"Help-Portrait" Day, December 10th 2011 - Take A Photo Of Someone In Need

It's always nice to give back, and I just came across this opportunity via an email from Photojojo.com about "Help-Portrait" Day, which falls on December 10th this year.

According to Help-Portrait's website, this is not about adding to your portfolio or making money by selling the portraits, it's about giving back to the community in need.  Taking a portrait of some needy individual or family and then gifting them with the photograph is the ultimate aim of the project.

They are looking for amateur and pro-photographers, volunteers and makeup artists.  Their website has all the information you need, including lists of groups that have already formed, all over the world. Or if there is no group in your immediate area they encourage you to create one yourself. Photojojo also has information and suggestions on how to get involved with this very worthy project.

There are so many worthy groups and organizations that would so appreciate having their members' photo taken-  for free.

Help-Portraits Mission Statement

Founded by Celebrity Photographer Jeremy Cowart, Help-Portrait is a community of photographers coming together across the world to use their photography skills to give back to their local community.


In December, photographers around the world will be grabbing their cameras, finding people in need and taking their picture. When the prints are ready, the photographs get delivered.

Yep. It really is that easy.

This is about GIVING the pictures, not taking them. These portraits are not for your portfolio, website, or for sale. Money isn’t involved here. This holiday season, you have the chance to give a family something they may have never had before—a portrait together.

Our mission? Our mission at Help-Portrait is simply to equip and mobilize you, the photography community. We want to make sure you have all the information that you need to successful participate in Help-Portrait on 10 December 2011. We want to help you find other people in your area that are wanting to be part of Help-Portrait or have already begun to plan the event. We want you to have the opportunity to give.

The best place to connect with other photographers, download important documents, and read up on some useful Help-Portrait planning tips is our COMMUNITY SITE.

Just in case you haven’t seen it, here is our video explaining the idea of Help-Portrait.

And an intro video for more info:

Giving Back- Going Green With GE's Ecomagination Photo Project

It's not often that we as artists have the opportunity to give back, so when there's a chance to do that we should jump on it. For those photographers with a Flickr account, General Electric (GE) has an ongoing 'ecomagination photo project' that is dedicated to bringing water, solar power and wind energy to those countries in most need.

There are three different categories:

1. Wind
2. Water
3. Light

All you have to do is upload  to Flickr through GE's Ecomagination Photo Project website photos for one or all categories.  Give the photos a title, a short description, and then tag with either "wind", "water" or "light". Then simply share the links with your friends on Twitter or Facebook.
I'm not quite sure of the actual mechanics, but GE in conjunction with three different charities will then donate the following:

4.5kW hours of wind energy for every wind photo
175 hours of solar power for every light photo
480 gallons of drinking water for every water photo

In other words, your photos will build a wind turbine to power health clinics in rural parts of Peru, build clean water wells, and provide families in  East Timor with solar-powered lanterns.

For more information check out their website and give upload a few yourself.

Hearts For Haiti - Etsy Shop Owners Donate Items For Haiti

Since the devastating earthquake in Haiti, people have been trying to find a way to help. A group of Etsy.com shop owners have come together to donate items, the proceeds of which will be sent directly to Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontiers), one of my favorite charities. Other than Etsy and paypal fees, 100% of the money will be donated. Shop owners will be donating the shipping costs.

I haven't decided which photograph I will donate yet, but I will make a decision over the weekend.

In the meantime, if you can't donate or help out in some other way, they can use all the prayers they can get.

Blessings,

Jess

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation- Remembrance Photography

I came across this wonderful organization that people need to know about.

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep (NILMDTS) is a national (and international) non-profit foundation that sends photographers to maternity wards, for free, to photograph babies who have died, or are not expected to survive longer than a few days.

It was co-founded by Cheryl Haggard whose son, Maddux Achilles, was born with a debilitating condition. After 6 days, the family finally chose to end his suffering and take Maddux off life support. But before the tubes and wires were removed, they decided to have local photographer, Sandy Puc', take photos of Maddux before he was removed from life support, and then with Cheryl cradling him after he had passed. This experience inspired Cheryl and Sandy to create Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep.

They have more than 5,000 volunteer photographers worldwide, but are always looking for professional photographers to add to their network.

They believe that capturing these moments can lead to healing,

And what a wonderful way for photographers to give back.

If I ever start working on portrait photography, I will definitely sign up.