer with organizations like Global Hope Network International and New Reality International.

I'm learning what it takes to be a journalist. I want to learn how to talk to people, how to ask just the right questions to draw out their stories. Learning a journalistic story-telling approach is crucial to doing this work effectively.

I'm practicing a very honest and transparent way of writing, sharing good and bad, funny and sad. I want my style of writing to go beyond the typical pamphlet telling you about an organization. I want to get deeper, into the heart of the missionary, into the homes of the villagers, into the soul of humanitarian work. Telling it how it is.

Because a photograph doesn't always tell the whole story.

photos by yourstruly while in Ethiopia with a team of advocates for GHNI

And next -- I'll be introducing my trip to Guyana, South America, coming up in just a few weeks!
I'm still working on my packing list and getting necessary equipment accumulated.
And most importantly, my head wrapped all around what I'm doing and why I'm doing it.
Stay tuned. :)