Archive Story No. 001: A Call to Go
How one photograph became the beginning of BEGOOD.
Some photographs document history.
Others quietly change the person behind the camera.
This was one of those photographs.
In the summer of 2018, I found myself walking into McCormick Place in Chicago with my camera in hand.
I wasn't there on assignment.
I didn't have credentials.
By the grace of God, I was simply given the opportunity to be in the room.
At the time, I thought I was there to make a photograph.
Looking back, I realize I was there to receive a calling.
President Barack Obama stood before thousands of people to announce his vision for what would become the Obama Presidential Center.
Most people heard an announcement about a building.
I heard something much deeper.
He spoke about creating a place where ordinary people could come together, discover their capacity to lead, and help create the world as it should be.
Something about those words stayed with me.
I left that day with a photograph...
...but I also left carrying a question I couldn't yet answer.
Years passed.
The photograph remained.
Life continued.
Assignments came and went.
Portraits were made.
Magazines were published.
Videos were produced.
Podcasts were recorded.
Businesses were built.
But every so often, I'd come back to that image.
Not because it was my best photograph.
Because it reminded me of something I couldn't quite name.
Then, on Juneteenth in the summer of 2026, my wife Cherie and I visited the completed Obama Presidential Center.
As we approached from Lake Shore Drive, we saw more than an extraordinary building.
We saw people.
Families.
Students.
Neighbors.
Visitors from around the world.
People from Chicago, Mississippi, Ghana, South America, and countless other places.
What struck me most wasn't the architecture.
It was the unmistakable feeling that everyone believed this place belonged to them.
Not because they owned it.
Because they saw themselves reflected in its purpose.
Standing there, I finally understood why that photograph had stayed with me all those years.
For more than twenty-five years, I had been photographing ordinary people doing extraordinary things for their communities.
Teachers.
Pastors.
Volunteers.
Artists.
Parents.
Nonprofit leaders.
Neighbors.
I thought I had been documenting their work.
I realized I had been preserving the proof.
Proof that a better future isn't just something we hope for.
It's something ordinary people are building every single day.
I just hadn't had a name for the thread connecting all those stories.
Until now.
BEGOOD was born from that realization.
From a simple conviction that a better future is possible...
...and that ordinary people are already building it.
Our commitment is simple.
BEGOOD exists to help good work become more visible, more connected, and more sustainable—while preserving the proof that together we're leaving the world better than how we found it.
That's why the BEGOOD Archives exist.
Not simply to tell stories.
But to preserve the living history of people who choose, every day, to leave the world better than how they found it.
Help the Story Continue
The work doesn't end with this story.
It continues through the people who read it, share it, and help it reach others.
If you believe a better future is possible—and that ordinary people are building it every day—we'd love for you to become part of the BEGOOD community.
Together, we'll continue preserving the proof.
Together, we're preserving the proof that a better future is being built every day.
