A Fan Club?

If you have been following me long enough you have heard of the Free Business Portraits for the Unemployed that I did a few times in recent years. In fact I was even written up in the LA Times about it and you can read about that here: Joblessness in the LA Times.

At that particular event I was also on the local Fox news station and they recorded me shooting the 174 portraits I did in just 4.5 hours that day at the Wachovia Center (now the Wells Fargo Center) in Philadelphia. A copy of the video is on YouTube and you can link to that on the Publications page of this website.

While photographing all these people I tried to take a moment with each one to relax them and try to build as much of a relationship with them as I could in the few minutes we had together. I have managed to keep in touch with many of them and one in particular recently got in touch with me and arranged a new portrait session to update her image. Gayle Ruggeri now works for the City Of Philadelphia and is a wonderful person and a great subject.

When Gayle contacted me about updating her portrait she had just read my free ebook, “Your Personal Portrtait” and she loved the idea that there is now a How To on getting your portrait taken. She brought a couple of outfits and some jewelry to choose from and we started shooting. I have to say that working with Gayle was a lot of fun. She likes to play to the camera a little bit and just the conversations we had… better yet, this is what she had to say to me afterwards via a LinkedIn recommendation:

“Please add me to the Michael Albany fan club. Michael did my first picture (at the Free Business Shots) and we have stayed in touch. After reading his eBook “My Personal Portrait” I realized it was time for an updated shot. Michael really puts a lot of time, energy, and effort into his work and it shows. The shoots are a lot of fun and the conversation is wide ranging and lively; e.g., from cats to his IT work to photography to Star Trek. What is most interesting is his charity and volunteer work. I highly recommend Michael and his work. Take a look at his site https://michaelalbany.com/ and you will see what I mean.”

Imagine that, a Michael Albany Photography Fan Club. I’m not sure how many might join but it is a huge compliment to have one fan! Well maybe you don’t want to join my fan club but if you want to get the free ebook and my periodic newsletter just fill out the form on the left, we will make it an official fan club sometime in the future. 😉

Thank you Gayle and we have to do it again! One thing I forgot to tell you when you left; live long and prosper.