THE POWER OF PICTURES

A trip to a Zambian school sparked an idea that has helped tens of thousands of people in need around the world. Here St Albans photographer Adam Dickens discusses the work of Taking Pictures, Changing Lives

- Caroline Thain

With a lifelong love of photography, Adam Dickens had always believed in the adage ‘a picture tells a thousand words’ but now he has seen how powerful that truth can be.

Over more than a decade the photographer and designer has helped charities raise in excess of £2m by travelling the world to document their work then donating his photography. The 49-year-old, who lives in St Albans with his wife and daughter, has enabled these charities to have a positive impact on the lives of more than 100,000 people.

Recognising that large humanitarian causes rely on expensive publicity campaigns to help generate public support, Adam noticed that smaller struggling communities didn’t have the same opportunities. He has now made more than 70 visits to charities and social enterprises who work with some of the poorest communities around the world - taking hundreds of thousands of photos and gifting them to help the organisations tell their stories better and raise their profiles.

His charity work began 11 years ago, when he first travelled abroad to help a charity that had a school in Zambia, funded through a school in St Albans. It was so successful that he hasn’t looked back since.

‘I was sent to Zambia to take some pictures and then we held an event in London, hiring a gallery and showing my photos. We raised £45,000 on that evening, which was amazing. Not all charities have the same kind of connections and that started me thinking that I could offer my services to different charities. Since then I have made over 70 trips to charitable projects in total, on four continents.’