The Tokyo Tower Climb – for World Suicide Prevention Day, 2017


Brian here.

The Tokyo Tower Climb last weekend for World Suicide Prevention day and Tokyo English Life Line was a super success. It was great to get behind such a worthy cause and make some raucous about mental health, something that most definitely needs more attention.

Got me thinking about Photohoku too, even though this technically wasn’t a Photohoku activity. Basically photography in a humanitarian capacity has traditionally been used as a way to shed light on the plight of a bad situation, bringing attention to people and circumstances that need addressing. Photohoku has been a bit different in that we found a way to use photography to DIRECTLY help those in need by providing what we’ve seen become some kind of emotional solace, a symbol of what can be overcome, a new beginning, simply a much needed smile.

Until now we’ve basically found two ways to use our photography, specifically instant photography as a means to help those in need. 1.) Provide instant photos directly to those in need – “Giving a Photo rather that Taking a Photo.” 2.) A second way we stumbled upon was providing these amazing photos for the public a large for a small fee (usually $5 or $10) and in doing so, raise funds to continue Photohoku or for completely separate cause.

In doing this Tokyo Tower climb and offering a beautiful portrait for anybody who joined, the financial impact was actually ~10x what it would have been if we had just provided a photo for a donation. Plus it became all about the shared experience which this smiling faces prove. I realize this is a new third was we can use Photohoku to make a difference in the world.

So we have a new wrench in the tool-chest. Photohoku as a call to action. I think it will be a very important part of Photohoku moving forward. If you know an effort that we could help rally support with photos, let us know!

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