Lightwriters

By simply moving your thumbs you can help change lives....

dustinbryson — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:12:00 -0600

By simply moving your thumbs you can help change lives.

Brilliant!

Hey LW’s, We will be dedicating the next month to...

dustinbryson — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 21:00:43 -0600

Hey LW’s,

We will be dedicating the next month to Help-Portrait. If you live in Midland, TX please click here and join the HP community.

If you live elsewhere please click here and search for a Help Portrait event in your area.

- Dustin

New Site

dustinbryson — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 21:19:08 -0500

Hi all.

There hasn’t been much buzz around here lately.

Party because there hasn’t been much to say, but also because I am working on a new concept for the website.

If you stick with me I won’t let you down.

- Dustin

Fellow Lightwriters Wynne & Stephen Elder were a part of the...

dustinbryson — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 10:59:41 -0500

Fellow Lightwriters Wynne & Stephen Elder were a part of the filming of this documentary. If this trailer inspired you, if it moved you at all, remember the guys who made it could have been off filming the next multi million dollar blockbuster … but they weren’t, they were filming this instead.

Photo

dustinbryson — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 18:24:09 -0500

Membership Application is Live

dustinbryson — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 20:39:00 -0500

Good evening,

Just wanted to let you know that the membership application and a handful of other pages are now live here on the site. There will be much more to come but if you want to apply now you are more than welcome.

Please read the about page before you apply.

Mahalo,

Dustin Bryson

I’m pretty excited to announce this little small thing....

dustinbryson — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 21:53:07 -0500

I’m pretty excited to announce this little small thing. It’s silly really but it could make a huge difference in the lives of some kids. Kid’s who haven’t had much reason to hope. Kid’s who haven’t experienced much love.

I have picked our first camera for the art therapy program.

It’s called the fujifilm instax 210. It’s a rugged instant camera that spits out some pretty great wide format prints.

I picked this camera for a number of reasons.

It’s rugged. It will hold up to the beating only a kid could dish out.
The images it produces are wonderful. Great coloring with that Polaroid look and feel.
It only has a few buttons which works well in small hands.

I will be posting how you can put one of these in the hands of a kid soon.

Thank you for reading.

- Dustin Bryson

Still Trucking

dustinbryson — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:02:00 -0500

Hi.

I truly hope you have had an amazing month. I have & I wanted to jump on here and update you all on what’s going on with Lightwriters.

1st - I have been praying daily for God to reveal the story that He wants told. I’ve had a few that I pursued and dug into to get the details needed to see if it’s a fit for our first trip and so far I’ve only hit dead ends.

IF YOU KNOW OF A STORY THAT NEEDS TO BE TOLD PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

I’m still looking and I will let you know as soon as I have more info.

2nd - I’ve been testing cameras for our art therapy program and I’ll post about my findings soon.

3rd - I have met with a few guys my senior who I respect and they have prodded me forward. They have encouraged me to take these trips and tell these stories even if I travel alone. I hope I won’t have to, but their words are encouraging and I am excited about this first journey.

4th - Travel dates are far from concrete, but I can say that this first Lightwriters trip will take place between February-April 2012. If you want to go, please let me know you are interested early.

That’s about it guys, stay tuned and please follow on Twitter if you don’t already @TheLightwriters.

Mahalo,

Dustin

A Conversation with 6 Humanitarian Photographers

dustinbryson — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:34:45 -0500

Check out this interesting article about humanitarian photography.

http://halogentv.com/articles/storytelling-in-real-time-a-conversation-with-six-humanitarian-photographers/

We are getting closer!

dustinbryson — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:38:41 -0500

Thank you to all of you who are keeping up with the launch of this new ministry. We are so thankful for your friendship and prayers!

We have been kicking around a lot of ideas about how we can make a real and lasting impact using story and we think we have come up with what God is calling us to do.

Please continue to pray for us as we work through the details.

P.S. the new web build has begun so hopefully we will have something to show y’all in the next month or so.

Be blessed,

-Dustin

Africa Update #3

dustinbryson — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 08:45:21 -0500

It’s late and I’ve been trying to upload pics to Facebook for the past 4 hours almost.

I hope you go look at them & I pray it gives you a glimpse into what we are doing in Africa.

