FREDERICK, Md. (AP) — During a visit to Greece in 2009, Michael Cambetes discovered a beautiful two-story, Victorian-style home, noting that most of the houses he saw were only one story. It had been left abandoned, rusty lock and all, and Cambetes, when asking around, soon learned the owner had died of AIDS — the first AIDS-related death on the island, he was told.
"It's sad," he said. "They shun it because they think it's the next plague."
While maybe not as extreme, people in the U.S. are still fairly ignorant about the disease, Cambetes said. "HIV is still one of those hush-hush things."
He set a goal to create a project to raise HIV/AIDS awareness. "A Touch of Red" combines his love of photography — something he's done as a hobby since he was 13 (he was given a camera because he was a hyperactive kid) — with his mission to raise HIV/AIDS awareness.