Fundraiser: The Syria Print Sale – How You Can Buy A Print

A quick recap for those of you who are arriving here for the first time.

Earlier this year, Christian Payne, a good and conscientious man, went to Syria to tell the stories of people like you and I – except they weren't quite like you and I. Their lives had been destroyed by the civil war. Christian's tale is a moving one. You can listen to it in episode 14 of the podcast, or experience it on his blog (the post titled Towards Syria is a good place to start).

Following our conversation, I approached a number of the photographers who had been interviewed on the podcast about contributing prints to a sale to raise money for some form of aid in Syria. Gina Glover and David Creedon readily agreed.

Originally, I thought the money would benefit Hayat for Syria, an aid organisation Christian had encountered. For a number of reasons, this didn't work out. This is no reflection on Hayat. It does wonderful work. Instead, I've decided that the money raised from the print sale will go to Médecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). It has a Syria appeal running and its personnel provide one of the most basic of human needs: keeping people alive. There are countless other organisations deserving of support, but a choice had to be made and MSF is it.

Gina's print

Gina has donated five exceptionally delicate and beautiful prints of her photograph titled Iceberg III, Jökulsárlón lake, Iceland:

© Gina Glover

Here's an idea of what the print looks like "in the flesh":

The prints are unmounted and printed on 10x8 inch paper with a 1 inch border at the sides and a 1.5 inch border top and bottom.

Each one is signed by Gina in pencil:

The photograph will appear in Gina's new book The Metabolic Landscape, which is due out in February next year. In the book, Gina addresses humankind’s search for more powerful sources of energy to sustain its increasingly industrial and urbanising existence, and she questions the real costs of our current energy consumption on our climate and ecosystems.

David's print

David has donated ten unmounted prints of a photograph from his recent Cuba portfolio, an utterly stunning body of work.

This is the photograph:

© David Creedon

Here is a picture of the print, which is on 14x9.5 inch photographic paper:

David too has signed the prints:

And he has embossed each one with a stamp to emphasise its authenticity:

What does a print cost?

After choosing the prints for the sale, the toughest question was what price to set. I wanted to make it reasonably affordable, yet do justice to the wonderful prints and the photographers. For instance, Gina's work usually sells for £180 upwards.

After wetting my finger and waving it in the air, I've set the base price at €145 per print. David's print is bigger, but there are fewer of Gina's, so it evens out – in my mind at least.

There are some extra costs for you to factor in, I'm afraid.

What might those extras be? Nothing to onerous and I hope you understand why they are going to be added. The Americans have a wonderful phrase: nickle-and-diming. I don't want you to feel that you're a victim of this, but there are three unavoidable additions.

The first is postage and packaging.

I've set packaging at a standard €5 per print. That should cover a fairly robust protective exterior during transit.

Postage is a different matter. That will depend on where you live and what service you'd like. An Post, the postal service here in Ireland, offers a range of options. Once I know where you live, I'll send you the postage options and prices you can choose from.

The third extra concerns the costs of moving money. I'll be taking payment via PayPal – I know, I know, not everyone's favourite, but it does at least allow many forms of card payment and keeps the admin down at this end. PayPal takes 3.4% plus €0.35 per payment.

Basically, it all means that I can only give you the final price of your print once I know what shipping option you'd like. When I have that, I can add it all up so that above all MSF gets €145 per print regardless of postage costs and how much PayPal syphons off. If I get it right, €2,175 in total from the sale of 15 prints.

How do you get one?

This is first come, first serve.

If you'd like to buy a print, please email me at roger@rogeroverall.net stating which print you would like (the limit is one per person, I'm afraid) and your preferred shipping address. I'll email you back what deliver options are available to you and you can let me know which you'd prefer. Then I can send you your final price along with a PayPal payment request. You can always say "No" if you feel shipping is too much.

Once you've paid, I'll ship your print to you. Upon confirmation of receipt, your donation will go to MSF.

The sale of these prints will end at midnight (GMT) on Friday 25th October – just over two weeks from today. Any unsold prints will be sent back to Gina and David.

Transparency

For the sake of transparency, I'll post here regularly about how many prints have been ordered. I'll provide documentary evidence of the final sales and the transfer of the money we raise to MSF to round it all off.

The whole endeavour should be completed no later than 21st November, which allows time to make sure all the prints have arrived safely and deal with any hiccoughs.

Questions?

Ask away: roger@rogeroverall.net

One last thing

Maybe you could do me a favour? It would be a great help if you were able to mention this fundraising print sale in your social media feeds, linking to this blog post. The more people who are aware of it, the more likely we are to reach our target.

Thank you so much.

The Syria Print Sale – David Creedon's Print

© David Creedon

Choosing a photograph from David Creedon's Cuba work for this print sale was both heaven and hell.

It was heaven because I think that his Cuba portfolio among the very best ever produced. It's not just me who thinks that. David went to Arles this year to show his work and drum up interest for a book. The feedback was universally positive. Sadly, that doesn't mean the book will appear. While I've seen a mock up and it took my breath away, getting a publisher behind a book is hard these days, even if you have the competency and reputation that David has. Maybe, as a next project, we could encourage him to go the self-publish route? I have no doubt his book would do well following a Kickstarter campaign or such.

