This post has been a long time coming! When I saw the Facebook invite to this event pop into my inbox, I knew right away I needed to be involved. Each year, I try to do a few things as a volunteer-type service with my photography because to me, photography isn't only an art or a way to document huge milestones in your lives, it's a way I can serve the community too. The event

does exactly that.

The purpose of the event is to GIVE portraits, not "take" them. Anyone off the street can come in to get their portrait. We "shoot" you, print the portraits, and give them to you on site without a dime in return.

Help Portrait

is done in cities around the world in December and this year, it fell on my 29th birthday: December 7th. What better way to ring in the last year of my 20's than with some community service right? Win-win.

We photographed unemployed men, refugee families, single moms trying make ends meet. Part of the purpose of the event is to give people the opportunity to tell their stories while you take their portrait. Some of these men hadn't had their picture taken in over a decade and their grown children didn't know what "Dad" looked like anymore. A single mom hadn't had her daughter's baby pictures taken yet. Refugee families could get their photos taken without fear of being found.

It struck me afresh that getting your picture taken is part of Life and one's family history.

And what we do as photographers is so important to the families we serve as clients. As if serving the community wasn't a warm n' fuzzy already, I got the pleasure of meeting some

really kind

like-minded

photographers

. With so many

creative minds

in the room, I learned a lot just watching

them work

and "talking shop"

throughout the day

. (All those links connect to a different one of their websites-give them a look-see!)

Here's my favorite photo of the day: