 
The Tibetan Photo Project — 2026 Update
The Tibetan Photo Project was founded in 2000 by Joe Mickey and Sazzy Varga Calhoun and grew over the following two decades through photography, film, exhibits, lectures, media coverage and work with Tibetan communities in exile.
Joe Mickey passed away in October 2020.
Following Joe’s death, his wife, Connie Korbel-Mickey, worked to organize and preserve the large collection of Tibetan Photo Project files, folders, DVDs, published works and related materials that Joe had maintained.
In 2021, Connie distributed Tibetan Photo Project materials, including copies of Save Tibet... Why? and Visually and Respectfully Yours: The Story of The Tibetan Photo Project, to a number of Tibetan-related and cultural organizations in the United States, including:
- Drepung Loseling Educational Fund
- Tibet Justice Center
- International Campaign for Tibet
- Students for a Free Tibet
- Tibet House US
- The Rubin Museum of Art
- Meadows Museum of Art
Connie also traveled to India and donated the Tibetan Photo Project’s collection of approximately 100 rare, one-of-a-kind negatives from a 1932 expedition to the Dalai Lama’s museum in McLeod Ganj. She described preserving and placing that collection as the primary reason for making the trip.
The Tibetan Photo Project website is now being maintained in part as an archive of more than two decades of photographs, films, interviews, exhibits, media coverage and project history. Some older pages remain online in their original or lightly updated form so that the history and work of the project are not lost.
Cameras for Cultures Inc. is no longer active, and The Tibetan Photo Project is not pursuing nonprofit status.
Joe Mickey was the catalyst for what became The Tibetan Photo Project. After meeting Tibetan monks during their 2000 cultural tour in Mendocino, his research, correspondence with Jamyang Norbu, and decision to send cameras and film to Tibetans living in exile opened the door to a unique view of Tibetan life from within the community itself — images created from the Tibetans’ own point of view rather than through the lens of an outsider.
Joe’s photography and vision, together with my work building the website, helping develop the project, traveling and documenting in India, shaped The Tibetan Photo Project over the years. Without Joe, there would have been no Tibetan Photo Project.
Sazzy Varga Calhoun
Co-Founder, The Tibetan Photo Project
September 2026
ARCHIVE — Founders News 2011 / Goals 2010
The Tibetan Photo Project 2011
Headed into the second decade
Mission Statement : The Tibetan Photo Project works to create a voice from the films and photos by Tibetans living in exile.
Funding: Approximately $8,000 in donations and self-funding by Joe Mickey and Sazzy Varga = approximately $50,000. We do not hold non profit status at this time. Exhibits, lectures and programs were/are funded by the sponsoring organizations through program budgets and grants.
Here are some highlights from the past ten years (in no particular order):
4 films + one in development + one in editing
The latest film is “Save Tibet... Why?” “Human Beings” is in development and “India 101" is in editing and sales will benefit The Tibetan Photo Project.
2 films awarded Audience Favorite at the Culture Unplugged online film festival with over 250,000 views combined. “Visually and Respectfully Yours, The Story of The Tibetan Photo Project”
and “Answered Prayers” by Galeck Palsang.
First feature documentary completely from the Tibetan exile perspective.
“Voices in Exile” by Tenzin Wangden Andrugtsang.
First ever student computer delivered to children at school in Leh. (remote India).
Programs, lectures and exhibits at colleges, universities and art centers including: Duke University, Centenary College, University of Colorado, Remington College, Antioch Colleges and Universities, Mendocino College, Gualala, Manitau, and Mendocino Art Centers.
Presentations in elementary, middle and high schools.
Art curator Lynn Moss Holly featured in local media for her advancement of art in Santa Barbara related to her presentations of The Tibetan Photo Project which included attendance by the brother of the Dalai Lama.
Original 1932 photos / negatives of Tibet donated to The Tibetan Photo Project.
Jewish Center exhibits in NY city and Santa Barbara.
Combined views to video clips online are approximately 1 million.
Combined circulation of print material reporting on Tibetan issues via The Tibetan Photo Project is approximately 26 million.
Parade Magazine called the photos by monks at Drepung in Southern India, "REWARDING."
200 people at locations around the globe held public and private premiere screenings for the release of the film “Save Tibet... Why?”
Joe Mickey and Sazzy Varga 01.17.11
tibetanphoto@gmail.com (please put “Tibet” in subject line when contacting by email).
http://www.tibetanphotoproject.com
Goal 2010
Help us Build The Tibetan Photo Project Film Maker Education Centers in India
Please give this a minute to learn about our 2010 goals and how you can help.
Up to now, The Tibetan Photo Project has worked on an evolutionary path, beginning with disposable cameras, almost on its own the project has become 2 traveling exhibits, lectures, slideshows , and feature and short films.
To date, in print, the uniqueness of the photos by the Tibetans has inspired articles in the Western press with a combined circulation of 26 million. Online over one-half million have viewed the video clips produced by The Tibetan Photo Project.
Now its time to have a set of goals and we hope you will help us reach it by telling friends and where you can making donations of any size.
The goal is to establish 3 of The Tibetan Photo Project Film Maker Education Centers in the Tibetan communities in northern and southern India and in Delhi beginning in 2010.