I am almost done posting a glimpse into our time in Uganda and will soon show you what we are doing in Ethiopia.

I just had to write a quick note about this country.

Coming here, I was both nervous and excited. My heart, my passion, and my future family all live here, in Addis. What if I hated it? What if my heart really didn’t feel pulled to this beautiful country? These were the thoughts running through my mind and heart before we arrived in Ethiopia.

But our God is great. and big. and the moment we landed in this country, it felt like home. I was no longer nervous or anxious, I just felt a peace. A peace that this is exactly where we are supposed to be. It hasn’t gone away since we first landed. I seriously woke up feeling like I was at home in my own bed (doesn’t help that Ethiopian Guest House is in one word: amazing!).

Going into Korah today I didn’t really know what to expect. I don’t know if it’s ok to say I love a place that is full of orphans, widows, leapers, the outcast and hopeless - but I do because I love them. My heart breaks for them but in a way that I can’t explain. Instead of seeing orphans, widows, and people who live literally in a trash dump - in the middle of rainy season no less - I saw Jesus in them. I felt his love and presence there. The stench, the extreme poverty, well it didn’t make me like the place less, but love it more. I can’t explain it. I think God calls people to different places, to different people groups, and I think mine is right here in Ethiopia. in Korah.

Much more to say, but it’s late and we’ve got a busy day in Korah tomorrow. Continuing our Extreme Home Makeovers and leading VBS for 50-150 (what a range!) kids!

Please continue to pray for health, favor, for us to be the hands and feet of Jesus, to love BIG, and pray for our video team as they are seeking to tell the story of those we meet in Ethiopia & Uganda and how people (specifically men) can MAN UP for the orphan! We know God has big plans!

-Wynne

Wynne and Stephen were finally able to get an Internet...

dustinbryson — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 16:47:27 -0500

Wynne and Stephen were finally able to get an Internet connection and get some images up. They are currently in Ethiopia, please keep them in your prayers until they return.

Follow along here.

Simply Love

dustinbryson — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 07:13:00 -0500

This blog post is with my good friend, Chloe, from belovedadventurer.blogspot.comps - the pic above is of me & chloe from today at a children’s prison in Uganda
I wanted to share a few words and then let her words and my imagesdo the talking. She’s an amazingly talented writer. She says it better than I could EVER say, so I’ll let her tell it. It’s been an amazing week so far, I don’t know how I’ll ever put into words what I’ve seen with my eyes and what has happened in my heart. But I hope these few images will do some talking. We have met some amazing people with huge loving hearts. All these kids want is to be loved. To be touched, and hugged, and held and loved. What an honor it’s been toshare the love of Christ with these beautiful children. There is so much to be said. So much to be done. So many stories to be told. I pray this week that God hows me how I can effectively share their stories with you. Until then….Chloe….
In the words of Chloe…..
“Where my words fail, the pictures can fill in the holes. Africa is everything you have heard, read, and imagined, but more vivid, bright, and searing. The smell of red dust, exhaust, and burning refuse fills your lungs. The jungle is lush, green, leaves as big as the span of your arms from fingertip to fingertip. Goats, cows, chickens, and children walk along the side of the dusty roads. Ugandans use no time, but savor every moment, stop when it is necessary to stop and hug your neighbor’s neck. I woke up to the sound of the rooster crow and a woman singing prayers to Allah below my window. The lights of Kampala glittered against the misty hills. We want to catch you up on the past 5 days of travel and ministry.

There is little to no cell service, very little wireless internet, and often times no electricity, so blogging was not an option. The flight over was pleasant. The airlines were very accommodating; and Wynne and I somehow managed to convince Stephen to sit with Dude Perfect. We snagged the very back row of the Boeing 777, complete with plaid blankets, eye masks, reclining chairs, and square meals. We spent 10 of the 12 hours trying to figure out the best way to sleep, then 2 hours of sleep. Overall, the lengthy travel allowed us to transition easily into the African time lapse.

