LITTLE ROCK — Usually the art of photography is about taking pictures. The good ones will balance composition, lighting and a plethora of other variables any avid hobbyist or professional could talk your ear off about. But this weekend a handful of local photographers won't be about taking images; they'll be about giving them.
The reversal is thanks to an event — though perhaps it would better be described as a movement — called Help-Portrait. This weekend the world over, including in Little Rock, people will put the simplistic, three-part idea behind Help-Portrait into action: find someone in need, take their picture, give them a print.
“There are no real guidelines,” said Grant Harrison, who is one organizer in a group of about 20 local photographers who will be working out of two locations in Little Rock on Saturday. “The idea is really just to give to people in need through photography.”
This will be the second year of Help-Portrait and its second year in Arkansas. It began last year thanks to the musing of a professional celebrity photographer out of Nashville named Jeremy Cowart. Via Twitter, Cowart proposed the idea of finding people in need, taking their picture and them giving them prints.
Help-Portrait, now a nonprofit organization, was born, and across the world photographers, including Harrison and others locally who follow Cowart’s feed, donated their time, talents and money to help make the holidays a little more cheerful for those who generally couldn't afford such luxuries.
“It worked really well last year, so we just said we'll have to make it bigger this year,” said Harrison, who explained that he and several photographers he knows locally found families in need thanks to one with connections at church who knew several struggling families at a local elementary school. They photographed the families, giving them an 8x10 framed family shot and framed 5x7 portraits of the kids.
This year, Harrison said, the group has grown to encompass two locations as well as more organizations. In addition to new families at the original location, Harrison said the midtown group of photographers has also partnered with Our House, a shelter for the working homeless, to shoot some of their clients. Meanwhile, a downtown group has formed and is working with the Second Baptist Church and Union Rescue Mission. In the meantime, an unnamed sponsor offered $1,000 to help pay for processing and framing prints.
“I have really been impressed with the amount of people who want to help with this,” said Harrison, who explained that a streamlined Help-Portrait website has made it easier for people to register and volunteer. And the more people who get involved, the better the ideas become, he said.
And that's not just photographers. Makeup artists have volunteered to help and have been given support thanks to donated products from Sephora. Others without any skills behind the camera have stepped up to do things like providing doughnuts and coffee for the day of the shoot or putting together goodie bags for the kids.
“There are people who come in and can't take pictures, can't do makeup, but they can help with that,” Harrison said. “The more planning meetings we have, the more ideas we come up with.”
In the future, he said, he'd like to see the effort grow to other locations across the city and state, building on the Little Rock groups and another already working in Northwest Arkansas.
As someone who grew up in a family that had a professional portrait done every year, Harrison said he finds it hard to put into words what he saw when the portraits were delivered last year. But he and others involved do recognize the simple joy a photograph can provide, such as for one Our House client who, he's been told, had made a Christmas wish list and on it was a wish for a quality family photo. Help-Portrait will be able to grant that wish.
“No, it doesn't feed anybody. It doesn't clothe anybody. But hopefully it does make them love life just a little bit more,” Harrison said.