The Journey is the Inspiration: Call for Contributors

THE STORY
Some stories need to be told and retold. Such is the case with Dan Eldon. Born in London in 1970, he moved to Kenya with his family at age seven, where he remained through high school. He embraced his new life fully and quickly became an explorer of the world. Dan began taking photographs of his adventures while accompanying his mother on her travels as a journalist. These pictures became the basis of his visual journals, in which he documented his life, beginning at age 15. Extremely charitable and concerned about the world around him, Dan traveled extensively and returned to Africa repeatedly. In 1993, having become the youngest photojournalist employed by Reuters, he and three other journalists were stoned to death as they covered the famine and escalating violence in Somalia. He was 22 years old.

His life has had a profound impact on a countless number of people and though nearly 21 years have passed since his death, his legacy of inspiration continues to gain momentum. His mother Kathy and sister Amy have since co-founded Creative Visions Foundation. CVF fosters positive change through its support of creative activists - people who use the arts to raise awareness of social, environmental, and humanitarian issues. His family has also shared his journals and their message through the publication of a series of book, beginning in 1997 with The Journey is the Destination .

Dan was a pioneer and a visionary in so many ways: as an activist, an adventurer and an artist. His journals were created long before the current trend in visual journaling began. And yet his approach - raw, real and very personal - presaged the style of many journalers today.


THE CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
People who know of Dan Eldon always describe being deeply impacted by his life. That is the basis for this call for creative contributions. We want to hear how you have been inspired by Dan's story and your story will be shared on the blog at DanEldon.org. In this way, a new visual journal can be created and Dan's legacy can be brought to more and more people.
In words and/or images, please tell us what Dan and his experiences have meant to you. Share your own personal memory of reading the books that document his life, of seeing his journals in print for the first time, and/or realizing how much this remarkable man accomplished in his short life. Perhaps you are a journaler and have created pages, directly or indirectly influenced by his approach. Or perhaps you will now as part of this call. Either way, we want to see what Dan's legacy has created in you and what you have created as a result. And much like with visual journaling itself, there are no rules here about what to include or not to include. We want real, raw and very personal.

THE FINE PRINT
You do not have to be a journaler, an artist or a writer to participate. You just have to be willing to share. Please send your submissions and any inquiries to Seth Apter at shap97@gmail.com. For entries, please include your text as an email attachment in a Word Doc and your images in the form of jpegs as attachments as well. The deadline for the first round of submissions is May 1 and further rounds will be announced at that time. More detailed information about the postings will be sent to those who submit and will be posted online for those of you interested in viewing the entries.