Our first night we stayed in a guest home on the outskirts of the city before our first day at Return Ministries. We woke up to a breakfast of toast and pineapple, slipped on our long skirts, and began our journey. It was a brick house, with a concrete slab and portico. The vans pulled up and my eyes were filled with 300 little faces, singing and dancing, and gleaming smiles. I climbed out of the van, immediately greeted with what seemed like dozens of little arms reaching up towards me, begging to be held. There was no hesitation, no boundaries on the affection like we so often try to set in place in the States. We danced, and danced, and danced. 300 kids. 45 in school. 15 being housed. I have never been so filled with joy. Even with so many children, I was able to spend the entire time with the same 10 kids. When one walked away, another would look up to you, then the other would return. Swabulah, Alice, Mercy, Angella, Jeremiah, Sophia, Olivia, Emmy, and Asher. Strong names. Their very cheek bones tell a story, the amber and dark brown of their eyes. Alice was deaf, but communicated better than most with her smile and hands.
Chloe, Shayleigh and some girls at Return Ministries.

They taught us how to shake our hips, to laugh, to not worry about our hungry stomachs, or dry throats, to give into love so quickly that it utterly breaks your heart when you leave hours later. Imagine the sound of the beating drum, laughter, and “I lahv yooo Jezus, Jezus een mah haut.” There was a moment as I was spinning with children on both hips that I was home. I could close my eyes and sit at the foot of the throne singing for eternity with these beautiful souls. All I could promise them was that I would see them in heaven, that we would wear our grass skirts, sing, and kiss each other’s heads again.

Sitting in the van, with my hand out the window grasping my girls’ hands, watching tears roll down their dusty cheeks was burned my heart. The orphan crisis is real. The problem is real. It is big. There really are thousands of fatherless children. Real children with skin, memories of violence, hungry bellies, dreams of becoming lawyers, singers, and italian cooks.

Driving back through the busy city, all I could do was sit and watch. Someone in our van said, “there is no such thing as second chances here”. How true it is.

{this is what their faces look like when they want you to pick them up and love them. this is Olivia. We became friends at Return Ministries. }
We relocated to a beautiful guest home farther outside the city before day 2 of travel. This morning we prayed as we drove 2 hours to a “childrens’ rehabilitation center”, knowing that what the day held would be dark, jolting. After being escorted through a check-in process, we were brought through the facility. A corridor of confinement cells, cement floors and walls, entry rooms where children are put as they arrive for weeks with no clothing and a plastic basin. Running water is a more recent installment to the compound. Barren landscape. 219 kids. 200 boys. 19 girls. I didn’t even know how to begin to process what my eyes were seeing. Wynne made the analogy that they treat these kids as if they were lost pets. When you lose your dog, you call the shelter, who you hope has picked them up on the streets. Most of them will never be reclaimed and are unjustly detained. Kenneth was walking home one day when a group of young boys came up behind him. They were being chased by police for petty theft, so in the shuffle, Kenneth was sent to M1 too. For 2 years. The children had open wounds, untreated sores, and clothes that you would never even let your child wear as pajamas in the States. We throw out clothes with one stain from snack, these children would give up a meal for a bar of soap to scrub their clothes. They will keep them in solitary confinement cells for weeks, months even, to “break them down” for crimes that they either didn’t commit or committed out of desperation.

Passing through cell after cell, we gathered in a concrete room. What happened next was beyond anything I’ve ever tasted or seen. The boys began singing, clapping, and dancing. You could feel the Ugandan beat in your chest. I looked around me and saw boys earnestly raising their hands to the sky, eyes clinched shut, singing ”Let the mercy of the Lord come down. Let the favor of the Lord come down. Let the forgiveness of the Lord come down.” We sank to our knees and raised our hands to the Lord of hosts. One of the boys stood in the center leading each song, praying in Lugandan, pleading on behalf of the children gathered around him on their knees. He is only 17.

God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good. I don’t worship on my knees till they ache, sway to the movement of the Spirit, and weep at the taste of His mercy. I never hunger, shower in privacy, know where my parents are, drink water whenever I thirst, entertain myself mindlessly, make a doctor’s appointment at the first sign of a cold, and know that my dreams could be accomplished. These children have no second chance. Many will be held in this cold compound for years, away from their schooling and family, mistreated, and beaten. When they are released, going back to primary school is unfathomable, trade school costs $250 every 4 months.

But then there is Moses Alutia.

