Giving Back Through Photography
This week we are taking a look at the idea of giving back not only with your time but with your talent. As military spouses we move all over the world and see a vast array of communities and needs. As photographers, we have a talent that can often help those communities but we don’t always use them towards that purpose. We are given the gift of telling visual stories and I firmly believe that there are stories right in your community that need to be told with the God given talent you have been blessed with.
So you may be asking yourself, what does this have to do with successfully moving my business to another state? The short answer is nothing and everything all at the same time. Giving back has nothing to do with financially moving a business and everything to do with creating and supporting community. It is about investing yourself into the community you have been placed in and leaving it better than when you arrived. We are used to the semi-nomadic lifestyle of moving every two to three years and then picking up and moving on. Military life is sometimes set up in such a way that we stay within our little bubble of safety and forget that there is a community right outside our very walls that doesn’t move and that stays long after we have PCSed. These are the retirees, veterans, and locals who grew up here. They have stories to be told, and events to be documented. You have the unique gift of being able to give back and help them.
For me there are certain stories that tug at my heart strings and that I am passionate about. Those are the stories that I look to tell each time we move whether it has been a local historical society, the JDRF, or in this case something that hits a little closer to home. As a military spouse and the sister of two veterans, being asked to capture the Warrior Run is near and dear to me! To tell the story of these women who tirelessly volunteer and organize this event every year is an honor. To capture a community who comes out to support what they are doing makes me proud of all the hard work they pour into what they are doing. To see the video go here: Warrior Run 2016
So today, take a moment to stop planning and creating business goals for the next year and ask yourself a question. How can I serve? How can I connect with my community and use my talents to leave this new town better than when I got here? It can be as simple as telling the story of a community that came together to run while raising awareness and money to support their local wounded warriors. How will you serve in the community you have been placed in?
