I'm honored to be a part of something that matters.  I'm honored to be a part of something that helps photographers, helps raise the bar for our industry, while at the same time - helps people who need clean water.

Did you know that every 15 seconds someone dies of a waterborne illness? That's 5760 people every day! You can help. Bid on a mentoring session with your favorite photographer!

100% of the proceeds directly benefit Thirst Relief. Add to that the incredible wisdom and talent that is being shared in the one-on-one mentor sessions and you have better and more successful photographers! It's truly a win win for everyone involved!

So, I'm honored to be a part of the Thirst Relief Mentor Auction.  I'm passionate about helping photographers build better businesses, and I can't imagine a better way to help than this!  Because I want it to be super valuable, here's what I'm throwing in.

If you're at WPPI, we'll do lunch, dinner, whatever you pick.  We'll get our schedules together and we'll meet up.  We'll talk about whatever you think I can help you with.  You get to ask me anything you want, and we'll talk.  But we won't stop there.

Then, when we get back home, we'll continue to talk.  I'll commit to mentoring you from now until the end of 2010, and I'll do what I can to help you and your photography business succeed.  You'll get out of it what you put into it, and I'll give you everything I can to help!  We'll chat by phone (or in person if we happen to be in the same place at the same time) at least once a month.  

In addition, I'll throw in a few extras :)

Aperture Album Design templates for KISS wedding books ($150 value)

Registration to a ONE DAY INTENSIVE (location and schedule permitting) ($450 value)

Starting Out Right: Manual and Workbook ($99 value), 

So, click here for the mentor auction.  There are so many INCREDIBLE photographers that are a part of this year's auction, and I'm honored to be a part.

1. A new law allows you to claim donations for Haitian relief on your 2009 tax return, which you will be filing this year.
2. The contributions must be made specifically for the relief of victims in areas affected by the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti.
3. To be eligible for a deduction on the 2009 tax return, donations must be made after Jan. 11, 2010 and before March 1, 2010.
4. In order to be deductible, contributions must be made to qualified charities and can not be designated for the benefit of specific individuals or families.
5. The new law applies only to cash contributions.
6. Cash contributions made by text message, check, credit card or debit card may be claimed on your federal tax return.
7. You must itemize your deductions in order to claim these donations on your tax return.
8. You have the option of deducting these contributions on either your 2009 or 2010 tax return, but not both.
9. Contributions made to foreign organizations generally are not deductible. You can find out more about organizations helping Haitian earthquake victims from agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development ( http://www.irs.gov/app/scripts/exit.jsp?dest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usaid.gov ).
10. Federal law requires that you keep a record of any deductible donations you make. For donations by text message, a telephone bill will meet the record-keeping requirement if it shows the name of the organization receiving your donation, the date of the contribution, and the amount given. For cash contributions made by other means, be sure to keep a bank record, such as a cancelled check or a receipt from the charity. Receipts should show the name of the charity, the date and amount of the contribution.

PHOTOLOVECAT.COM Helping photographers and small business owners achieve greater success.

The Photocrati Fund offers $5000 grants to non-professional photographers to undertake important humanitarian and environmental photography projects. Our goal is to identify outstanding, up-and-coming photographers and give them the resources necessary to pursue projects that will have a tangible and positive effect on the world.

We will offer one grant in 2010. The application deadline is March 15, 2010, and the award will be announced in June 2010. Awardees become Photocrati Fellows for the calendar year from the announcement of their award until the announcement of the following year’s award.

Award decisions will be made by the Photocrati Fund Board, a prestigious panel that includes some of the world’s best-known environmental and cultural photographers.

Check It Out:
Announcing $5000 Photocrati Fund Grants

[Welcome back to the Damn, I Wish I Thought of That Email Newsletter. This is text of the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.]

As it turns out, it’s pretty easy to find ways to help both your communities and your business at the same time. See how these smart marketers are doing it:

1> Help your neighborhood
2> Help their families
3> Help everyone’s safety
4> Check it out: ZombieFit

1> Help your neighborhood

If the neighborhood around your store isn’t attracting your customers, it’s in your company’s best interest to help it. When Apple picked their new Chicago location, one of the few drawbacks was the run-down condition of the nearby subway stop. Realizing that public transit was critical to attracting lots of foot traffic and other businesses to the area, Apple offered the city $4 million to update it. In exchange, Apple gets advertising and naming rights, as well as a draw for both customers and fresh businesses. You don’t have to spend millions — new sidewalks, clean parks, and fresh paint can go a long ways toward improving your local area.

The Lesson: Great neighborhoods attract great customers and businesses. Look for little ways you can help clean up yours.

Learn More: Mac Rumors

2> Help their families

When you help connect families you stand a good chance of earning some great PR, some long-term word of mouth, and some well-deserved love from fans. To help earthquake victims in Haiti, not only did Google donate $1 million to disaster relief efforts, but they also offered free use of Google Voice for two weeks so U.S. families could reach relatives in the area. The gesture has earned them a bunch of headlines, has people using their new technology, and is truly helping families in a desperate time of need.

