What a Wonderful Day!
My oh my, what a wonderful… event! On August 26th I did the Free Business Portraits for the Unemployed and it was fantastic! A stellar turnout! Free Business Portraits for the Unemployed was a raging success!
Originally when I set this up I didn’t know how it would go. I just wanted to do something for the community at large and the unemployed community is pretty large now a days.
Everyone was great. All the people having their shots taken were smiling and everyone was grateful for the service we provided. The volunteers are the ones that should get all the attention. I couldn’t have done it without Eva, Heather, Perry or Kimberly. You guys rock!
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On the day of the event we had a full book, we had walk-ins, and talk about press? Three of the four local televisions stations (ABC, NBC and Fox) showed up; we had local morning drive time DJs announcing it and the cities news radio station, KYW 1060, did an extensive interview and aired it 3 times that day. That all drove more people to the event!
I have gotten more thank you’s and pats on the back than I can tell. I have other photographers that want to do the same thin in their cities. Bill Anderson (www.billandersonphoto.com) from Indianapolis Indiana has set a date and will be doing one soon. Check his website for details.
We had only three people that didn’t make it, two had job interviews and one was ill. It was an outstanding turnout! Many people have called to ask if I will be doing this again. The answer to that has changed from ‘I don’t know,’ to ‘we are working on another event for November.’ Nothing is solid yet but we are hoping to be able to do something in conjunction with one of the TV news stations. That is all I can say at the moment as we still have to firm up quite a few details.
In the mean time, if you want your business portrait done before then, I am offering 20% off my normal rate though September. Book it now because rates may be changing soon! You can get all the details in the news section of the site.
If you want to see some of the 235 images shot that day, take a look at the Free Biz Shots gallery at www.magickmichael.com.
Until next time…
Happy shooting!
What a wonderful thing you did Michael.
I’m sure many of the subjects had their spirits lifted know someone went out of their way to give them something they needed.
This sounds like something I’d like to do in Seattle.
I do have two questions:
1- How did you give them the images?
2- How many people took advantage of the service.
Thanks again for your volunteer effort.
Paul,
We had a full book based on a portrait every 10 minutes for 6 hours plus we had walk ins too. It was indeed a busy day. I still have people contacting me about when they can have a shot done. I am planning another event to accommodate them.
Images were delivered electronically and I delivered passwords to a private gallery on my other site.
Contact me off list (contact info is on the contact page) and I will tell you all you need to know to have a similar event. I am working with 3 other photographers now on similar events. My theory is the more the merrier!
I think what you did was awesome, and I will be doing a similar type thing here in South Africa, although it will be more of a social reportage thing, as things here are quite different,
Kind regards and keep up the good work,
Tony Mills