When I saw this family walk in, I was immediately both excited and frightened. “How are we going to get a good portrait of a dog? What if it’s me? I hope it isn’t super hyper. How do you pose people with animals?” and so on. Lucky for us this was the most well behaved dog I have seen in years. It sat perfectly and looked straight at the camera (after being prompted slightly by a squeaky toy). Props to Jay for capturing their portrait. I’m sure they loved it.
Something that I loved about Help-Portrait was how every photographer brought a different skill set. This really improved everyone’s experience. Kim had the foresight to bring a blanket, several toys, things that squeaked and a huge teddy bear along to the shoot. She knew that we would have families with young children, and would need to make them smile. I don’t think anyone else had really pondered that, I know I hadn’t. You can see her above, dangling some bells for a child (blocked in the shot). Totally saved the day.
Another Help-Portrait shot from Saturday. Part of me feels sorry for Hemant (above) for being a bit too tall for his subjects; a very small part.
Today I had the wonderful experience of being able to volunteer for the Help-Portrait project. You can find out more information about it here: help-portrait.com. Dale Zak wrote a quick blog about the project, which explains it better than I can. Thanks to everyone who helped out and a giant thank you to Krystian Olszanski for organizing the Saskatoon event.