This year was the first year Barrie participated in worldwide event called Help Portrait. Its an initiative to give back to those who are less fortunate and who could not usually afford a portrait taken by a professional photographer. Barrie had 4 locations organized by local photographers and students, hairstylists and makeup artists. Ryan and I, along with some of our closest photography friends; Richard Roth, Apryl Munro, Gail Kenney, and Andrew & Emily Sorlie spent the day at Collier Street United Church here in Barrie. We set up 3 photo studios a makeup station, and set out cookies and coffee. This was going to be a day of giving back, making people feel beautiful and amazing, and then giving them professional portrait.
In the weeks leading up to Help Portrait you could just feel something, like as if this event was going to change people, like as if it would actually impact our city and the people who are living in it. Its always a risk when you start something new, you never know if people will like it or not, or if all your hard work preparing for it would pay off with positive results and if you would actually get the chance to do what you set out to.
We photographed 20 families and individuals. Each person who walked through that door had a story, and each person we photographed seemed to be overcome with joy when they saw their image. Richard Roth photographed a man in his late 60’s who came all dressed up for his 1st ever portrait! That’s right, this man had never been photographed before, not even a school photo. It was amazing to watch his reaction to his very first portrait. Gail Kenney photographed a blind woman who came out to get photos taken for her family. After her portrait was taken Ryan sat down with her and gave her some cookies and she told him that she had a brain tumor, which is the reason why she is blind. She grabbed Ryan’s hand and put it on her head and asked him to pray with her.
From across the room the rest of us all watched in amazement as the 2 of them prayed.
We met a couple who came in because someone on the street told them about Help Portrait. Crystal and Wes are 32 years old and have been married for 10 years. I was totally drawn to these 2 partially because I like couples in love, but mostly for what Wes told me before we took his photo. He said that they could not afford a photo. So I replied with “It’s okay, because everything is free today, this is sort of an international photography give back day. Photographers from all over the world are giving back to their communities and photographing people who can’t afford to hire a professional to take their portraits”.
Wes got all emotional, and said “, this is my karma! finally something is coming back to us.” I was a little surprised at his reaction, so I asked him “What do you mean this is your karma?”
Then he told me…
“Everyday, I wait outside the IGA near our apartment because I know all the old people in town shop there, I wait there until I see someone who needs help carrying their groceries home, and I carry their bags for them. Finally all the good things I have been doing are coming back to us.”
Wes & Crystal loved their photo, they even hung out with us all for a while eating cookies and drinking coffee. They talked about their marriage and their values, about how much they loved living in Barrie.
I still find it a little bit funny that Wes & Crystal thought that us giving them a portrait for free was their good karma. I truly believe that our good karma was Wes and Crystal walking into our Help Portrait studio and appreciating everything we were all trying to do. They helped make the event a success, and just reinforced the old saying that “Good things happen to good people.”
To be honest, I don’t know if we changed any lives or impacted our city. But what I do know is this, for the 30-45 mins or so that we all spent with each family and individual that came through the doors at Collier Street United Church we made them feel welcome, beautiful, and important. We listened to their stories, and really got to know some of these individuals. What all us photographers gave at Help Portrait was not comparable to what we all received.
Thank you to everyone who came out and changed our lives.
& Ryan
