Area Photographers Give the Gift of Portraits

Staff Photo Nick Brothers
Meredith Mashburn snaps a family portrait of (from left to right) Bill, Brooklyn, Kristen and McKenna Johnson during the Help Portrait NWA event at Root Elementary in Fayetteville.

Giggling like two cartoon characters, Brooklyn and McKenna Johnson — who are 3 and 5 years old — embraced for a photo. Meredith Mashburn, a Northwest Arkansas photographer, took their picture free of charge, as a part of the Help Portrait NWA December event Saturday morning at Root Elementary’s cafeteria in Fayetteville.

“How about a silly picture? Let’s do one of those,” Mashburn said, as she sat at eye level with the girls.

The two proceeded to pull back their cheeks and stick their tongues out, getting everyone nearby to laugh. After taking several photos, Mashburn gathered Kristen and Bill Johnson, their parents, for a family portrait.

Across from the Johnsons, Vince Walker — dressed in a snazzy sweater vest outfit — worked with Jeremy Scott as he set up the lighting for Walker’s portrait. Scott snapped about three photos, but Walker kept a closed smile in all three. Noticing this, Scott decided to cheer him up with a joke, causing Walker to laugh and subsequently — smile from ear to ear.

“I was concerned about my teeth, but Jeremy was able to make me feel comfortable about it,” Walker said afterwards. “I think (Help Portrait) is awesome. My family is always saying ‘We don’t have pictures of you!’ So I’ll be able to send these to my kids and family.”

After getting their photos taken, the Johnson family and Walker were treated to a free meal of grilled or popcorn chicken donated by Tyson Foods, macaroni and cheese, baked beans and turkey and ham sandwiches. After the main course, several colorful cakes and pastries donated by Panera, Harps, Einstein Brothers and Rick’s Bakery were served. To occupy the children’s attention in the meantime, a craft area was set up for kids to draw and make their own construction paper creation.

Staff Photo Nick Brothers
More than 30 community members and photographers came out to volunteer their time and talent to give free portraits to the 201 people that attended the charity Help Portrait NWA event.

While the families ate, a group of photographers in the school’s library worked with Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom to edit the photographs to make them look as professional as possible. Christmas music played amidst the bustle of camera memory card runners going between the cafeteria while the editors communicated who was working on who’s portraits. The crew were all working quickly to prepare both a five by eight print and a digital CD of the photos taken for the families.

This is just a preview of the operation taking place on Dec. 6 at the Fayetteville Help Portrait location. Combined with the Rogers, Ark., location, 201 free portraits were given out with the help of 12 photographers and 60 volunteers. Internationally, this year’s event provided 27,650 portraits at 108 events in 19 countries, according to the organization’s website.

The Help Portrait movement was founded by Jeremy Cowart and Kyle Chowning, both celebrity photographers, 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. Help Portrait NWA has been operating along with the movement since the beginning. This is the second year Root Elementary donated the school’s space for the event.

“This year has been great,” said Stephen Ironside of Ironside Photography, who helped organize the Fayetteville chapter. “Y’know, all of my work is paid, and it’s for clients. It’s different. This is just a chance to use our skills and equipment to do something on our time and give back to people who would never be able to afford our services otherwise.”

Staff Photo Nick Brothers
Jeremy Scott, a local photographer, snaps a photo of Vince Walker in the Root Elementary cafeteria. Walker said he’s going to send the photos he received to his family, who now live throughout the U.S.

For the families that attended the event on Dec. 6, many said they thought Help Portrait was a fun experience that provided them with photos they could use to share with family during the holidays.

“The photos will go up on the wall,” said Andrea Lewis, a mother of three who had their photo taken at the event. “Having a Christmas photo all together with my kids… that’s wonderful. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Robert Caudle, who works as a street minister in Fayetteville had his picture taken with his family at the event as well.

“It’s amazing because not everyone can afford nice photos, especially if you’re homeless or poor,” he said. “This is good for the community.”

In November, Eric Gorder, Bill Gattis and Stephen Ironside organized a fundraiser for the event at George’s Majestic Lounge. They were able to raise more than $2,200 for frames, CDs, food and printing costs for the Dec. 6 event.

“On a whole, it’s not an essential service,” Ironside said. “It’s not like 7 Hills providing housing. It’s giving them something that they might not necessarily need to survive, but it’s something they need to motivate themselves and feel good about themselves.”

Compared to other charity photo events she’s been a part of, Mashburn said that Help Portrait NWA has been one of her favorite experiences for giving her time to give portraits.

“It’s a lot of fun,” she said. “The kids have been cracking me up. I’ve done similar volunteer photo events, and I like this better. I get to sit and interact with the people and I get to give them something that’s hard to afford.”