He visits all 6 centers across Uganda weekly, plays soccer, sees that they receive medical attention, reasons with the system, creates a second chance. 60 feet ministries is carrying the Gospel headlong. These centers may never change, the environment may always keep their wounds from healing, and mistreat children, but Moses is seeing to it that they find their families, and hopes to build homes for them to live in after their release. It is only possible through sponsorship and the forming of these homes that this sick cycle will slow, much less end.

Africa is real to Wynne and I. God commands us to care for the fatherless, and now we see why. They have no advocate. Only two days in and I am wondering what the heck I am doing with my life. Pray for God to provide ways into the 2nd center tomorrow, for continued health, and for our hearts to connect with our eyes.

Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. ¹² It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to posess.

But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Deuteronomy 30

Love, Chloe and Wynne

PS- it’s taken me over 1 hour and I have yet to get 1 picture from my camera. So, you might only get 1 or 2 pictures on the blog and then more instagram pics from my phone on facebook &instagram (@wynne4) so look there for more quick snapshots!

Please be in prayer as Wynne and Steve Elder travel to Ethiopia...

dustinbryson — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 13:52:05 -0500

Please be in prayer as Wynne and Steve Elder travel to Ethiopia and Uganda to meet and hang out with some orphans. They are fellow LIGHTWRITERS who are on the waiting list to adopt a little boy, named Camp, from Ethiopia. We will retweet, and repost whatever they can get to us so stay tuned.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that....

dustinbryson — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:56:57 -0500

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

Four months ago I found myself in a weird place, it’s called West Texas, and even though I was born here it’s as much a mystery to me as outer space.

My lack of familiarity was one thing, but I was also starting a new job, where I would have a real live boss and office hours for the first time in about twenty years.

Things were going a mile a minute and I felt my creativity being crushed. I knew one thing for certain, I was done shooting commercially. I was burned out and I felt the fire was gone.

Somehow my friends Wynne and Stephen Elder and I end up at a photography charity event thrown by newly drafted football star Baron Batch. I had no idea who he was, but I miss art openings and culture and the buzz of like minded people, so I went.

Come to find out Baron had a love for photography and a heart for the people of Haiti. He had recently returned from the torn country where he had documented his experience and was now auctioning the images to pay for tuition for Haitian children.

Phenomenal, I thought. This is a guy, with a camera and a vision to do something about the plight that he saw. Most of us look for a second, think ‘how sad’ and move on with our lives stuffing our faces with big macs and driving shiny automobiles. I was struck by the fact that this young man, now a professional athlete, could live his life in comfort and yet he is choosing to help others instead.

Rewind to 2007 and a project I started called Agony & Angels. It was a group of brash young(ish) photographers who felt like they could make a difference with their lenses. I had too much on my plate at the time and I failed to make the organization into what I believe God had called me to do.

I have learned a lot since A+A, and now it’s time to reignite this movement and run full force into the Son.

So join us, become a Lightwriter, use your lenses and lead to eliminate darkness.

A huge thank you to Baron Batch, Ryan Voight and the rest of the 2nd Hand Images crew.

I also need to thank Stephen and Wynne Elder for being my friends and coming along side me on this journey. You are beautiful people and I am blessed to count you as friends. I also love the beautiful shot you bought me, I have no words to describe how that made me feel. Oh, and Wynne, thank you for letting me steal this images even thought I didn’t ask.

Check out Wynne Elder Photography here.

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The quality is always in the details. Produce quality...

dustinbryson — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:56:00 -0500

The quality is always in the details. Produce quality Lightwriters!

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE INANIMATE OBJECT?

dustinbryson — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 07:04:00 -0500

My 5d mark II

This all started with an idea. How can I use my lens to help...

dustinbryson — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 06:45:00 -0500

This all started with an idea.

How can I use my lens to help people?

When I asked other photographers they all seemed to have the exact same question. There seems to be a common heart amongst people of the lens, and this got me thinking.

I set out to find a website where I could plug in my name and shoot when a need arose.

I couldn’t find one, so I started Agony & Angels in 2007. It failed quickly and miserably. (More on that in a later post)

It’s four years later and I’ve sold my studio, retired from youth ministry and moved across the country.

Now is the time, but I need your help. At this point in the creation of this org, ministry, movement, I need advice!

As a photographer, filmmaker or writer, how would you like to use your talents for good? Where to you feel pulled?

- Dustin