Create: Hannah Kozak

I have a great appreciation for tenacity. I think many folks who get into photography thinking it will be a career don’t understand just how bad you need to want it, especially in today’s market.

I’ve known Hannah Kozak for a long while now and she personifies tenacity. Just read her bio if you want a glimpse into someone who was one of the best stuntwomen in the world for over a twenty-five-year period. She doubled for Cher and Angelia Jolie, amongst others, while working with directors like David Lynch, Tim Burton, and Michael Bay.

Photography was part of her life all along the way as you will see if you look at the range of stories on her site. Hannah has a new project and she is looking for backing. Something that gets almost entirely lost in the modern photography industry where everyone is in the bubble of self-centered social media mayhem is the idea that photographers must support other photographers. Let me say this again in case there was ANY confusion. Photographers must support each other. That means they must help each other edit, they must help each other get work and they need to support projects. And that means buying books.

Last Friday I spent three hours on the phone with photographers attempting to help them with projects. I also spent several days this week doing little other than attempting to collect content for AG23 which has a mission statement of promoting understanding through design and art and lives to amplify what OTHER creatives are doing. And I’m about to jump on a phone call with the VP of Blurb and another entity in an attempt to create a new collaboration that would provide education, discounts and more to a new community being developed. I haven’t worked as a photographer in ten years but my life is still very much about attempting to connect dots. Luckily, I like doing this far more than trying to get traction for my own work. You know me, I like solitude.

So I’m delivering you the opportunity, if you choose, to support a project born from blood, sweat, and tears. This is a real one. This one hurt to make and will hurt to produce. If I’m not mistaken you can also use this as a tax write off and who doesn’t need one of those?

This book and this story carry on a long tradition of photographers tackling things the world does not want to see or think about. I range of prior stories is flooding into my brain as I write this. And, Hannah has a publisher ready to go which means she put in the leg work. Getting a publisher for something like this is no easy feat. As you can see, she’s close to the goal and you can donate small amounts.

I don’t remember the last time I posted something like this but I should do it more often. There are a lot of people asking for support these days. I even saw a campaign about a kid asking for gas money so he could go surf. No joke. Hannah’s project is worth the time and effort. Have a look.