• Each center will offer digital broadcast quality movie cameras for checkout by Tibetans and a series of computer editing
bays to construct completed films.
• The development of new Tibetan voices that can be heard around the world is the greatest challenge facing the Tibetans in
their struggle to preserve and record their culture and for their very survival.
Films and photos allow Tibetans to talk to the world across
all forms of media, from print to digital. to theater screens.
The cost to equip and establish each center has been set at $55,000 each. $165,000 for three centers.
You can help with a $5 donation or more.*
Once The Tibetan Photo Project Film Maker Education Centers are established, full ownership of The Tibetan Photo Project will be turned over to the Tibetans.
If you would like to be an associate producer on an upcoming film, the donation is $500 and as a full producer, $5000. You will share in any film sale profits. If you would like to donate at this level, drop us an email and we can discuss details.
Films and photos create a voice and we also expect the development of films will generate an income stream for the Tibetans from screenings and the production and sale of DVDs.
So please help:
Pass our information and Website along to friends
http://www.tibetanphotoproject.com
and please consider making a donation to these efforts.
* Please note, we do not operate The Tibetan Photo Project as a non-profit. Donations are not tax deductible .
HOWEVER: WE ARE NOW A NOW PROFIT CORPORATION UNDER "CAMERAS FOR CULTURES INC." We arenow filing for our non profit status 501 c (3) with the governent.
For a $10 donation we will send you a screening copy of “Visually and Respectfully Yours - The Story of The Tibetan Photo Project” to share with friends.
Donate online with the security of
http://www.tibetanphotoproject.com/helpingttp.html
If you would like to donate equipment, you must make advance arrangements and cover all costs for delivery and pickup in India
• Cameras: To establish The Tibetan Photo Project Film Maker Education Centers, we are looking for a total of 15 cameras of the following example and caliber. Format: 3-CCD Mini DV / NTSC format. Approximate cost $2500 per camera
• Sony - DSR-PD170 3-CCD Mini DVCAM Camcorder
• Canon - GL2 Mini DV 3CCD Camcorder,
• Panasconic - AG-DVX100B 3-CCD 24p/30p/60i Mini-DV
• Also we would like to fill in with a total of no more than three smaller body
cameras such as the Panasonic PV-GS320 3 CCD Mini DV Camcorder
• Support materials:
* • 3 Inkjet printers and supply of inks
* • 15 tripods
* • 250 Mini DV Tapes
* • 500+ each blank DVDs and CDs
* • 15 camera cases suitable for the extreme conditions of India
• Computers and editing stations: Budgeted at approx $3000 each To completely outfit The Tibetan Photo Project Education Centers we need a total of 15 computers/Editing stations. We are pretty specific on the computer needs.
* Apple - 20" iMac desktop computer
* • 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU
* • 1GB (1x1GB) RAM
* • 320GB Hard Drive
* • SuperDrive / CD/ Disc burner
* • ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO
* • 20" Glossy Widescreen Display
* • iLife '08 (includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, iWeb, GarageBand)
* • Integrated camera and microphone
* • Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
* • Airport Extreme
* • Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
* • Final Cut Express
* • Photoshop
* • Educational books/library (Mainly the use of Final Cut Editing software)
* • 15 500GB backup hard drives
• We would also accept 15" MacBook Pro Notebook Computer with the same
programs listed above. It would be ideal to have a combination of desktop and
notebook styles.
To Keep Updated, drop us an email at
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China
is growing in influence on the world stage. For several years it
has been increasing its military spending at a rate that is over
twice the growth rate of its economy. The next leader in China is
likely to be Hu Jintao. His political rise, is due in large part
to his implementing and maintaining of a brutal hard-line policy
during his term overseeing China's control of Tibet.
There
are many wonderful works that look at Tibet from the outside. The
Tibetan Photo Project is designed to provide a voice to the Tibetans
by exhibiting their views through their own works of photography.
Their vantage point on China and their experiences in Tibet and
in exile are extremely relevant to anyone trying to understand the
geopolitical, military and economic designs of China in the future.
The intent is to provide a view through the eyes of the Tibetan
community, create a vehicle that provides an elementary introduction
and links you to further study and understanding while giving a
personal voice to the Tibetans that participate in this project.
Because of its unique perspective, the project which began in 2000,
is also catching the eye of the art world with write ups by art
columnist Kenneth Baker of the San Francisco Chronicle (Feb. 5,
2002), the June 2002 edition of Art & Antiques Magazine and the
Santa Barbara art and culture magazine, Head.
Please
feel free to contact us about a slide show presentation and gallery
exhibitions and prints. Thank you for stopping by the Tibetan Photo
Project. We hope you will return often, tell your friends and please
be sure to explore the links.
The
needs of the project are outlined at www.tibetanphotoproject.com and Help Photo Project
Visually Yours,
Joe
Mickey & Sazzy Lee Varga
Contact
us via e-mail at tibetanphoto@gmail.com
For
the latest news on Tibet please visit Connect
with Tibet
ARCHEIVES - Founders News
2007 and 2008
2006
2005
2004
2003
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