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Financial, photo support sought for NOPA member Belfon

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Supporters of Jim Belfon, NOPA member and founder of the Gulf South Photography Project, a service that provided photo instruction to more than 1,200 youth and senior citizens in post-Katrina New Orleans, are seeking financial assistance for the photographer as he struggles with with late-stage prostate cancer.

Belfon’s supporters, in New Orleans and his native New York, are looking to raise $15,000 within the next three weeks.

Checks and money orders may be sent in support of Belfon online, through a fundraising page at the website gofundme.com, or to the following address:

Christian Unity Baptist Church Mission Fund
(memo: Jim Belfon Fund)
1700 Conti Street
New Orleans, LA 70112

Belfon, it should be noted, is now in hospice care. Consequently, he has asked friends to reach out to persons who might be able to help him complete some photo printing work, as well as some possible photography work. Persons who can provide assistance may call Belfon at (504) 579-4346, or contact Ted Quant by phone at 504-473-0009 or by e-mail.

After moving to the Crescent City eight years ago, Belfon not only led photo education workshops, but helped people deal with the destruction brought by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and their aftermath by providing more than 14,000 individual and family portraits.

Over the years, he has taught classes and led workshops at local institutions including the Ashe Cultural Arts Center, Pontchartrain Park Senior Citizen Center, Harry Thompson Center, Tulane Cancer Center, Treme Center and the Zion Travelers Cooperative Center in Plaquemines Parish.

Belfon, a Harlem native, studied and worked in New York previously, with such well-known photographers as James Van Der Zee, Gordon Parks and Richard Avedon. His work has been published publications including Time, Essence, Sports Illustrated, Architectural Digest, Harper’s Bazaar, The New York Times, The Times-Picayune, The New Orleans Tribune and The Baton Rouge Advocate.
 
While in New York, he also established the Photographic Center of Harlem, and taught photography to children and senior citizens at the Harlem School Of The Arts, Central Park East School, St. James Senior Citizen Center, and New Song Community Church.