(noun. the promotion of the welfare of others through photography)

Photographer: Jen O’Sullivan

Charity: LETMESAIL (http://www.letmesail.org)—an organization that provides therapeutic, social, recreational and educational services for people with disabilities and their families.

How did you get involved?
I organized a Charity Engagement Shootout where engaged couples were matched up with photographers based on price, style and date availability. It was an interactive bridal show featuring 50 photographers and 50 couples, eight makeup artists, and 15 other vendors who donated services for the raffle and silent auction. Fifty photographers get to work with up to six pre-matched client couples. Couples get the opportunity to test drive six shooters, and they get to keep their hi-res image files after the shoot with no strings attached. Nobody pays a dime, unless they wish to donate to my charity. Something like this would go for a minimum of $1500 to work with this many shooters and get your files.

My goal is raise as much money as possible for LETMESAIL, work with some wonderful people in the industry and, hopefully, match up some couples to their future wedding photographer. I will be shooting too, so I hope to meet some potential future brides and grooms as well.

We raised a little over $3500 for the charity. It was a win-win. The venue (The Sunset Restaurant in Malibu, CA) donated their property, and in turn got some clients out of it. All participating vendors and photographers were given great advertising and many gained several clients. The couples, who did not have to pay anything to be involved, walked away with free photography and gifts. And LETMESAIL got the money!

What has this project given back to you?
I was most impressed with the generosity of the photographers. One gave full-day wedding coverage valued at $3000. The lucky couple who won only paid $525! The deals that were gained by the couples were intense, and it was really the donors who were the generous ones. 

How can other photographers get involved in your charity?
They can visit the site and sign up to be one of the shooters. There are many levels of participation if you are interested: couples, photographers, wedding specialists, donors, sponsors, media. If you are any of these people and would like to be involved, please shoot me an email or give me a call: jen@jenosullivan.com, (310) 494-6547. We would love to have you!

The fall session has been tentatively schedule for Thursday, November 4, 2010. Check back with me soon or get on my mailing list so you know when it is coming.