2011 Help Portrait Fort Collins Colorado
During the holidays there are so many different ways to get into the holiday spirit of giving. I like to kick things off by sharing some of my creative gifts to help out local families in need.
For the last three holiday seasons, I’ve donated my time and services to Help Portrait — a global movement of photographers who use their time, gear and expertise to offer their services free of charge to families who simply cannot afford such a luxury. The holidays are such a memorable time of year, and many don’t even own a camera, let alone have the budget for professional shots.
Every Day Joe’s hosted the Fort Collins based Help Portrait event on December 10th for families from the Mathew’s House, Project Self-Sufficiency and local shelters, providing live music, hot chocolate, snacks and a great space for a bunch of professional photographers to work, including me.
Between 9am and 5pm I jammed through 34 separate shoots. I took the photos, my assistant edited them and printed them to photo paper and burned them CD so families could walk away with a great holiday memory in hand.
For me, this annual event is about being able to use my passion to create something that will literally become part of a family’s history, something they would never spend money on for themselves. I already feel so fortunate, and I was so happy to be able to share my good fortune with someone else in my local community.