The Lesson: Earn fans, good-will, and even a little PR by helping those in need connect with those they love.

Learn More: BBB.org

3> Help everyone’s safety

Help the community and your business by finding opportunities to use your technology, your expertise, or even your marketing to make the world a little safer. Instead of buying more billboards, KFC used advertising dollars to fix up old fire hydrants, extinguishers, and smoke detectors in exchange for branding the equipment to promote their new Fiery Grilled Wings. In one Indiana town alone, 85 fire hydrants were upgraded and refitted with the KFC equipment. The project is the second of its type for KFC: Last year they used marketing dollars to patch potholes with their logo.

The Lesson: A little creativity and a genuine effort to improve public safety can mean big things for both the community and your business.

Learn More: Business Wire

4> Check it out: ZombieFit

Was your New Year’s resolution to get in better shape? Was it because you’re concerned about an impending zombie attack? ZombieFit may be the community just for you.

Check it out: ZombieFit.org

What We Are Offering

Here at EtL Miserere and Peter would both like to do something to assist the victims of the Haiti earthquake.

To that end, we are offering 8 photos from our personal files that you can purchase as prints. All profits* from this sale will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund. Why the Canadian Red Cross? For one, Peter is Canadian, but more importantly, the Canadian government has committed to matching any donations made by Canadian individuals up to a total of $50 million. This means your contribution will be automatically doubled!

We will be accepting orders for 4 weeks, but will extended the deadline if interest warrants it)

How This Will Work

You will purchase your print(s) via secure server provided by PayPal; you can use your credit/debit card and do not need to have an account with PayPal. The funds go to Peter Zack. At the end of each week Peter will take the donations to his local Red Cross branch. The receipt(s) will be published here on the site for verification. We will also publish the local phone number of the branch where the donation was made. All donations will be made on behalf of Enticing the Light. Also at the end of each week we will place the orders for your professionally printed photographs, which you should receive within the following week.

I Want to Donate but Don’t Want a Print

No problem! But beware of donation scams. We would recommend donating to a reputable organisation; below we list trusted Haiti relief efforts:

American Red Cross
Canadian Red Cross
American Salvation Army
Canadian Salvation Army
UNICEF

Please note direct donations will not receive a photo.

Print Options

Please note that photos will have a white border around them, so image size will be slightly smaller than paper size given in table above.

The photos will be sent to your address within 2-4 weeks of the donation only dependent on printing and delivery times. At the moment we are accepting donations only from the USA and Canada as delivery pricing for other countries is too high to make economic sense. We recommend that our international readers simply make a direct donation to the charity of their choice.

Choose Your Photo(s)

We offer you 8 photos from which to choose from, all taken by us, and processed to make sure they print beautifully. Don’t think you need order just one; feel free to order as many as you like. The more you purchase, the more money goes towards the Haiti Relief Fund. And remember the Canadian government is matching your contribution!

Click on each image to see a larger version. When you know which one(s) you want, click on the appropriate size below the photo(s) and you’ll be taken to the PayPal payment page. You can order more than one print of each photo, but this will incur an extra $0.50/print to account for increased shipping costs. It’s of paramount importance that you include your shipping address when placing your order, if not, your shipping will be delayed while we contact you to get your address. Plus, it will annoy us. Please don’t annoy us

Order Small Order Medium Order Large	Order Small Order Medium Order Large	Order Small Order Medium Order Large	Order Small Order Medium Order Large

Order Small Order Medium Order Large	Order Small Order Medium Order Large	Order Small Order Medium Order Large	Order Small Order Medium Order Large

Thank You!

We thank everyone for taking an interest in this most worthy cause and appreciate any donations made either through this Enticing the Light print sale or directly to the charity of your choice.

Please help support our efforts by making your friends aware of our print/donation offer.

*From the amount of your contribution we will deduct Paypal’s transaction fees, and the printer’s printing and delivery costs; all the rest will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross, and in no case will EtL keep any money.

Kicking in for Haiti

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Click on this ad for a quick way to donate via UNICEF

. . . Or, tell me what you would do for a job if you could do anything in the world in the comments of this post and I’ll kick in $1 per comment to this relief effort.

Thanks DTM Readers!

1.) Most obviously – you can take photos for friends and family which they will cherish and burn them a CD, no strings attached. If you’re a professional, or even a prosumer, you’ll know by now that at every party, for every wedding or occasion, you’ll be asked if you’ll be bringing your camera. Which is code for “we didn’t hire a wedding photographer because we thought you could take a few pix.” I try to keep my professional and personal life separate. When I first started in photography, I was at every event with my camera, emailing photos to my friends before the day was out and I think I had a hand in creating the expectation. When my life became more and more defined by my status as ‘the photographer’, I had to make a conscious effort to not bring my camera to every party or event. “What, no camera?” “No, I’m not working tonight” *wink wink* This has given me the opportunity to give friends the gift of my photography at times when I feel inspired to do so, not because it is expected.

