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Photographers Give Back
T
OMAS R AMOS AND KEN OSBORNE HAVE KNOWN E ACH OTHER FOR YE ARS AS PHOTOGR APHERS AT WEDDINGS AND CORPOR ATE EVENTS. Now they have stepped out to do something bigger than themselves. “As we get older you want to leave a legacy,” said Ramos. They spent a year and a half preparing to go to Afghanistan to tell the people’s stories. He explained that training and security were intense because on the roads of Afghanistan, kidnapping Americans is a real threat. They worked with trusted advisors to smuggle people out of villages and into government-run cities. Here, they are safe to tell their stories. “What you see on TV is not reality,” said Ramos. “The Afghan people are great people.” They don’t
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like the Taliban or ISIS and they just want their country back. The photos and videos tell their stories; stories of children growing up in war-torn Afghanistan. As a symbol of the children who have been lost, the photographers received shoes from grieving parents. “Our purpose was to create a global symbol in the form of a photograph to show the effects of war on family and children,” said Ramos. Using the rarest precious metals on Earth: 24-karat gold, platinum and palladium, the team created the world’s largest print made of these elements. In fact, they hold the patent on this technology. A photograph of the shoes in front of the Gate of Charkent has been turned into a one-of-a-kind art piece. For more information visit milliondollarprint.com. —Laurette M. Veres
PHOTO BY TOMAS RAMOS AND KEN OSBORNE
Raising funds to help victims of war
