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Help-Portrait.com - A Simply Cool Idea

Thanks to Zack Arias promoting Help-Portrait, I got a chance to see a new non-profit initiative unfold to give portraits away for free to less fortunate families in the month of December. In the video below is a call out to all photographers, beginners to pros to help provide families with the opportunity to have lifelong memories created through portrait photography.

In the video, the message is clear and moving. It knocked my socks off immediately. Then I put my shoes on and pretended I was the average Joe, that wanted to act! How do I organize such an event? I love the idea, I want to do it, but don’t know who to talk to, so how do I “do it”?

Use Local Non Profit Groups as your army of organizers

Since I have a history working with local non profit organizations at a city level, I’m going to encourage you to get out there and do it, because it’s easy to organize, and they’ll LOVE you for doing it! How to do it? Each city has several groups of people that are community leaders that are servants to their communities. Groups range from Rotary, YMCA, Lions, Elks, churches and many more if you inquire at City Hall. If you present this idea, with a professional outcome, to any of the groups you choose to contact, you will be welcomed in open arms.

Now questions have risen about what photographers are actually giving. I’m not the creator of Help-Portrait, so I’m taking an educated guess. What photographers are giving away for free is studio time and other fees that normally attach to the studio fee. If a photographer tried to cover the fee of printing costs of all the photos, they’d be in debt very quickly.

Once you partner up with a local non profit group, you now have an army working for you. That army can contact local printing businesses wanting some exposure, so they would sell those prints at cost, which is pretty cheap. The “at cost” price of printing could also be covered by the local non profit group, adding exposure for themselves. You can get other “services” involved too. Hair salons, make-up artists, catering companies, etc can add value to the event. Your ideas can be endless, but keep them realistic.

Things to remember - To create this event, you need a location that’s large enough and has the electricity [amps] needed to run all the equipment that day. Schools, business rooms in hotels or a city conference center are some ideas. When you partner up with the local non profit group, your army will help you with organizing that type of stuff. You’ll even need a small team of people to help with clean up too, many organizers forget this simple detail.

The most important thing to remember about all this is the time it takes to organize. Start early, like in September to organize for an early December launch. If you’re a pro doing it for exposure, you better stick to your obligation of the project. Also take this opportunity to recruit other pros in the area to join you in this function. The process will be easier and more creative, giving people at Christmas time, an excellent product they will always remember.

In the end, remember what you learned from the event you helped create, because if it was a success, the city will want another one next year and you’ll have to make it that much better.

If you’re a fan of photography and would like to follow Help-Portrait, check them out here on Facebook.com.

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