For more than two decades, the annual Hope in Shadows calendar has showcased photographs taken by residents of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. This year’s theme is: “It’s a beautiful day in the neighbourhood.”
Residents of the area know it isn’t always beautiful. The area is home to many people who live with tremendous challenges: poverty, homelessness, trauma, substance use. A runaway toxic drug crisis has plucked off long-time community fixtures, leaving surviving friends and family members broken.
They are reminded all the time. Stories about the neighbourhood are often illustrated with reductive images of a syringe in a puddle, a pile of pills. Wide-eyed documentarians boast of braving these streets to capture moments of crisis and despair. It’s a reality here, residents know. But not the only reality.
Paula Carlson, editorial and program director of Megaphone, the social enterprise behind Hope in Shadows, says the purpose of the annual photography and calendar project is to return agency to community members. The Pivot Legal Society launched the initiative in 2003 and Megaphone took over in 2014.
“We’re called Megaphone because we amplify these voices that are not heard as often as they should be,” she said. “We’re giving them the camera and going, ‘You show us what you want the world to see about your community.’”
Lynda Choy made a new friend, Izzy, when taking this picture at Lumbermen’s Arch in Stanley Park. ‘She gave me a hug at the end and called me honey. So nice!’ Ms. Choy says.Lynda Choy
The project begins each spring with a photography workshop day where participants are taught photo basics such as lighting and composition. They’re then given single-use cameras, some basic instructions and a five-day deadline to photograph to the specified theme.
A jury of past participants, peers and Megaphone staff then narrow the results to 30 images, to be voted on by the community.
Each participant is paid $100, and each subject in their photos $50. The winning calendar cover comes with a $500 prize, and each image inside, $100. Megaphone’s low-income vendors can then purchase the resulting calendars for $10 a piece, selling them for $20 to keep the profit and any tips. Since its inception, more than $1.3-million has been put back into the pockets of community members, Ms. Carlson said.
For the 2024 calendar, Megaphone distributed 150 cameras, received 144 back and sorted through more than 2,500 photos.
Winning images include a bicycle on its side in front of a towering magenta rhododendron, a little boy peering out of a SkyTrain window and a sunset behind a pier that has illuminated the sky in shades of pink and orange.
First-time participant Eva Takakanew, who photographed the sunset after a swim with her daughter, said the experience helped her to discover a love of photography that she didn’t know she had.
“I think I have a natural eye for it, and to capture beautiful moments is pretty amazing,” she said. “I don’t think enough people actually stop long enough to do that. This world is a beautiful place, and I am so grateful to have lived through the storms to be able to do this.”
David Deocera, whose photo of a rainbow flag in an alley was a Top 30 runner-up, called the experience one of healing, reconciliation and purpose.
“It heals loneliness, isolation and disconnection, he said. “Because of this, you find yourself in a small community.”
Ms. Carlson says the project has created a host of special moments. “In one instance, a family gathered together for the first time in many years so a participant could take their picture for the contest,” she said. “And when folks appear in the calendar, they often use this as a bridge to reconnect with estranged loved ones: ‘Hey mom, I’m in the Hope in Shadows calendar!’”
Henry Doyle enjoyed the blast from the past when he saw this 1950s-era car in Mount Pleasant.Henry Doyle
Peter Thompson gets a little off the top from Sam, The Queen of Kits, a hairdresser at Kitsilano Barbers. Sam and Peter struck up a friendship almost a decade ago, when Peter first began selling Megaphone magazine, the publication behind Hope in Shadows. Sam was one of his original customers.Peter Thompson
Kevin Le had to stop for a picture when he set down his bright red bike beside these rhododendrons. ‘I think that we kind of take it for granted how much green space and natural beauty our neighbourhoods have.’Kevin Le
A boy watches the landscape rush by on the SkyTrain with his mother, Bacilia (Cia) Ramirez. He is a member of the Musqueam First Nation. Riding the train is one of his favourite hobbies, his mother says.Bacilia (Cia) Ramirez
For Ken Martin, this sign on East Pender Street expressed an important point about the Downtown Eastside: It takes care of its own. ‘This neighbourhood is a community. Not everybody’s like that. You know, you never see the positives, you always hear about the negatives.’Ken Martin