Afternoon Slice | Philanthropic Photographers, part 2
Wednesday September 1st, 2010
This post is part two in our series of three features about photographers doing philanthropic work. Last week we covered Emma Dodge Hanson’s work for Adoptive Advocates International. Today we are covering Atlanta-based photographers Jacob Fu and Esther JuLee, of Esther JuLee Photography, and their relief efforts in Haiti.
Esther and Jacob had seen extreme poverty and destruction on past mission trips, but after a devastating earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010, they were shocked at how many people were left homeless or dead. At first, the couple could not financially rationalize a relief trip to Haiti. “But after a couple months of this unshakable feeling of wanting to go, I decided to give back my engagement ring to fund the trip,” said Esther. Jacob had proposed to Esther just two days before the earthquake. “This wasn’t the easiest decision by far, but I knew there was something much bigger than the ring, a much bigger story that would unfold from it all.”
Just two weeks before their wedding, Esther and Jacob went to Haiti. The couple was surrounded by devastation and poverty. It was hard to deal with emotionally, but they knew that the part they would play in this relief was important. They encountered a lot of tent cities, where entire populations of disaster victims lived in tents, and spent most of their time working with three different orphanages. They did maintenance work, played with the children, distributed food to villages up in the mountains, and worked with the women in the red light district. “In just one week, we fell in love with all the people we met on the trip and left a part of our hearts in Haiti,” said Jacob.
Esther and Jacob are pictured below with children they sponsored from Haitian orphanages.
Currently, Esther and Jacob are running a portrait special. All of the proceeds from this special will benefit another trip to Haiti in early 2011, and will act as a sponsorship to the orphans they worked with there.
Thank you Jacob and Esther, for sharing your story with us! For more information about Esther JuLee Photography, visit their website.
