In 2007 my company, Life's Images, produced our first annual Hope Calendar~(TM) for charity. We raised more than four thousand dollars for the local children's hospital and generated priceless marketing opportunities for my photography business. Quite simply, the Hope Calendar is a 12 month wall calendar featuring photos of local children. I photographed them, produced the calendar, sold it and donated the money to the chosen charity. Of course what sounds simple seldom turns out that way! There were stumbling blocks I wish I'd avoided on the way. My brainstorm was for a win-win situation with the charity I had teamed up with; I could raise money for them and increase exposure for myself. I wanted to involve the community by featuring area children, and get local businesses to sponsor us. Rather than using my current clients for the project, the calendar began with a model call. All community families were invited to apply. This stage of production lent itself well to media releases, and we garnered a front page feature story in two weekly newspapers. I asked selected models to make a small donation in lieu of a session fee to help fund the calendar.
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