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Hope in Shadows — behind the scenes

What’s it like working on Megaphone’s annual community calendar? As this year’s writer discovered, the project has the power to forge meaningful connections and break down stereotypes around poverty.

May 28, 2025

Megaphone’s Hope in Shadows calendar is an annual product — loved by vendors and customers alike — that goes on sale every year around Thanksgiving. But production of the calendar starts at least six months before.

Have you ever wondered how it all comes together?

The process begins with a community photo contest, which includes workshops on basic photography techniques, that results in more than 2,000 images flooding in. A peer jury narrows that number down to the top 30 photos, which are then displayed at various events and festivals throughout the summer. Public voting at the events, as well as online, determines the 13 images that will go into the calendar.

But it doesn’t stop there. Megaphone employs a stringent practice of ongoing, informed consent, which means every  photo subject in each of the top 30 images — whether that’s one person or 10 — has to be contacted for permission of publication, and if willing, do an interview about the photo. These interviews become the stories that appear in the calendar alongside the winning images.

With the majority of participants living with poverty and other challenges in the Downtown Eastside (DTES), this is not a small task. Not everyone has phones or a fixed, stable address. But they are the heart and soul of this project and their voices and views are important, so we employ huge efforts to track everyone down.

And then the magic happens.

Stories bloom as people share poignant moments of their lives and talk about what makes them happy and gives them hope. They get excited about hobbies and light up when bragging about their kids and grandkids. They educate us  about community resources and cultural traditions. They show us  that we are all connected through common ground: our health, our happiness and our hardships.

For the writer conducting these interviews and crafting the stories, it is usually a transformative experience. Any pre-conceived notions about the DTES they may have fall away as they meet calendar photographers and subjects, and learn about their experiences.

Once you hear someone’s story, you can’t help but fall in love with them a little. And it becomes impossible to see them as an anonymous ”other” who is somehow different than you. That’s why everyone treasures Hope in Shadows. 

The writer for our 2025 calendar, which hits the streets this month, was Dev Petrovic, a storyteller, multimedia artist and filmmaker who spent the summer immersed in the project. Here’s their peek “behind the scenes” of the Hope in Shadows calendar.

— Paula Carlson, Megaphone Editorial and Program Director

By Dev Petrovic

Every year growing up in Vancouver, my dad would bring home the new Hope in Shadows calendar, prompting a passionate monologue of admiration for the project’s unique approach to engaging people in the Downtown Eastside.

This past summer, I started a job with Megaphone to assist in the production of the calendar. It would be an understatement to say that the experience has inspired the same enthusiasm. I can, however, say I have gained the utmost appreciation for the hard work that goes into the production of Hope in Shadows and that it is everything my dad has boasted about as a supporter of the project and beyond. 

I came to Megaphone with a background in student journalism. I was a writer and editor at my university newspaper, so while I did get to experience working with a range of people from different backgrounds, most of my work would often look like Zoom interviews with academic researchers. So when I learned my job would include community outreach, interviewing photographers and subjects, and writing stories, I thought “I’ve done this before!”

I quickly discovered that outreach in the Downtown Eastside (and by extension, other vulnerable communities) would not look the same as sending a formal email request for a statement.

To publish and distribute photos publicly, Megaphone requires consent from both photographers and photo subjects for its top 30 photos, which is where things fell short with relying on dominant modes of communication that require access to technology. There were many participants whose contact information was missing, numbers that didn’t work and those who didn’t have a phone or home address at all. 

At one point, I had remembered that photographer David Price mentioned in his interview that he met his photo subject Elvis at the Ivanhoe Pub, where he was said to be a regular. So I left messages there. I was even planning on stopping by, but a Megaphone staff member ran into Elvis on the street and was able to get him in for an interview. By then I had contacted and talked to countless people about finding him, so walking into the office to find him there in person felt comparable to meeting someone famous. Sometimes coincidences like these would happen, but a lot of the time, I had to meet people where they were at. 

I was drawing ideas from every avenue, thinking of creative alternatives to reach people, as well as constantly considering ways to make participation accessible. 

Community engagement with a low-barrier model, particularly concerning experiences of poverty, has to be flexible and willing to sacrifice personal practicality. Part of this is remembering to honour people’s commitment to participating because the barriers they face are formidable.

But most importantly, taking the time to notice who people are and connecting with them is the most meaningful and effective approach to community engagement. 

The most memorable instance of this was finding David Price’s photo subject, Ashley, whose beautiful smile and bright red tent are brilliantly cheerful in the photo titled, Lifestyle Choice. She didn’t have a working phone number, so contacting her traditionally was not going to work.

While collecting votes for Hope in Shadows photo finalists on Main and Cordova Streets, someone recognized her from her photo and drew me a map on a piece of paper, indicating where her spot was in relation to the clues in the photo. Initially, I found the interaction humorous, thinking it could be useful if I still wasn’t able to find her. But the following week, that little slip of paper became my most promising resource.

I went to one of the locations drawn on the map and the second person I asked told me to come back in 15 minutes. She would be back by then, he said. I left a copy of the photo with Megaphone’s address and contact information written on the back, just in case. 

And I did come back. Sure enough, there she was, holding the copy of the photo I had left, smiling. I was welcomed back with excitement.