Choosing a print from such a wonderful collection allowed me to indulge myself in his work. Heaven, as I said.

It was hell at the same time. Out of such a wonderful series which one should I choose? I'd have taken any of them.

In the end, I selected one of the most accessible photographs in the series – one that would have broad appeal, even outside the photographic community. Just in case the sale doesn't go as well as I hope it will among photographers.

You can't go wrong with animals. Cats and dogs in particular.

David's story

David lives in Cork and I'm very lucky that I get the chance to have coffee with him every couple of months. For me, it really is like sitting at the knee of the master – except the chairs are comfortable and I'm allowed a latte.

When we met so that he could give me his prints, we recorded a brief conversation about the photograph. You can listen to it below:

listen to ‘Talking with photographer David Creedon about the photograph he is donating to help raise funds for medical attention for refugees in Syria. .’ on Audioboo

David's photograph is printed on 14x9.5 inch photographic paper, with a boarder of between 0.5 and 0.8 inches around it (depending on the size). He has also stamped them.

Please come back tomorrow and I'll explain how you can purchase one of the prints.

In the meantime, if you are able to promote the sale in any way, shape or form (online or off), I'd be very grateful.

The Syria Print Sale – Gina Glover's Print

Iceberg III, Jökulsárlón lake, Iceland © Gina Glover

I feel bad.

I'm looking at the dateline on the last post and podcast release. It's hard for me to believe that it was early May. We're five months on and only now am I getting round to the print sale mentioned way back then.

There are extenuating circumstances (business pressures, some health niggles) and I can find solace in the adage 'Better late than never', but nevertheless five months is a long time. Many opportunities to help people suffering in Syria have slipped by.

Let's not dwell on it – beyond me saying that I regret it took so long.

So let's get on with it.

To recap

If you've listened to episode 14 of the podcast, you'll know a little of the background to this. If you haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, please do. You'll hear a remarkable man speaking: Christian Payne, better known online as Documentally.

Christian visited Syria earlier this year to find out first hand what the situation was. He isn't a hardened photojournalist in the traditional sense. He doesn't rotate from crisis zone to crisis zone. Instead, he helps businesses, organisations and individuals tell their story using the multitude of storytelling channels available to us in the digital era.

Christian's visit to Syria affected him deeply. If you've listened to the episode, you'll have heard that. One thing struck me above all. A sense shared by Christian and the people he met that his visit was without consequence. It would have no impact on their situation in the refugee camps, and wider in Syria as a whole. People had come before to visit the camps under the banner of telling their story and nothing had changed. Why would this man, Christian, have any more to offer than journalists connected to large media outlets? I think Christian felt this too.

I know Christian to be a kind man. Generous too. I have benefited from his kindness. Eighteen months ago, I was sitting in my car, feeling deflated and defeated. I won't bore you with why. It was, though, the lowest I'd felt in a very long time. Out of the blue I got a message telling me that he'd gifted me a substantial upgrade on my Audioboo account. I was beyond touched. Particularly as he and I had only ever had minimal contact. I still don't really know why he chose to do that for me. I am very grateful however.

When he spoke of the doubt he felt about the value of his visit to Syria, it occurred to me that you and I, the Documentary Photographer community, such as it is, could show that we care – that we heard him speak of the people he met and that we would like to somehow contribute to alleviating the pain in some small measure among Syrians who have been victim of the violence.

The print sale is on

This will only be a droplet in the ocean, but as documentary photographers we're used to using small instances to illustrate a bigger whole or story. So if what we do helps only one person in some way to get through these traumatic times, that is valuable, I think.

I hope you agree. And if you do, that you are able to help out.

The plan is to raise €2,175 for Medecins sans Frontieres' Syria appeal by selling 15 prints donated by two wonderful documentary photographers: Gina Glover and David Creedon.

Gina was interviewed in episode 13 of the podcast. David was our guest in episode 9.

Gina's print

Gina has donated five exceptionally delicate and beautiful prints of her photograph titled Iceberg III, Jökulsárlón lake, Iceland – you can see it at the top of the post here.

The prints are on 10x8 inch paper with a 1 inch border at the sides and a 1.5 inch border top and bottom. Each one is signed by Gina in pencil.

The photograph will appear in Gina's new book The Metabolic Landscape, which is due out in February next year.

In the book, Gina addresses humankind’s search for more powerful sources of energy to sustain its increasingly industrial and urbanising existence, and she questions the real costs of our current energy consumption on our climate and ecosystems.

She explains that a "metabolic disease refers to energy-sourced medical problems like obesity or diabetes. The planet too is revealing signs of metabolic distress: melting glaciers, rising sea levels, coastal erosion, disrupted weather patterns, forest fires, rapidly diminishing biodiversity".

Gina's print is, to me, almost a metaphor for her entire project. It is very delicate and the image printed on it is almost illusive. It is vanishing into the mists – a victim of rising temperatures. At least, that's how it feels to me.

It is a print with meaning and story. An antidote too to the constant stream of pristine, ancient blue iceberg photographs we're bombarded with these days. It is a warning that, left unchecked, our behaviour will turn those pretty blue images into works of history rather than something that exists today.

Tomorrow we'll look at David's print and on Wednesday I'll post information about how you can buy one of the prints.