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of their hand facing the camera as close to the face as possible, and they may be as creative as they want. The photographer snaps the photo and the entire process takes less than 5 minutes. Two weeks after the photo event, each participant receives an email with instructions on how to find their photo in the online gallery and social networks along with ideas on how to share it with friends and family. Each individual is also invited to share a "PhotoStory" as part of the photo essay project, where participants discuss the unique issues and causes they support.
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284:), created by students at the local middle school who collected more than 11 million paperclips from around the world and placed them into a rail car used to transport Jews, blacks, homosexuals, Jehova's Witnesses, and other people to concentration camps. The original teacher from the project, David Alan Smith, as well as the local elected and school officials took part in the campaign by getting their photo taken at the City Hall Court Room.
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details were set in place to open the official I Am Equal Photo
Documentary world tour at The Citizen Hotel, across the street from City Hall and the California State Capital. The documentary creators have said that they intend to visit between 20 and 25 cities each year for at least 7 years in order to collect their target goal of more than 100,000 individual photos.
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to fuel the viral expansion of the project; participants are encouraged to use their photo on social media networks as a way to initiate conversations about the issue or cause represented by the individual. Some participants have taken their photo beyond the social networks by printing it on business
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To participate in the campaign, individuals are encouraged to wear a solid brightly colored shirt and go to a public photo event in their area where a temporary tattoo with the logo "I AM =" is applied to the palm of their hand. They stand in front of the camera with the instructions to have the palm
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is a photo documentary created by Jason
Beckett and fashion photographer Matt Spencer in late 2009. The project has the stated intention of collecting more than 100,000 individual photos from 175 cities around the world and using them to build one of the largest photo mosaics in history. In 2011, the
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In
February, the campaign made stops in Raleigh, North Carolina, Knoxville, Tennessee, and Columbus, Ohio. While in Tennessee, the project founders made a detour to stop in the small town of Whitwell to include this community of 1,600 people in the project. The founders wanted to include the people
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The project founders assert that the simple act of sharing the photo or putting it on display may be all that is needed to open new conversations with co-workers, friends, family, and even perfect strangers about the big and small issues that these participants feel are facing the world today. Some
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The project creators said it is their first priority to ensure that it represents all people, issues, and causes rather than just the popular equality topic of the day. The expressed intention of the campaign is to get participants to speak up and discuss, with friends and family, the humanitarian,
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After collecting nearly 500 photos in the testing phase of the documentary project, organizers began planning the first "official" tour event in
Sacramento, California, with the help of former NBA All Star and current Sacramento City Mayor, Kevin Johnson. Working closely with his entire staff, the
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Working with the North Texas chapter of Get Equal, the I Am Equal Photo
Documentary set up at the Aloft Dallas Hotel and took photos of more than 300 people. Project founder Beckett was invited to address the assembled crowd at the annual North Texas March for Equality on the steps of City Hall as
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companies and various international publications. Publications including Women's
Fitness Magazine, Seventeen Magazine, V.I.P. Zone, M the Book, Launchpad Magazine, PDN have featured his work. Some campaign members have said that his photographic style become as recognizable as the campaign logo
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To further support the photo documentary project and associated foundation, Beckett also produced the 'Live For Love' Charity mini album and donated all the proceeds to the campaign. The album includes the original songs Live For Love and Will You Stand By, along with a cover of the Elton John
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Some of the issues and causes already represented by individuals participating in the I AM EQUAL Photo
Documentary include autism, marriage equality, drug addiction, immigration reform, atheism, religious freedom, teen suicide, Downs Syndrome, gender equality, racism, poverty, incest rape, gay
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Jason
Beckett is a marketing and brand developer who has created and managed multimillion-dollar campaigns for authors, manufactures, gurus, and corporations across the United States. He was the Director of Original Programming for Turner Media, writer/producer for Dream Big Productions, and
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in late 2009, the campaign was developed in response to the founder's perceptions of a general social apathy prevailing in the world. They built the documentary with the intention of giving participants a reason to talk about the unique issues or causes they support, and to encourage those
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The documentary was created by Jason
Beckett and fashion photographer Matt Spencer who said the campaign was meant to encourage individuals to get more active in educating, inspiring, and empowering their friends and family to make a positive difference in their communities and the world.
153:, so the I Am Equal Photo Documentary was built to connect all of the issues of equality, human rights, civil liberties, and conservation into one massive conversation of mutual respect for all people while uniting individual participants in a common initiative to break a world record.
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The project returned to Salt Lake City and held a general public photo event on
February 5, 2011, at The Sheraton Downtown Hotel where an additional 650 photos were added to the documentary collection. The project made its way to Las Vegas, Nevada, in partnership with
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The project was invited to the University of North Florida as part of their first annual 'Week of One' diversity celebration, created in part as a vehicle to showcase the project and allow students the opportunity to take part in the record-breaking campaign.
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In December 2009 Beckett and Spencer conceptualized the documentary project as a world tour campaign that would visit approximately 25 cities a year for 7 years and capture as many as 100,000 individual photos of people from all walks of life.
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Beginning in January 2010, Spencer started taking photos and testing the concept at his studio in Salt Lake City, Utah with only a few dozen photos at a time while Beckett started to build the associated websites and social media pages.
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Beckett created the I Am Equal project and built the record-breaking I Am Equal Photo Documentary with Matt Spencer as a way to highlight and showcase the unique human rights and social issues that unite the human family.
78:. The project is estimated to take more than 7 years to complete and has the ultimate goal of unveiling an 8,000-square-foot (740 m) mosaic in Washington DC containing all the photos collected during the world tour.