“She’s so beautiful in the photo,” said the man I had talked to earlier, ecstatic.

I told her we had been looking for her for a while and that she had become somewhat of a celebrity back at the Megaphone office.

“Me?” She laughed, “I’ve been here the whole time!” 

The funny thing is, she was. Precisely where it was drawn for me on the map, exactly where the photo was taken and a block from the building where I came into work every day. She was within walking distance the whole time and I just had to ask around a little bit to meet her. This put into perspective how representative all the photos are of daily  moments in the Downtown Eastside and how connected this close-knit community really is.

We talked about how beautiful the photo turned out and what it would mean to make it into the calendar.

“She’s representing all of us,” the man said.

I’ll never forget how excited they were to be seen and the pride they shared of being featured on a platform that will tell their story and educate other people. Ashley didn’t want to be interviewed in-depth for the calendar, but I hope the power of her image can create conversations that encourage compassion and community care for people who are unhoused.

The interview process was particularly special to me. It was an honour to hear people’s stories in person. My first interview was with William Johnny (who photographed an Oppenheimer Park totem pole for Bottom Up). We sat in a corner of the lobby of the 312 Main building, he had come in wearing Canucks pyjamas and was slurping on a freezie while we talked. What sticks with me is he had the brightest smile and warmest personality while pouring out a story of loss and grief. He was like many of the people I met — their resilience was astounding and it was always intertwined with so much character. 

Interviews were an opportunity to understand who I was writing about. However, structured interview formats didn’t work here. In part, because one of the photographers teased me for being so “formal,” but mainly because it wasn’t allowing me to connect with people in the way that supported their needs and the weight of their stories.

There’s only so much a standardized process can do when someone prefers to act things out, or wants you to follow them on a smoke walk, or I feel I need to share things about myself to build rapport and make the interview more comfortable. It was much more worthwhile acquainting myself and creating a space of trust and camaraderie than it was to run an interview “correctly.” 

Eventually these connections would extend past interviews. I was interacting with Megaphone vendors while in the office, so getting that concentrated space to meet with vendors in their interviews helped me develop relationships that I otherwise may not have had the opportunity for.

For example, Naomi Gabriel (photographer of A Moment in Time, which captures an Indigenous drum circle on Main Street) is a vendor and longtime friend of Megaphone whom I met for the first time during her interview. Getting to know her helped with arranging and conducting her daughter Karen-Lily’s interview (Fun with the ‘Fam’) and she became a joyful person to run into at Megaphone events and in the neighbourhood.

Naomi and Karen-Lily have a neat story. They are a mother-daughter team at Megaphone, with Karen-Lily being involved selling magazines and calendars  as long as Naomi has: seven years, which is more than half the 11-year-old’s life.

Karen-Lily has been published in several calendars (as the subject, with her mom as the photographer), and this year, Karen-Lily took part  in the contest as a photographer herself for the first time.

Taking the time to connect with people was the most valuable thing I did for this project. I spent many days in the Megaphone office hanging out with the vendors, thinking I was procrastinating from the work I had to do. What I didn’t realize is that this was the work.

On one of the days I spent circling the Downtown Eastside, I visited the Drinker’s Lounge (a community managed alcohol program) to look for the women pictured in Sisterly Love (taken by Rosalind “Mama Rosa” Matilpi). No one seemed to notice me until I mentioned I knew Mama Rosa — a Megaphone vendor and icon in the community. Instantly everyone turned around and cheered, “Mama Rosa! You know Mama Rosa?” Knowing someone who was well-connected with the community and respected turned out to be more helpful than anything I could have done sitting at my computer.

As much time as I personally invested in Hope in Shadows, I didn’t do it alone. It takes a village to raise this project, and that includes the participants, subjects, volunteers and the staff at Megaphone, as well as the calendar designer and printer. All are crucial in supporting the project. 

I also have so much gratitude for the solidarity I received from other non-profit workers in the area, who took on the tasks of getting consent forms filled out, and brought the forms and participants into the office, plus the many frontline outreach workers who helped contest participants go out to take photos and brought them back in for interviews. This project is a real community effort and seeing how much that included the support of other organizations and individuals was heartwarming. 

By the end of the project, I had fostered a deep sense of care for the people I was collaborating with. The urgency of putting a calendar together mattered less to me and the people became more important. I would wonder if the person who didn’t show up for our interview was doing OK and if I should check-in with them instead of worrying about a deadline. The aspects that initially felt like an obstacle have left me with meaningful connections. For a community that perseveres by taking care of its own, I never expected to be as immediately accepted like I was in the Downtown Eastside. 

For the people who are reading the 2025 Hope in Shadows calendar: it has been created with as much care and love for the community as the people participating have invested every year. I couldn’t be more excited to be bringing home this year’s calendar and I hope you are too.  

Dev Petrovic is a writer, multimedia artist and filmmaker aspiring to use storytelling through film as a tool for social change. They were a program assistant for Megaphone, working on the 2025 Hope in Shadows calendar, and have been a supporter of the magazine and calendar for several years.

The 2025 Hope in Shadows calendar goes  on sale this month starting on Thursday, Oct. 10. Find a vendor to purchase: megaphonemagazine.com/find-a-vendor/