This picture is not to show that I was once young and even frivolous. It is meant to show the camera around my neck. Money was scarce and we believed in honest work, so my best friend Ralph and I, part of the neighborhood in Brooklyn, where first names were used by everyone, and everyone knew everyone, used the camera for cash.  We took pictures of everyone in the neighborhood (film was very cheap then) and after using Ralph’s dingy basement, unlit apartment with a makeshift darkroom, we brought pictures to life and sold then for 5 cents each with free delivery (not much less than Microstock sales today). Anyway Ralph went on to shoot prestigious advertisements for many corporations, lived in lavish style in the hills of L.A. and before he died, probably was thankful everyday for the 5 cent pictures which made him love photography and go on to a wonderful career.
             

© Jerry Tavin

             As for me, Jerry Tavin, alas I took a long journey until I returned to photography not as a shooter but as a business man. My relationship with photographers worldwide through my company nonstock was always a great experience and brought me in contact with many wonderful young photographers. So I’ve come a long way from 5 cent photos for pocket change to our foundation Young Photographers Alliance. Still heavily involved in the business of photography, my “passion” is to nurture young photographers, through a new nonprofit foundation. I found the perfect partner in Deborah Free, President of Picturehouse Marketing US, who for many years has loved working with photographers. She is also intelligent, determined, and tireless when it comes to getting things done. Together we began to formulate our plans for the Young Photographers Alliance, an international network of young photographers with goals to provide scholarships, mentoring, internships and business education programs. With the support of great organizations like ASPP, ASMP, PACA, CEPIC and BAPLA and with the efforts of wonderful and talented people in the industry who have given their time, their energy and their extraordinary expertise, we have begun the journey.

                In a very short time we have been able to provide three juried scholarships plus two stipends for honorable mention (not huge, but a beginning). We have a young intern going to Kenya for a wildlife shoot with a distinguished photographer and educator. And we have already enlisted the support of many countries in Europe, South America and East Africa, as well as China and Russia, for integrated YPA programs in the future. Our awards ceremony will be held at Picturehouse New York on October 13, 2009 at a gala reception. Several of our Young Photographers’ works, plus prints from many established photographers who support YPA, will be featured at a silent auction during the gala. Auction proceeds will go to the Young Photographers scholarship funds and other YPA programs. We will soon invite Young Photographer’s to join us as members on our website www.youngphotographersalliance.org, which is currently under construction. In the meantime please feel free to contact us anytime at info@youngphotographerallliance.org.  

Our next article will feature one of our scholarship winners, the work, the school, the story.