Charity Fest - How are you giving back?

5/30/2013

With Charity Fest we're looking for stories about how photographers are giving back...and there's no such thing as a project that's too small!

June 12, 2013: We had so many great entries, we're now doing a second round. The deadline is July 1, 2013. Thanks for your support. To read the posts put up so far, mouse over the SCU Blog tab above and click on "Charity Fest".

by Skip Cohen

A few times over the years on other blogs I've done a series called Charity Fest. It's simply a collection of guest posts from other photographers on projects they're doing to give back to the community. There's no such thing as a project too small and each time I thought we'd covered everything, somebody would send me something nobody had thought of before.

Well, it's time to bring back Charity Fest and share your ideas with other photographers, but if you don't get them to me, I can't post them and share them with our industry. I know a lot of photographers just don't know how to get started - so it makes sense to find the stories out there and share them with everybody.

It's incredible when social media works the way you hope it will. Here's what happened three years ago - within just a few minutes after Tweeting the request asking for photographers who are involved, I received three emails. The first one was from Seshu in Connecticut, the second from Jen May and the third from Peter Garr, who not only told me about a project in L.A. but retweeted my original tweet. All three of the stories became part of Charity Fest that year and since then Seshu and I have had a lot of different discussions about other projects.

This year I'd like to take it one step further. In an effort to encourage you to take the time to share your stories of the thousands of different ways photographers are making a difference, we'll draw for two scholarships to this year's SCU Summer Session, August 11-14 in Chicago*.

So, send me your story, 2-400 words and a few images (5x7 75 dpi) to skip@mei500.com. There's no guarantee that every story will make the blog, but every photographer submitting will be included in the chance to win one of the scholarships to Summer Session! Deadline for submissions is June 10.

Here's what I'm looking for, stories of projects you're involved with in your community; charities in which you're involved; non-profit events in which you used your photographic skill set or just good old blood, sweat and tears to make a difference. There's no event or activity too small.

There are so many of you who are making it a point to be involved in your community and projects you believe in - let's share those stories with other photographers and create our own photo industry charity RAVE!

*Registration for SCU, hotel, transportation and expenses are the responsibility of the recipient.

Photo Credit: © DOC RABE Media - Fotolia.com

3 Comments

"Why?"

Check out "Why?" one of the most popular features on the SCU Blog. It's a very simple concept - one image, one artist and one short sound bite. Each artist shares what makes the image one of their most favorite. We're over 100 artists featured since the project started. Click on the link above and you can scroll through all of the episodes to date.

Muffet Petrehn link

6/3/2013 07:45:23 am

Hi Skip, My name is Muffet Petrehn. I saw your request in Jeff Lubin's business page asking for ways in which we have given back to our community. I give a lot and often but what I am going to share I did a few years ago but I doubt if it is done very often.
I was asked by a fundraising committee for our local Children's Hospital to photograph open heart surgery. Their hope was to get some emotional images of their Dr's and nurses to show at their fundraising banquet. Here is a link to the images
http://muffetpetrehn.com/givingback/
The images played on 10 large screens all around the black tie banquet room - it was amazing to watch peoples expressions as they watched. They raised over $650,000.00 that night - The feeling was that my images helped people dig a little deeper down in their pockets when they gave : )

Mark Brandes link

6/4/2013 02:00:32 am

Tomorrow, my wife, April and I leave for Uganda to create a promotional/fundraising video for Celebrate Hope Ministries (www.celebratehopeministries.com). They help families in Uganda become coffee farmers, and in the process, the family's annual income rises from $500 PER YEAR to about $2500 per year, making a huge difference in the long term health and education of the family.

Jan Pittard

6/29/2013 05:45:42 pm

I want to share what my friend and mentor Leslie Spurlock has done. Since the Sandy Hook shooting she donates a family shoot for someone who otherwise couldn't afford it. She actively promotes the Olivia act since this sad incident happened. It was started because the photos that meant so much to the families who lost children in the tragedy. She is a very modest photographer, but I'm in awe of all she does professionally and through the Olivia Act.

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