Woodbury, NY—On the evening of November 6, 2017, the imaging industry gathered at the SVA Theatre in New York City to once again pay tribute to three professional photographers and one recent graduate from the School of Visual Arts. All four were recognized for using their talents to give back at the Imaging Alliance Salutes Photographers Who Give Back event. Photographer Robert Caplin served as the evening’s emcee.
Imaging Alliance Salutes Photographers Who Give Back
Professional photographers Jerry Ghionis, Stephanie Sinclair and Brooke Shaden all gave emotional presentations to the crowd of more than 200 industry executives and SVA students about the causes that inspire them to give back on a worldwide basis.
Ghionis, an accomplished wedding photographer, spoke about Soul Society. The nonprofit charitable organization is dedicated to caring for poor, homeless and orphaned children in third-world countries.
“The Soul Society is deeply committed to providing for the needs of underprivileged children, giving them the tools they need to become self-sufficient, educated adults,” said Ghionis. He founded Soul Society with his wife, Melissa.
Brooke Shaden spoke about the Light Space. It is a professional photography training program for survivors of human trafficking and those vulnerable to trafficking and gender-based violence. Her emotional presentation touched the crowd. Shaden likened her own self-portraiture to instilling a message that “life is more fulfilling when you are the main character.”
Then Pulitzer Price-winning photographer Stephanie Sinclair silenced the audience with her review of Too Young to Wed. The official mission of this nonprofit organization is to protect girls’ rights and end child marriage. Sinclair has used her talents to demonstrate the power of visual storytelling to provide visual evidence of human rights violations. She specifically focuses on under-age girls who are forced to wed without any choice.
Anthony M. Ruotolo Photojournalism Award
The evening also featured the presentation of the Anthony M. Ruotolo Photojournalism Award to recent SVA graduate Sophie Brill. After a moving introduction by Simone Ruotolo, Brill accepted the award. She delivered a visual presentation of the inequality of gun license requirements compared to other occupational licenses across 38 states. 
Following the presentations, the audience was treated to a Q&A session with the four photographers.
This was the third annual event presented by the Imaging Alliance, whose other give-back programs include Portraits of Love, which sends family portraits to military personnel, soldiers, as well as Your Imaging/Your Voice, a middle-school program aimed at encouraging the posting of positive images online. theimagingalliance.com
