Warning: I feel a rant coming on… and after all isn’t that what BLOGS are all about? Those who know me are aware of my rants… especially my loving wife.
She has repeatedly heard me rant on about such things as the peculiar habit of the Maine Traffic Planners (hah!) to create lanes on a roadway, only to remove them – suddenly and with scarcely a heartbeats advance notice. But that is for another time…
Or perhaps the declaration by motorcyclists (of which I am one and have been riding longer than driving a car) that it is OK for them to ignore noise ordinances and have open pipes because it is safer. People can hear them when they can’t be seen. BullSh*t. Sound travels away from the rear of the bike not forward (perhaps they should retake that basic physics class) and as such they are only heard when they are in front of vehicles. Attention bikers: Get a powerful horn, keep your eyes open, and oh, maybe wear a helmet?
But that’s a rant for another time… 
Ok – so I got the mini rant out of my system – for the moment. Someone remind me in a week or so to get back on the rant train and explore the two above, and a few more… perhaps even on the topic of photography. Like how folks with cameras aren’t always photographers. Click the shutter enough times and play long enough in Photoshop and sure, almost anyone can get art. The difference is making art ON DEMAND. When the client wants it. Communicating the client’s message. Starting with a blank slate.
So please remind me to rant on about that in the near future….
Today’s ramblings are focused on an issue much more relevant then any of the above.
GIVE BACK TO YOUR COMMUNITY.
I just did, and it was a fabulous feeling. Last Wednesday I, and a wonderful group of volunteers, managed to take portraits of 38 children & their families in the space of 4 hours at a beautiful lakeside summer camp. The camp is for children with life threatening illness & their families. For some, this may be the last time they will ever be photographed. Others will see the photographs as a celebration of a deadly battle won. We will not know. We just came to give them the gift we bring – beautiful photographs of the beautiful children.
It started for me when working with my wife, Sharyn, on a video for the Maine Children’s Cancer Program. [You can see her work here: http://www.wonderdogfilms.com . The MCCP video is not on the site yet though] I saw just what these kids were going through, and how amazing they were. And how incredibly heartbreaking it is.
I had heard about an organization called Flashes of Hope that arranges photo shoots by ASMP photographers for the children. So I brought the program to Maine. It turns out they already had an interest in doing a shoot at Camp Sunshine in Maine. It was a perfect fit at the right time.
So we had four photographers: me, Jeff Stevensen, Jim Daniels, and Darren Setlow. Assisting were Scott Brouseau, Corey Fenders, Nathan Broaddus and Jessica Materna.
We also had Nance Trueworthy shuffling subjects to and fro, as well as three volunteers from the Boston Flashes of Hope chapter.
All these folks did this for nothing. Nada. Zip. Goose eggs.
No. Sorry that’s a lie. This is it. Real dialog between myself & a mom at the shoot:
Mom: “…so we will get to see some proofs and then what? Do we order prints from you? Is that how it works?”
K: “No. I will edit the shoot, and you will receive, in a few weeks time, a portfolio of two 8x10s, a bunch of 4x6s, and the files on disc”
Mom: “ Oh. So then we can order more from you?”
K: “No. You will have the files. Just take them to your local photo printer and away you go!”
Mom: “You’re kidding?!” So - what’s in it for YOU?!”
K: “THIS is what’s in it for me. Right now. This moment.”
With that Mom began to tear up, as did photog, assistant, and even the squirrels watching from the branches above…
Which brings me to the next point: while we all donated our time, some things can not be found for free. (Try getting the USPS to donate anything!) It cost about $1,000 to get the prints to the families, even with the lab donating the prints. I did a mass email (ok – is 45 people “mass”?) and raised $1,150. at last count. Now, in order to get the Maine Chapter off the ground, which will mean doing shoots at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital in Portland, we need to get the number up to around $5000.
On Saturday July 12 (11am – 2pm) we are having a fund raising BBQ at Big Moose Harley Davidson (please don’t tell them about my previous mini rant! – yet&hellip through the Southern Maine Portland Harley Owners Group.
If you want to DONATE… come to the BBQ or go to Http://www.flashesofhope.org and select “donate” and choose the “Camp Sunshine – Maine” as the chapter.
Anyway… I have gone on and on today and must get to work! Look for more photos from the shoot on my website or this blog in the near future…
Thanks for listening…
