shooting for a cause

Pro-bono work is work done for free or at a very low cost for a client that is doing some good in the world, usually a non-profit helping the poor. At it's best pro-bono work is a way to get involved in the community, network with other creatives and often do award winning work. Giving your time as a professional is worth so much more than volunteering to do a job that anyone can do. This makes a lot of sense when you think about it in terms of hourly wages, i.e., how much would I make per hour as a photographer, versus how much would I make per hour as someone serving food? Donating time as a professional allows you to give more. In the past I have shot an award winning campaign for Caritas of Austin, and in San Francisco worked with the Taproot Foundation. 


So when Avance-Austin approached me for photography for a new website it seemed like a good chance to do some great photography and give to a worthy cause. Avance is a non-profit that provides early education programs for low-income Latino families. On average, children living in poverty enter kindergarten far behind their middle-class peers, which affects them through out school. In the Avance program parents are taught to be a partner in their child's education, allowing for school readiness and a much greater chance at high school graduation. 


I want to point out that in my experience doing this sort of work, I've found it to be more rewarding to work with an advertising agency. Mainly because the work has follow through; the ad agency will make sure the work gets seen by an audience and that it will look good. (I've also worked on projects that did not have back end support and the photos were never seen by anyone, a waist of effort). On this project I worked with a company called i2i Group. We worked as partners, meaning, they did not give any art direction, but are putting together the website (it's still in production). After evaluating Avance's needs, I came up with art direction and did the photo shoots.


See more work at http://www.smcintyre.com/