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The project made its first stop outside the United States in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on May 28, 2011. During this stop, hundreds participated in the project including United States Olympic Gold Medalist,
215:, the photo documentary launched its first official tour stop on January 6, 2011, at The Citizen Hotel in Sacramento, California, the city TIME Magazine voted it to be the most diverse city in America.
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civil rights, conservation, and equality issues they support. They point out that through history the conversation of "equality" has had many causal champions such as the Women's
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at Mandalay Bay. While in Las Vegas, project founder Jason Beckett was invited to discuss the photo documentary project as a speaker at the annual
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participants have suggested that their I AM EQUAL photo has been an effective way to begin a dialogue on weightier human rights issues such as
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Please help improve this article by looking for better, more reliable sources. Unreliable citations may be challenged and removed.
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on February 19, 2011, where more than 500 resort employees participated in the documentary project along with the then Mayor
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on behalf of his non-profit organization Classroom Champions. Local service groups and organizations including the
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cards or framing it in their house as a way to open a casual dialogue about their participation in the campaign.
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In conjunction with Mayor Kevin Johnson's office and coordinating with the local Pride! Center,
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In January 2011, after 8 small events in Utah, the project launched its official world tour in
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adoption, deaf/hearing impaired, bigotry, pansexuality, obesity, free speech, senior rights.
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M The Book (November & December 2010), Cover and interior feature - MAKA Beauty Systems
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Seventeen (May 2009), "Your Life: I got scammed by a modeling agency" - Hearst Publications
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V.I. P. Zone (2010/2011), "Miss United Nations Nilufar Sherzod" - Tajikistan
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participants to take an active role in improving their community.
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Amy Dodds (July 2011), "Exclusive Collections" - Beauty Launchpad
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Matt Spencer is a commercial fashion photographer who works with
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689:"Whitwell to host record breaking photo shoot for documentary"
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637:"March in downtown Dallas promotes rights for LGBT community"
541:"I Am Equal: The Picture of Equality Launches in Sacramento"
509:"Whitwell participates in record breaking photo documentary"
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responsible for creating the Children's Holocaust Memorial (
425:"SLC-based photo project spreads message of equality"
661:Wagner, Madeleine (December 2011 – January 2012).
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361:. FOX 13 Now Downtown SLC. Archived from
165:The campaign leverages the popularity of
57:Learn how and when to remove this message
663:"Beauty In Diversity = I AMEQUAL At UNF"
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225:The New York New York Hotel & Casino
597:"I AM EQUAL Project comes to Las Vegas"
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579:"Equality photo project coming to SLC"
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687:Doss, Nicholas (February 21, 2012).
357:Green-Miner, Brittany (2011-02-05).
399:Jeffery Callison (January 4, 2011)
267:the keynote speaker for the event.
251:celebrations, Jazzitudes at UNLV.
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613:. UNLV Rebel Yell. Archived from
691:. Jasper Journal. Archived from
665:. ARBUS Magazine. Archived from
539:Andrew Windchanz (January 2011)
511:. Jasper Journal. Archived from
507:Doss, Nicholas (March 6, 2012).
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480:. That's So Gay. Archived from
478:"I AM EQUAL project in Calgary"
451:Bethany Croutch (January 2011)
1:
595:Staff Writer (February 2011)
609:Lister, Nolan (2011-02-24).
559:Tony Hobday (February 2011)
455:, Fox 40 News Report (Video)
359:"I AM EQUAL Project in Utah"
243:, and the Las Vegas cast of
476:Kassa, Hanna (2011-05-19).
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768:"I Am Equal in Sacramento"
766:Staff Writer (March 2011)
639:. NT Daily. Archived from
635:Macon, Alex (2011-05-29).
310:classic, 'The Last Song.'
298:programming developer for
249:Martin Luther King Jr. Day
151:Gay & Lesbian movement
577:Rosemary Winters (2011).
423:Rosemary Winters (2011).
401:"Insight Radio Interview"
221:MGM Resorts International
176:female genital mutilation
830:Works about human rights
581:, Salt Lake City Tribune
271:World Tour 2012 (Year 2)
209:Big Brothers Big Sisters
199:World Tour 2011 (Year 1)
825:Photography exhibitions
143:Women's Rights movement
29:Some of this article's
403:, Capital Public Radio
235:, the dance troop The
231:, County Commissioner
115:at The Citizen Hotel.
113:Sacramento, California
76:Sacramento, California
563:, QSalt Lake Magazine
139:Abolitionist movement
695:on February 21, 2013
515:on February 21, 2013
453:"I AM EQUAL Project"
261:United Way of Canada
135:Suffragette Movement
97:Salt Lake City, Utah
427:, Salt Lake Tribune
282:Paper Clips Project
233:Chris Giunchigliani
795:2011-08-12 at the
790:I Am Equal project
777:, Outword Magazine
773:2012-03-20 at the
599:, Q Vegas Magazine
550:, Outword Magazine
546:2012-03-20 at the
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320:Fortune 500
241:Terry Fator
184:rape incest
95:Created in
91:The Project
34:may not be
819:Categories
699:2012-03-06
673:2012-02-14
647:2012-03-10
621:2011-12-17
519:2012-03-09
488:2011-12-17
369:2018-01-01
336:References
327:World tour
213:United Way
211:, and the
194:Milestones
149:, and the
119:The Photos
71:I Am Equal
47:April 2012
793:Archived
771:Archived
544:Archived
323:itself.
300:Primedia
188:polygamy
36:reliable
82:History
145:, the
141:, the
137:, the
205:NAACP
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