6400+ Unemployed at Job Fair

Over 6400 people came to the “Jobs Gone Wild” job Fair Thursday January 28th. 6400 unemployed people in one place! Over 200 of them wanted Free Business Portraits. Unfortunately I was only able to get to a little over 170 in the 4.5 hours I had to shoot. I wanted to stay and photograph them all but the facility had to kick me out due to another event schedule just a few hours later.

I arrived at 5:45am to begin setting up and to be interviewed by Michelle Buckman of Fox 29 News in Philadelphia. When I arrived fire alarms were screeching in our ears. After about 20 minutes they stopped temporarily. Then just 1 minute before we were to go live on Fox they went off again! Luckily they were just testing them and we were able to have them turned off in time for us to go on air. The interview is below. (and yes I have a cold)

I took over 550 images that day and I took the time to talk to each person I photographed. My job is not only to snap a portrait but to make people relax for that portrait. I will be blogging about the event again soon. I will have images of the photoshoot, the event and of course the lines too! I will also be adding some of the finished portraits when I get through all of them. Please check back often to learn more about how the event went. I was also interviewed by a reporter, Tina Susman of the LA Times and as soon as I know when that interview will be published I will be sure to add a link to it.

Moving forward I am looking for location hosts. Anyone that has the space where I can continue these events please contact me. I had to turn away over 50 people and I want desperately to help them all. As a location photographer I do not have a studio to use and I need a space that is in Philadelphia for these people. I am open to planning other events outside of the Philadelphia area as well. If you or your company can help, contact me via the Contact Michael page of this site.

If your company is planning layoffs, Free Business Portraits for those being released gives your employees a better chance at landing their next position. Please contact me so we can work together on helping those that need help the most.

Thank you all, Stay Tuned, and until next time…

Happy Shooting!