Acclaimed entertainment photographer Christopher Voelker has been awarded the Christopher and Dana Reeve Hope Award for his work behind the lens in revealing the human side of those living with a disability — and uplifting the entire disability community in the process.

The honor was sprung on Voelker at a December reception in Los Angeles and it came as quite a shock. “I have won several awards over the past 27 years, but this means the most to me as it is from my people,” he says. “My thanks to The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation for keeping me close and always being there to support me, be it a gallery show or this cool award. They are what a real foundation is all about.”

Voelker, a Reeve ambassador, has shot many covers for New Mobility along with portraits for the Reeve Foundation Paralysis Resource Guide. Stereotypical images of disability have long been the norm in the mainstream media, but Voelker removes all stigmas to produce an authentic portrayal of his subject. “Creativity is a means of making a statement period,” he says. “I want my disabled subjects to look cool, sexy, unique in the same manner as anyone nondisabled.”

To see more of Voelker’s work, visit his website.