Kickstarter

In 2006 I took my first trip to the Dominican Republic with the Foundation for Peace, a 501 c. 3. non-profit organization., to help build schools, playgrounds, churches and water treatment facilities. At 14 years old and having never visited a third world country, I had no expectations and did not think the experience would have much impact. However, seven trips and six years later, I find myself still traveling to the Dominican Republic.

            My photography over the years has helped me to best document and describe my experiences in the Dominican Republic. While these 10-day trips have allowed me to make many photographs, I realize that they have not given me enough time to create a well-rounded body of photographs that document my perspective of the Dominican Republic. This summer I look forward to spending a month and half photographing in the Dominican Republic to create a body of photographs as well as to publish my first photo book.

         My goal is to raise enough money so that I can afford to return to the Dominican Republic, photograph and put together a book once I return. The money I hope to raise will go to the costs of travel, film, film processing and the making of the book. In order to complete my project, I am asking for help.

            By making a book I hope to create a physical object that exists not only as a documentation of the people and places, but also a personal record of my relationship to the Dominican Republic. In my photographs I look to document various aspects of Dominican life including the people, culture, the general landscape as well as the struggle they endure. The Dominican Republic may be full of poverty but it is  culturally rich and the people are full of hope. With a combination of portraits and landscape photographs, my viewer will be able to get a feeling  for my experience of the Dominican Republic. 

            However, to make this work possible I will need an estimated $3,000. In return for donations, I will be exchanging my work in various forms including prints of the photographs I take and/or a copy of the book.   

Please Visit my website, http://www.stephensperanzaphoto.com/ , to view my work and the previous photographs I have made in the Dominican Republic.