***VERY IMPORTANT*** Donations to Katrina Vict. Photogs!!!!

[JoePhoto]

The DWF (Digital Wedding Forum) has been an irreplaceable business and inspirational tool to me for the last few years. Not only have I learned so much about how to grow my own business from the DWF, I have been apart of a community that (like ours here at DD) would do near anything to help others out.

There is a credo on the DWF, what's posted there, stays there... except this.


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Jeff's posts copied from DWF with permission.

DWF Owner Jeff Caplan
It is time. URGENT HELP NEEDED NOW.
09/07/05 01:04 PM

You'll notice the weekly favorites are not at the top of the forum, nor are some of the other hot topics of the day pinned up.

We're also postponing the announcement of our annual convention.

It's because at this moment, the DWF has one mission, and one mission alone, and we can't allow anything to detract from it.

We have members of this organization who are in dire need. Like too many other photographers along the gulf coast, our DWF members are not spending today editing last weekend's weddings. Instead they're far from their homes, wondering how in hell they're going to feed their families.

Their bookings are all gone.

The bride and groom- evacuated and probably never coming back.

The venues where they'd shoot the wedding? Destroyed.

Weddings. Portraits. Engagement shoots. All cancelled.

These people have worked damn hard, and their lives are ruined. Some are in shock. Their equipment destroyed. Their homes nothing more than rotting lumber surrounded by dank, dangerous and toxic floodwaters.

If we can't help them right now, then there's no reason to have a DWF.

So allow me to tell you HOW we can help, this very minute.

At its own expense, Zookbinders has filed all the legal papers and created a charity, and scores of photography organizations and companies you do business with have signed on to be a part of P.H.O.T.O - Photographic Industry Helping Others To Overcome.

P.H.O.T.O has a simple mission: To help photographers who are suffering the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina. P.H.O.T.O will provide financial aid. Vendors allied with P.H.O.T.O will provide equipment. Some vendors will make donations. Others will help photographers with payments.

How do you know the money's going where it's needed?

First, the honorable people who serve as the foundation's board members: Mark and Leslie Zucker and Karyn Newman of Zookbinders, and Skip Cohen of WPPI.

By next week, they will form an advisory panel that will determine the disbursement of funds, and this morning I was invited to serve on that panel.

Applications for aid will be created in the week ahead, with the goal of quickly getting help to those in need.

We have pledged that to ensure that 100% of your donations go directly to victims, the DWF will cover all credit card fees associated with your tax-deductible donations.

So now, that the P.H.O.T.O Foundation's bona fides are established, it's time for me to ask for your help, on behalf of all the photographers who can't.

I beg you to make a donation to the P.H.O.T.O Foundation, but WAIT. Even if you've already given to the Red Cross. Whether your funds are limited, or you're doing great. Whatever your circumstance, before you click the links below, wait!!

Please.

Consider what your life would be like right now, if you were a New Orleans Wedding Photographer. Then consider how much you can afford to help people just like you who's lives were destroyed on one horrible Monday.

This is one charity where every one of your dollars WILL make a difference. Please click one of the links below.

To donate to P.H.O.T.O. via Visa/Mastercard

To donate to P.H.O.T.O via Paypal

The staff, the moderators, and I thank you from the depths of our hearts,
-Jeff


Organizations who've pledged to work with P.H.O.T.O as of September 5th:

Albums Inc., Amphoto Books/Watson-Guptill Publications, Art Leather, Asuka Book, Auto FX Software, BIG Folio, Blossom Publishing, Blue Skies Marketing, Buckeye Color Lab, DWF (Digital Wedding Forum), DxO Labs, Epson, garyfongestore.com, GNP (Gross National Product), H&H Color Lab, Hahnemuhle USA, Hallmark Institute of Photography, Hasselblad, Kodak, Kubota Image Tools, LabPrints, Leaf America, LexJet, Marathon Press, Media Street, Miller’s Professional Imaging, nik multimedia, Nikon, PDIA (Professional Digital Imaging Association), Phanfare, Photovision, PMA (Photo Marketing Association International), Rangefinder Publishing, S.I.R. Marketing Communications, The Chilcote Company, The MAC Group, VPO (Virtual Press Office), WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographers International), and Zookbinders.

We will provide a running tally at least a few times per day.

EVERYONE will get a receipt suitable for tax purposes. We were hoping the credit card processing company would handle that, and are investigating.

Please copy it EVERYWHERE


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I know money is tight for some of us. But your donation is tax deductable and goes to helping victims who are related to us by the passion of photography. I donated to this cause because God forbid if something happened to me and my family, I would want someone to help me out.

I highly suggest that those among us here who are pro wedding or portrait shooters or those aspiring to be or simply learn more about the industry, please visit the DWF and sign up for a complimentary 30 day membership and see what the community is all about.

DD is my home away from home and I know I can count on folks here to help out. JB, if you get a moment, perhaps you can contact Jeff and also put a link on the main page about this.

Best regards,

[Talvan]

Thnx Joe for posting Joe. The wife and I have been trying to decid who all to donate too as to who uses the money the wisest. I have already donated some money at work, and I think this will definatley fit the bill.

[JB]

I will certainly mention it on the DD website. Personally, I donated some $$$ to NOAH, which is an animal rescue organization. I'm sure we all have our own particular areas we would like our money going to, and I will be posting those alternatives, including the DWF on the DD website. I'll be emailing Jeff about it within the next few minutes for more details.

If you guys do want to donate to DWF, we could have a pool and have Joe send it to DWF on our behalf? Or particular amounts could be sent to me, and I would PayPal all the amounts received in one big chunk to the organization--whatever works. Seems like Joe is our contact so he might be the obligatory person to hand over the donations.

Personally, I'm not too fond of PayPal taking their fees out of all of this donating which is going on--unless they have a humane heart and have waived the fees for Katrina relief or something.