Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission
What does it mean to be lost? To really lose everything you value in life – your family, your friends, your job, and ultimately, your home? As much as we in advertising like to think that we have good imaginations, I couldn’t imagine what that would be like. Or what it would feel like to come out the other side.
I thought about that a lot as I flew across the country to shoot portraits for the Lost & Found campaign for Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. The goal of this awareness campaign was to juxtapose the haunting face of someone who’s lost everything through homelessness with a portrait of someone who’s escaped the streets.
Ultimately, the stories told through these images is a narrative that plays out every day at Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. This incredible organization is doing what so many say is impossible. They’re helping people lost in homelessness find a new beginning.
Thanks to art director Paul Asao and copywriter Dan Mackaman for going above and beyond to create something bigger than ourselves and asking me to be part of it.
Additional thanks to: Agency producer, Kim Witzczak; Photo producers Amber Geiger, Jordan Siegman and Shelli Gonshorowski; Assistants Lucas Chapel and Michael Ganyo; DIT, David Falcon Ayala; H&MU, Jenny Verador; Video portraits editor, Cam Hassman and colorist Enno Jacobsen; and digital artist Rebecca Bausher for coaxing the very best out of the still images.
To learn more or donate to Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission, visit ugm.org.