2.) Offer to take photos where you see the need. Walking around London, I see it all the time – couples trying to cram their face together and stretch their arm to take a photo of themselves with Big Ben in the background or a family of five minus Dad who is taking the photo. I wouldn’t hand my camera over to just anyone, but I often just breeze by and ask if they want me to take their photo. I don’t act pompous and announce, “I’m a photographer, let a real professional handle this” but sometimes if it seems right or they hesitate, I’d just say, “I’m a photographer” and once in a blue moon, I’ll even give them a quick tip. “See this setting with the head? That’s great for taking pictures of people”. Something like that. Why let a family have a photo without Dad if you could take five seconds and snap it for them?

3.) This next one is hard to talk about but really should be mentioned. Infant bereavement photography has been such a gift to many grieving parents the world over. One such group where you can volunteer your services is called Now I Lay me Down to Sleep and they get called into hospitals at a moment’s notice to help a family who is experiencing the loss of a newborn baby. The hospitals take photographs, but they can be horrific. NILMDTS strives to take tender, loving images which sometimes even includes retouching to give parents beautiful momentos of their baby with no signs of trauma or illness. Please visit NILMDTS’s testimonials page to see how this type of volunteering has changed lives.Click here to see photos taken by NILMDTS for my friend when her baby boy, Chase, passed away.

4. ) Teach someone. Teaching someone else about photography is so rewarding. Find a local home education group and offer to do a little workshop to teach the kids about photography or go into a school. If you have the resources or know how to write really convincing letters, you can get funds and donations for a cluster of cameras that can be used. Give the kids a camera and lend it for a weekend. It could be a simple as unlocking an interest or potential they never knew was there. Children aren’t often allowed to even handle a camera, much less take pictures of their very own.

5.) Help Portrait is a worldwide movement all about gifting less-fortunate people with professional photography. How? 1. Find someone in need. 2. Take their portrait. 3. Print their portrait 4. Deliver their portrait to them. Simple as that. It’s not about advertising, not about notoriety. Just about using your talents to give people something they may have never had in their entire lives – a portrait. Even though this was pushed to take place on 12.12.09, many photographers have been doing it year-round and will continue to do so. I think they’re making it an annual event.

So as the Help-Portrait site says: Get off the couch, put down your laptop, pick up your camera and help change the world. What will you do today?

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

Give to Receive – 5 ways to use your talents to help others

Cause marketing can be as simple as offering a sponsorship to a local charity event, or as involved and complex as you care to make it. Below are some examples of actual cause marketing campaigns I’ve seen photographers in my market employ…

• A local portrait/wedding studio holds quarterly workshops for photographers on various business practice issues. They host at their studio and usually bring in a guest speaker. They don’t charge attendees directly but ask that they make a donation to a specific charity ($40 to the local food bank or so.)
• A commercial photographer sponsors a hole-in-one contest at a charity golf outing. If a participant scores a hole in one, they win $10,000. He gets a bond each year to cover it for about $100. He’s at the tee of that hole, shoots a photo of the foursome and mails each of them a print (with his logo and web address of course.)
• A fine art photographer gives 25% of sales of a series of images of the Chesapeake Bay to a local environmental charity.
• In lieu of holiday gifts for his corporate clients, an industrial photographer makes a donation to the USO (many of his clients are in the defense industry and are veterans). He then sends the clients a note thanking them for their business and letting the client know that he’s made that donation.

Please understand I’m not talking about charity. Cause marketing doesn’t get you off the hook for being a good person outside of work. You don’t send a press release every time you put two bucks in for the Salvation Army. Nor am I talking solely about pro bono work, although pro bono can be a part of your cause marketing strategy.

The opportunities for cause marketing concepts are, like traditional marketing, only limited by our imagination. Each of us has our specialty, target audience, and personal values that are important to us.  These factors will determine what cause marketing opportunities exist for each of our businesses. Find a charity you care about, come up with a concept and approach them with it. The best cause marketing concepts and clients will…

• Be a plus for both organizations financially
• Be a boon for your creativity
• Increase awareness in the community for both groups
• Lead to opportunities for new clients
• Lead to opportunities for new employees
• Keep current employees interested and engaged
• Be great fun

Cause marketing should be one of many parts of your overall marketing strategy along with traditional marketing, public relations and good old-fashioned selling. Too often we photographers work alone at our desks or behind the lens. We don’t easily bring other people and groups into the fold, (to drive the point home, I’m sitting alone at my desk as I write this.) Any opportunity that compels us to get out and work with others on a larger project can be a good thing.