A free pop-up photoshoot took place in front of the East London City Hall last week to help raise awareness on environmental issues. The GO! reported (“Spotlight on protecting environment”, January 30) that NPO Own Space planned on holding a photoshoot in Oxford
Street to raise environmental awareness .
Own Space member Ken Brian said many people were ignorant about the affect they had on the environment.
“Environmentalism is spun greatly from the acknowledgement that it takes a sense of self responsibility to make a difference in our environment. “What we decide to do as individuals collectively adds up to becoming something even greater than ourselves.
“This is known as the ripple effect. To start a ripple in our community, we decided to give back using our talents as creatives and offer free photoshoots that will help raise awareness of the issues affecting our environment,” Brian said.
He said they named the photoshoot “Portraits for a Purpose”, which would serve as an umbrella for all environmental awareness campaigns they were planning to
organise in the future.
“We managed to raise R730 through donations and have gotten over 40 volunteers for a
future beach clean-up initiative.” During the pop-up photoshoot, the group held open discussions with individuals on how they could make a difference.
Brian said the change had to start with individuals.
“Each one of us has to take up the initiative to do better. Firstly, cultivation of this habit in
our homes, and then to spread it out will help in ensuring that the next generation also has a grip.
“Going forward, we would like to host a beach clean-up day for the community. Instead of the cliche with people walking around with plastic bags and collecting litter, a more fun and unorthodox approach of a ‘fun day ’ is what we have in mind, with the inclusion of beach volleyball, soccer, jumping castles, hot dog vans, and so on,” Brian said.
