Ryan - Community Involvement?

Everyone - I was just wondering if LPC ever got into things that involved giving back to the community? I've read several articles lately regarding photographers getting together and taking photos of terminally ill children, or children who may be in a situation like Home of the Innocents, The Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep projects, Wednesday's Child, etc.

Just curious if there may be any interest with people here in doing something like that? I am a HUGE believer in Karma and bringing the good chi back around to you, and thought this might be a good way for LPC members to give back.

Thoughts?

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Permalink Reply by Ceece on March 23, 2009 at 9:25am
I'm a big fan of giving back too. I think there are 4 of us on here who are approved with NILMDTS, I don't know about the rest of them. I think a volunteer opportunity thread was brought up a couple weeks/months ago and people listed various organizations that they were familiar with.

I wonder if we could start a section or listing of all the various organizations we can lend our time and talents too. I'm not aware of like a group thing, were a bunch of photogs get together and go shoot somewhere, although that may be neat.

-C
Permalink Reply by Courtney Ellis on March 23, 2009 at 11:25am
I would LOOOOVE to tell you guys more about NILMDTS...perhaps a locked thread Ryan? There is also a video of one of the families I helped out at:

http://www.whas11.com/video/whas11video-index.html?nvid=264931


This family is truly what makes it all worth while. If anyone has any questions, please contact me, Rob, Ceece or Scott.
Permalink Reply by Ryan Armbrust on March 23, 2009 at 12:07pm
Court, please do not start and lock a thread.
Do start a blog post if you want to.

I have thought about taking portraits of folks going through chemo. Both during and after.
I did this for myself during my chemo.
Permalink Reply by Courtney Ellis on March 23, 2009 at 12:28pm
Ok I think I misstated what I was trying to say (to have a thread where people can ask questions about NILMDTS), but that's ok. I did not mean to be offensive in any way. Anyone who has questions can PM me.
Permalink Reply by Karen Bassett on March 23, 2009 at 12:48pm
I have a friend in Ohio who volunteers for NILMDTS, and it sounds very rewarding. I've thought about that, actually.
Permalink Reply by Brittany Murphy on March 23, 2009 at 12:49pm
A friend of mine wanted to do some tasteful nudes for breast cancer awareness since she herself has been recently diagnosed... she can't find any models who want to participate though.


I'd love to help out if I can with anything you guys want to get together...
Permalink Reply by Ryan Armbrust on March 23, 2009 at 1:52pm
Court,
You mentioned starting a thread and locking it. To lock a thread means that folks can not add replies to the thread. That is why I suggested a blog post. If you want to add a thread that is unlocked, one where folks can add replies, that is fine.

Court said:
Ok I think I misstated what I was trying to say (to have a thread where people can ask questions about NILMDTS), but that's ok. I did not mean to be offensive in any way. Anyone who has questions can PM me.
Permalink Reply by Shane E. on March 23, 2009 at 2:14pm
I am all for photographing living children. There are thousands of little babies and tots out there who have parents too cheap or stupid to even try to get great portraits of their children. Sears is not a great portrait. It's a sitting mugshot usually. NILMDTS is a good thing, but not my thing.

I could not photograph terminally ill children on a regular basis because, even though I don't sleep much, I do try to sleep sometimes. And I have a very good memory. I would probably cry taking the pictures, cry editing the pictures, and then cry looking at prints of the pictures. Having children of your own makes you much more sensitive about such things. And I wouldn't want to know that many children in such a situation. I could do something like that occasionally.

I'm not so sure how photography helps needy people directly by taking their pictures, but selling pictures of other things to raise money is effective.

As Ceece suggested, offering photo services to existing organizations is a good idea. Charities that do things for the community, or children in the community, are usually too cheap to hire a real photographer most times anyway. So, offering services to those groups could be good karma and save them from their own bad 'dude with a camera' photographer.
Permalink Reply by Ceece on March 23, 2009 at 2:25pm
yeah. there's a lot of crying going on during the session and things related afterwards. and lots of hugging on my own kiddos.

Shane E. said:
I am all for photographing living children. There are thousands of little babies and tots out there who have parents too cheap or stupid to even try to get great portraits of their children. Sears is not a great portrait. It's a sitting mugshot usually. NILMDTS is a good thing, but not my thing.

I could not photograph terminally ill children on a regular basis because, even though I don't sleep much, I do try to sleep sometimes. And I have a very good memory. I would probably cry taking the pictures, cry editing the pictures, and then cry looking at prints of the pictures. Having children of your own makes you much more sensitive about such things. And I wouldn't want to know that many children in such a situation. I could do something like that occasionally.

I'm not so sure how photography helps needy people directly by taking their pictures, but selling pictures of other things to raise money is effective.

As Ceece suggested, offering photo services to existing organizations is a good idea. Charities that do things for the community, or children in the community, are usually too cheap to hire a real photographer most times anyway. So, offering services to those groups could be good karma and save them from their own bad 'dude with a camera' photographer.
Permalink Reply by Rosemary C-B on March 23, 2009 at 2:52pm
We used to be the area coordinators for NILMDTS, but we had to give it up because we couldn't be readily available--both of us would be sick, out of town, etc. I didn't feel right about continuing to volunteer.

Jon and I started a little thing where we offer high school senior portrait sessions for at-risk teens. I have a friend who is a case worker and he hand-picks kids who are deserving of a free set of senior portraits--we are just starting it, but it looks like it is going to be a great thing for everyone involved. For instance, our first model has dealt with a drug-addicted mother and has managed to raise her own child, keep a high GPA, and will graduate on time. Otherwise, she couldn't afford any senior portraits. Pretty cool.

I loved our time with NILMDTS--it is extremely emotional, but really helps a family through the grieving process and also gives them beautiful, tangible proof that their little one was here on earth, even for a few moments.

Rosemary
Permalink Reply by Kimberly on March 23, 2009 at 5:45pm
Brittany Willett said:
A friend of mine wanted to do some tasteful nudes for breast cancer awareness since she herself has been recently diagnosed... she can't find any models who want to participate though.

Shes talking about me btw.. but anyways, I grew up around Shriners Hospital when I was a child and would love nothing more than to go back and do some portraits of the shriners.. I dont have a great camera yet but once I do, I plan on doing charity work first, in order to get recognized by doing something for the community.. I use to be great friends with Tim and Beverly Walden, and they did something similar to charity work with hospice. I think its great and definatly plan on working on that first before opening a studio of my own.
I'd love to help out if I can with anything you guys want to get together...
Permalink Reply by Shane E. on March 23, 2009 at 6:45pm
Do what you want, Kimberly, but establishing yourself and making a profit is something that allows you the time to do charity work. It's hard to feed the hungry when you can't feed yourself. But doing one before the other (studio or charity) is kind of irrelevant, since they aren't really related. It's good that you want to contribute, though, and I wish you the best of luck.

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