Area Photographers Give Back

Courtesy Photo
Vernon Beaman, pictured with the remains of his wife, participated in Help-Portrait NWA in 2010. His message reads, “Thank you for the picture. It means a lot to me and my wife. Thank you very much.”

About 6 years ago, a movement started by photographers that aimed to give back to the underserved members of their community in the best way they could: professional portraits.

Help-Portrait, the now national project, has been a part of the Northwest Arkansas community since the beginning. On Dec. 6, organizers will set up mobile photo studios in Root Elementary in Fayetteville. Locations for Bentonville, Rogers and Siloam Springs are still to be determined. Dozens of volunteers participate each year. Some will be taking photos, others helping serve warm meals, running to and fro with memory cards, and several doing hair and makeup styling for the participants.

Last year, 500 people were photographed by 29 volunteer photographers and 175 volunteers at three locations throughout Northwest Arkansas, according to the Northwest Arkansas Help-Portrait website.

To raise enough money for this year’s overhead costs such as CDs, frames and prints for this, organizers are putting on a fundraiser Sunday Nov. 9. The event will feature musical performances by Candy Lee, Isayah Warford with Earl Cate, Cutty Rye, Comfortable Brother, Guta and Crazy Neighbor. There will also be food served by Greenhouse Grille and KGB food truck, a silent auction, a photo booth and more yet to be announced. The whole event will only cost $10.

The event in December is completely ran by volunteers, and for those who aren’t photo savvy, the organization asks for volunteers to help assist photographers and editors, and needs framers, IT people, food servers and those who can help meet and greet.

The movement was founded by Jeremy Cowart and Kyle Chowning, both celebrity photoraphers in 2008. The movement’s goal is clearly about giving photos — rather than taking photos — to those who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford a portrait, whether it’s for the holidays or otherwise.

“We provide the underserved population with the service of giving them portraits at holiday time when it’s probably considered the last thing to do on their to-do items,” said Eric Gorder, Arkansas Site Coordinator for Help-Portrait. “It’s about giving and giving back. The timing is right for people who would otherwise be without family portraits.”

To schedule an appointment to participate in this project, which will be going on from 9 a.m. to about 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 6, visit helpportraitnwa.org. To sign up to volunteer, visit http://helpportraitnwa.org/volunteer/

Organizers usually schedule about 100 appointments and get 10 volunteer photographers, and the sessions can range from an individual to an family up to 15 people at times, Gorder said.

“More than anything I think it’s debatable as to whether or not the recipients of these portraits walk away with more than what we as volunteers walk away with,” Gorder said. “There’s a real sense of community and giving and making an impact, making a difference. If you just hang around to see somebody recieve their little packet on the day of the event, y’know they’re typically reduced to a bundle of emotions.”

Vernon Beamon in particular, whose portrait was featured in a CNN blog post about the project, was especially thankful for getting his and his wife’s portrait taken at the event in 2010. The pictures taken were the only portraits they had together. She died in 2011, and he returned to get a photo with his wife’s remains in an urn for another portrait. That portrait was used by CNN.

Similar to Beamon, often times the only photos some of the families have as a group are the ones that are taken by Help-Portrait, Gorder said.

“Y’know, the people who come realize somebody took time out of their day to feed them breakfast, do some makeup — a lot of people have said they’ve never had someone touch their hair or put makeup on them — and then take their picture and give it to them, and not ask anything of them,” he said. “It’s a toss up who really benefits from it the most.”