“We had 6 amazing, but lonely mothers with kids. Each of them with different story. Even if you are not pro and you don’t have big support team, you can make people smile.” –Ingrida Alisauskiene, Vilnius, Lithuania
“One woman had a mentally challenged daughter that was very difficult. We were able to get a portrait of both of them smiling and that has never happened before. She was overwhelmed. How much a picture means to someone’s life. The impact was enormous.”
–John Thomas, Laveen, AZ
Adrian Tan of Singapore shared this message from one of the volunteers, Lynne Solomon, at their Help-Portrait event in December 2011:
I met someone. Pretty special guy. At the end of our photo session, he took my hand to “salaam”, kissed it and with the most beautiful pair of innocent eyes, looked at me gratefully and said “Thank you”. He is 9 years old. He has leukemia. And he lives in a shelter with his mom.
I met a young lady in her 20s. Beautiful, beautiful face. It turns out that the …1st time she ever had her face and hair beautifully made up was for her wedding day a few years ago. It was the happiest day of her young life. Yesterday was the 2nd time she ever had her face and hair done up so beautifully again. Only this time, she had it done in a shelter for battered women.
I met a man in his 50s. He made a mistake 27 years ago and was put away. While i took his name and prepared him for the photo shoot, he shook my hand so tight and with such gratefulness said to me “Thank you, God bless you”. It was a struggle because he doesn’t speak English. And, it was a struggle for me too as i tried not tear.
Yes. I cried a lot yesterday. Not because I was sad. I met many people yesterday whose story touched me. I cried tears of happiness, of thankfulness, of gratitude. Most of all, I cried because there is HOPE and I have so much to be thankful for.
Gene Fetty, of Washington, PA, shared this story from the December 2011 Help-Portrait event:
We photographed a husband and wife last year. The husband was a patient at the facility we were shooting at and the wife came in with him to have a portrait made. Sadly the husband passed away sometime in the last year and now the wife is a patient at the same facility. Their son told our contact at the facility that the portrait of his father that we made last year was the best photo that his dad ever had made and the only one that he had a smile in. That portrait is now proudly displayed in his mom’s room. This is how important the photographs that are made at the Help-Portrait events are.
“It was amazing to watch 57 volunteers/photographers who came as individuals bond so quickly into a close group. Everyone pitched in to do whatever was needed to make the event a success. Someone looking in would have assumed we were all friends before arriving, and by the end of the day, we were. The spirit of giving is indeed very powerful.” –Norma Warden, Los Angeles, CA
Rohit Singh Tolia, of Pune, Maharashtra, India, shares the following from his H-P event in December of 2011:
I had gone to children home’s in my city, they all had dream like us to be something good in life but somehow their dreams will remain dreams because there’s no one to guide them or be their guiding star. While shooting I questioned them, “How many of you have photography, and out of 20 I just saw 3-4 hands raised. Those girls were so excited to get shot & when I told them they would get a print too they were damn happy about it & yes they told me to add on so many things in their photo’s :) Loads of memories & smiles I had with me when I was back to home.
“Organizing this event was exhausting, but worth every single minute I spent doing it. The smiles on the faces of the teenagers we photographed, and the pure joy they had in feeling like rockstars for a day… That was priceless. One of the best things about help-Portrait is the sense of camaraderie among photographers. I’ve said time and time again over these past weeks, that all the fun and laughter our group shares make Help-Portrait something I don’t ever want to stop doing.” –Anese Merriwether, Minneapolis, MN
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Jessica Barker
Where's our awesome thumbs up photo???
Jessica Barker | 02/03/2012 6:35 pm -
Jessica Barker
WONDERFUL!
Jessica Barker | 02/03/2012 7:53 pm -
Ken Jones
Excellent times. The video was a blast to make!
Ken Jones | 02/03/2012 8:08 pm -
Dario
Ken, everyone at HSRA loved the video. Thank you so much for your work.
Dario | 03/03/2012 5:29 pm -
Christopher Guthrie
Great event, great times!!!! Can't wait for next year.
Christopher Guthrie | 04/03/2012 3:44 am
Kaley Diaz from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, shared this about her December 2011 H-P event:
Most of the children had never been photographed before, and had never seen themselves in a photograph. After each photo, I showed them their images in the back of the camera, and they all exclaimed, “que linda” or “que guapo!” (how pretty / how handsome) The smiles that crossed their faces after seeing their images were amazing. [Some said:] “Thank You” … The children that I photographed do not speak English, so the fact that they were trying to thank me in a language that they do not speak was so meaningful.
Ted van der Linden of San Francisco, CA, shared this from his December 2011 event:
I was asked if there was any way to help take some yearbook photos for the daughter of a friend. (This is not the traditional Help-Portrait event, I know.) I decided to do this as I didn’t have a full day to donate – and was able to create a framework to support the need of this request.
We (photogs) should make a point to do pro-bono work – just like the legal community – find a project, adopt a school…and give your time like it was critical to your success.
“A single mom with her 18-day-old baby girl came near the end of the day. She was very excited because she never imagined that she would get to have a nice photo of her baby that small. She was really sweet and the photographer asked her to stick around since we were almost finished for the day. Once everyone was done, he brought her back in and gave her a baby/momma photoshoot like she never imagined. He captured the baby’s tiny hand holding hers and her little ears. All of the things people pay hundreds of dollars to have. She was so moved and grateful. I felt very happy to provide that experience for her.” –Tess Kearns, Chicago, IL
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eileen keeler
Love it! How nice to be able to do something like this.
eileen keeler | 23/02/2012 5:15 am -
Tess Kearns
Thank you to: Kevin, Tim, Mick, Scott, Rob (back row) Brian, Cindy, Liz, (me), Jill, Tom (middle) Marcus, Paul, Oscar (Front row) For making the day so special for everyone that attended.
Tess Kearns | 26/02/2012 1:08 am
