Our friend, Hank Leiter, is a long-standing, well-known, and deeply loved member of our community. He's been documenting our community's lives, experiences, highs & lows, events, and connections for over 25 years. He's touched thousands of lives, captured millions of incredible moments, and faithfully enshrined more than 2 decades of life... in Seattle, at Burning Man, and well beyond. He is our giant community's version of a National Treasure!!

As times and technology have changed, Hank's original career in tech has shifted. Jobs that were once plentiful and paid handsomely for people trained in his field have evaporated. Many OG tech giants are finding themselves without the income security that had seemed a guarantee, even just a few years ago! Hank and I chatted the other day about this, and he mentioned that he would love to start a new business as a "professional photographer". As you can imagine, I almost laughed out loud at that because, if ANYBODY could and should be able to succeed at professional photography, it's Hank! However, making this happen would require start-up funds that he doesn't currently have. He mentioned to me an awfully modest amount (under $1000) that he would put toward needed supplies, but I believe that our community can (and will) do MUCH better by him than that. I'm setting this GoFundMe goal at a modest $5,000, but that's just a starting point.

Here are a few things that people from Hank's community have to say about him:

From Kay Morrison (Iron Monkeys): "Hank is everywhere you wish you had been, and the reason you know that you wish you had been there is because of his amazing, often unbelievable, photographs. On top of being a talented photographer, he is one hell of a tremendous human and excellent friend."

From Richard Young (Iron Monkeys): " I’ve known Hank since 2009 when he kindly invited me to camp with him and his friends at my very first Burning Man. For as long as I’ve known him, his dedication to the art of photography has been unparalleled. He truly loves creatively documenting events in order to share those unique moments with a wider audience. Hank spends so much of his time pursuing his passion, and I wish him every success in his photography journey. I genuinely can’t think of anyone more deserving of the opportunity to flourish in a field he knows so well."

From Alin Hunter (Community leader): "Hank is indisputably one of the mainstays and support pillars of our burner community. At countless events over many years, Hank has provided us with the benefits of his quick eye and cornucopia of equipment. His ability to capture the spirit of an event in images makes him the perfect documentarian. Hank has given so much over the years in time and money; giving back even a fraction should be an easy call. The only surprise is that Hank isn't already a professional photographer!"

From Amani Loutfy (Community Leader) "

I’ve been enjoying Hank’s photos for over 25 years. He’s a friend in the community and a stalwart documentarian of all things interesting. His portraits show the absolute best in everyone, like he brings out the extra glowing humanity in you when he aims his lens your way.

He is dedicated to his craft and his community. We are lucky to have him in ‘casual attendance’ (it’s never casual, since he brings with him several cameras and a lifetime of expertise behind those Hawaiian shirts) at most events. Hank has been supporting the Seattle Burning Man and creative community, as well as the people across the globe in attendance at the Burning Man event itself for years and years, steadily and beautifully. It’s the least we can do to support him in his new venture."

From Rusty Oliver (Hazard Factory): "I can't think of anyone who has given more time, attention, and support to events and art around Seattle. People are occasionally described as a pillar in the community, as a way to express how much support they provide to their people. To extend the analogy, Hank is more like a tectonic plate; his support and his contributions are so vast. As an artist, it is impossible to understate how valuable Hank is to our endeavors. Not just the technical and talented documentation and interpretation that Hank provides, he has been on so many occasions, A calm and beneficent force, a walking human benediction. I can't think of anyone I hold in higher regard for their tireless and selfless artistic contributions. I'm personally thrilled to be able to reciprocate the support he has always shown for my organization and myself."

From Mark Hammond (Community Leader): "Hank is the best, and has contributed countless hours of dedicated care, consideration, and quality artistry to documenting the beautiful communities that he supports. So much so that rogue actors have independently created swag & stickers in his honor, with “THANK HANK” and the like. Everyone knows exactly who we’re talking about. I’ve helped to produce over a dozen events that Hank has offered his incredible skills to, and he has always done so with grace, patience, professionalism, and, maybe most importantly, with great care and concern for his subjects – consent in all things! I personally have been moved to tears with his works, and his incredible ability to capture a scene with angles, action, and emotion that is impossible to describe with words. Also, he’s made me look better than I do IRL . Let’s help this guy share his incredible gifts with the rest of the world!

From Lindsay Litowitz-Eaton (Chaotic Noise Marching Corps): "Hank has been documenting the Seattle alt community since long before Chaotic Noise started playing together. His photography is an invaluable, tangible gift that he's been incredibly generous with. With things being as they are right now, we have to be the ones to take care of us. It's more important than ever that we keep doing all of our fun, weird, beautiful things that we do, so let's be the safety net that we want to see in the world. Getting to see Hank's awesome photos of the band is always such a treat. We definitely want to make sure he can keep showing up!

Link to Hank's site: https://www.espressobuzz.net/browse/