The Unfolding of a Vision

By Connie Wragge, PhotoMission

In a small London office on a March day in 2002, four people sat down to two days of work.  One was a web developer, Andrew Milloy.  Another was his colleague, Giles Chanot.  The other two people were the clients, Connie Wragge and Ian Homer.

Wragge had flown over from Philadelphia for the meeting, while Homer had driven to it from his home in Cardiff, Wales.

A third client, Ghani Zaman, was there in spirit, from his home in India.

The foursome took to the task at hand, building a website for Christian photographers.  After the two days, Wragge flew back to the United States, and Homer returned to Cardiff.  The four were not to meet again in person until May 2004.  Yet between March 2002 and October 2002, a website went live. 

From Milloy’s handrawn sketches to Homer’s work on the logo, the PhotoMission website became all that it was intended – a vision of Christian photographers networked together.  Today, that vision is fulfilled, allowing Wragge, Zaman and Homer to receive specific requests for photography from around the world.  The three founding members of PhotoMission now work with 83 new colleagues who live in 14 countries, and the list of Christian photographers joining them continues to grow. 

Working electronically across six continents, the photographers supply images for customers – specifically people seeking photography that supports a visual understanding of God’s Word.  They also take on freelance assignments in countries where it would otherwise be too expensive to finance the cost of dispatching a photographer for “on-location” work.

So how did a site go from sketches on butcher paper to a live launch?  Once Wragge returned home, she and Milloy held weekly phone meetings.  In addition, the two worked together using instant messaging where Milloy was able to supply his client with visual images as the work on the site progressed.

The site has as its main objectives – to see Christian photographers use their talent for something other than their own purposes, to encourage them to continually refine their artistic skills and to be vocal about their relationship to Jesus Christ.

For example, on the ‘Photographers’ Talent’ page, a web viewer can click to enlarge any one of the representative sample images and read the personal testimony of faith written by the photographer who took the picture.

 

 

The PhotoMission team took the ‘Photographers’ Talent’ page live in June.  Simultaneously, the website took on a new web page on the members’ portion of the site, called ‘Photo Projects.’  It is here that a photographer can upload images for a designated project.  Once uploaded, the customer receives access and selects (or deselects) the photos he likes.  A gold border identifies the chosen images that can then be downloaded by Wragge, Zaman or Homer and delivered directly and immediately to the buyer – minus the PhotoMission watermark that loads each time a photographer adds an image to the project at hand.

 

 

The ‘Photo Projects’ page lays out the specifics for the photographers, details the need (landscapes and macro images, for example), requested resolution and the deadline.  Participation is voluntary.  Photos found on this page can be ticked for appearance on the public ‘Photographers’ Talent’ page by any one of the three founding members.

Each of the pages found on the public side of the website is also found on the members’ side.  The members’ side focuses on building cross-cultural friendships by using an interactive discussion board where the photographers add/contribute to topics, a praise and prayer web page, and three separate chat rooms – one for prayer, another for photography and a third one for general use.

In summary, people everywhere want to feel valued.  PhotoMission is the means by which Christian photographers connect with others who share their artistic passion and their love for Christ…the website gives them the opportunity to supply images to people who need them…and it offers a clearly defined strategy for highlighting new talent. 

 

 

 

www.photomission.com

2004 WebAward Winner:  Best Faith-based Website

 

 





 

 

 

 

 

 

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