The UNL Fine Art Photo Club is organizing two Help Portrait events this year to serve people who might not otherwise be able to afford a family or professional portrait.
The first event was held Dec. 6 at the People’s City Mission in Lincoln. Twelve UNL Fine Art Photo Club members made about 120 prints for participants at the shelter. The second event will be scheduled next spring at Belmont Elementary School in Lincoln.
The Photo Club received a $1,000 grant through the Give Back Big contest to help support the Help Portrait project at these two venues.
“We heard a lot of ‘thank you’s’ and ‘God bless you’s’ during the day and had a lot of fun with the families,” said Amanda Breitbach, a third-year Master of Fine Arts student in photography, who helped organize the event at the People’s City Mission. “On our way out of the family shelter, employees hugged us and told us, ‘Thank you for doing this. This meant the world to them.’”
Emily Wiethorn, a first-year Master of Fine Arts student in photography, said it was a very rewarding experience.
“It was wonderful watching all of the participants getting their portraits taken and how happy they were with the results,” Wiethorn said. “It's important for artists to give back to the community using their skills, and seeing peoples faces light up with how pleased they were to have a recent family portrait or an individual portrait was wonderful.”
The People’s City Mission operates a family shelter, men’s shelter, a free clinic and a homeless prevention center and serves up to 30,000 people per year. Belmont Elementary serves about 730 students in northwest Lincoln and is classified as a Title I school, meaning that at least 35 percent of students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch based on federal income poverty guidelines. The Belmont community also includes a large population of people who speak English as a second language.
Breitbach said giving these communities free portraits was beneficial.
“I think that photographs are so meaningful, and we place such a value on the way we’re represented,” she said. “If we can represent people positively and give them a really good memory that they have some physical record of, I think it really does a lot for people’s self-esteem and feeling of confidence.”
John-David Richardson, a first-year Master of Fine Arts student in photography, said family portaits aren't always a priority in family budgets.
"Family portraits don't seem to always make it to the top of the list when it comes to sorting out a family budget, at least they didn't for my family," he said. "I really think that every family deserves to have nice photographs of themselves, and that's what we wanted to do for the guests at the People’s City Mission. Amanda Breitbach really did an outstanding job with organizing, and I was really happy to be a part of the team."
Breitbach also said the project helps photography students see the value of their skills.
“I hope they see some value for their skill,” she said. “I hope they feel they can use the things they are learning in a really positive way, and they feel like photography is a really powerful tool. I hope they also see ways they can use their talents and skills to help others.”
Hannah Blundon, a junior studio art major, said she wasn’t sure how she might feel initially.
“What I found was that regardless of someone’s situation, the people at People’s City Mission try to make their lives work to the best of their abilities, just going with what they have to make by on,” Blundon said. “I don’t feel it everyday, but having spent just a couple of hours at People’s City Mission, I can truly recognize that I have been granted so many positive opportunities just by being fortunate enough to go to university. It made me feel humbled, as well as appreciative, of my own living situation because of the responses we were given by people who have so little. It was an incredibly touching experience, and overall a great success.”
She also said the event was important for the guests at the People’s City Mission.
“What makes these portraits special is that our small Photo Club was able to give back to a community that is typically ignored and unrecognized,” Blundon said. “They are a part of Lincoln, and their representation is vital. If we can shed some light—literally and figuratively—on people with painful and difficult situations, we are acknowledging that they have a presence in our community. From there, those more fortunate in Lincoln can give back by remembering that too many people go without basic necessities, and that we can always do more to help those around us.”
Help Portrait is a national annual event founded by celebrity photographer Jeremy Cowart and Kyle Chowning in 2008. Their mission is to empower photographers to use their skills, tools and expertise to give back to their local community. Each December, photographers all around the world find people in need, take their picture, print their picture and then deliver it free of charge.
“One of the other grad students who finished last year told me about it,” Breitbach said. “We just never got it rolling last year, so I decided this was going to be the year.”
The UNL Fine Art Photo Club set up an area at the mission to take photos and print them.
“We needed organizations that had a space we could work in,” she said.
The first two potential partners they brainstormed were the People’s City Mission and Belmont Elementary, and both agreed to participate.
“That made it easy,” Breitbach said.
Breitbach said she has always been interested in service-learning.
“I had a number of professors who had that focus when I was an undergraduate,” she said. “I would love to be an educator myself and be able to incorporate those things into the classroom. It’s the same for me as I hope it is for other students. It’s a chance to use the things that I know to help other people who could use those skills.”
Blundon said the event gave her a greater appreciation for her own way of life.
“I feel like I gained a greater sense of appreciation for the life that I live, and a better understanding about how people in far less fortunate situations deal with their everyday lives,” she said. “They were kind and honest with us, which I find defeats the stereotypes that so many people project onto society about the homeless and the abused. They are people just like us, dealing with a reality that no one would welcome if we were faced with the same realities.”