JIM HUBBARD

"MAYBE SOMETHING A KID DOES WHILE WORKING ON THIS PROJECT WILL AFFECT THEM IN SUCH A WAY THAT THEY WILL GO ON TO A GREAT, CREATIVE WAY OF EXAMINING THE SOCIAL ILLS THAT THEY LIVE THROUGH."

Jim Hubbard was a photographer for UPI when he was first exposed to the homeless of Washington, D.C. Unlike most people, Jim looked at the homeless children and saw a resource. He put cameras in their hands, self-confidence in their heads, hope in their hearts and started, "Shooting Back". Eventually he quit his job to spend full time as an advocate for the homeless. In 1988, he founded the Shooting Back Education and Media Center and he, along with a group of volunteer photographers, work regularly with an ever-changing and growing group of homeless children.

"Shooting Back" is Hubbard's way of showing that there is something very special in the expression of youth, especially homeless youth. Jim has shared his photographic gift with the children of the shelters and in return they have shared, in a unique blend of stark reality and the joyous spirit of youth, the astonishing vision of their life. Through the eyes of these children and their cameras, we see the environment of the homeless. The children's pictures show the awful reality of their homeless life but they also show hope and love and their photographs are alive, insightful, poignant and gifted.

Jim and his "Shooting Back" project is a powerful force in the homeless struggle and he says of the children's works, "These photos can educate people about the reality of homelessness. They have the real potential to create some sensitivity in the policy-makers, lobbyists and other people on Capital Hill."

When people say to Hubbard that the project is not getting homes for these kids and their families he replies, "A child has twenty-four hours in a day like everybody else and they have to do something with that time. What's waiting for all these children is drugs and crime. If you focus a child's interest on something as creative as photography, there is a chance you can dissuade them from going down that road."

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