Gary S. Chapman: Conscientious Coffee

Six years ago, Atlanta-based photographer Gary S. Chapman was hired to create a portrait of Jonathan Golden, the founder of Land of A Thousand Hills Coffee. This portrait session, which took place in Georgia, eventually led him on a journey across the Atlantic for another assignment in Rwanda. In addition to serving up a delicious cup of joe, one of Land of a Thousand Hills’ missions is to create positive change. For Jonathan, that translates into making a difference in the lives of Rwandan people. Whether it be through providing fair wages to farmers in hopes of upping their quality of life or supporting opportunities for reconciliation between the victims and perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, a morning cup from LOTH offers more than a caffeine kick. Gary, intrigued by the story, has since been back to continue documenting the progress this small business has made by offering hope to these developing coffee communities while providing excellence in coffee along the way.

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This year, we wanted to do some follow-up stories of the coffee workers and document the opening of a new coffee washing station as LOTH Coffee continues to grow its operation and hire more workers. LOTH also partners with the coffee farming villages to help provide education, clean water, and other needs. We needed to cover as much of this as we could. In fact, we ended up covering more of the non-coffee stories because the harvest was not yet in full swing.

This time around Gary was able to work again with videographer Andrew Tucciarone who joined him on his first trip with Jonathan. Rwanda, because of its verdant landscape made up of many rolling hills is aptly nicknamed Land of a Thousand Hills. LOTH Coffee from whom it borrows its namesake finds this is one of the most challenging aspects of working in this developing country.

Rwanda is called Land of a Thousand Hills for a reason. And, once you get off the main road, travel is long and tedious. Most days included at least four hours of bone-jarring backroad car trips.

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For Gary, the bonus of reconnecting with friends made from previous trips, plus the opportunity to witness how something as simple as coffee can have a life-changing effect on a person’s life makes the arduous journey worth it. Over these years Gary has realized that especially in a place with such a deep and often tumultuous history there are always going to be more stories than there is time to cover them. In May he hopes to return once again to the Land of a Thousand Hills to tell some more.

See more of Gary’s work on his website.

Further Reading:
Read more articles about Gary S. Chapman.
Read more articles about Social Documentary photography.

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