This past weekend was the San Diego Humane Society’s 2011 Walk for Animals and I think it was a big success! I have participated in the Walk for the past 5 or so years but this year I decided to become a sponsor, which included the opportunity to set up a booth to promote my work. Those who know me know I have a “go big or go home” mentality, so “go big” is what I did. Literally.
It started with my photo backdrop. It is 8 feet tall. There’s no tent that tall so I enlisted the help of Greg’s grandfather, a master carpenter. He built the most spectacular leg extenders for my tent so it had a head clearance of 8 feet, 2 inches.
Knowing that the tent would be taken care of, Greg and I got started on the backdrop — cutting it to size, planning the construction to withstand “gale force winds” (as I like to say), staining, painting, and then actually putting the whole thing together. Greg did most of the construction work, although I’d like to point out that when he wanted to drill through the booth (the horror!) I came up with the brilliant idea to… wait for it… GLUE some pieces together.
While Greg was busy building the backdrop, I focused on laying out my photos. I went through MANY design ideas before I stumbled across one that I was happy with. After choosing which favorite photos I would use, I sent them off to my favorite lab for printing. As an added bonus, I found all the frames on sale at a nearby shop.
I designed a special postcard for the event with some favorite shots. I am so happy with how it turned out!
The afternoon before the Walk, we were able to claim our spot and set up as much as we’d like. We got the tent and backdrop ready but waited ’till Saturday to put all the details together.
The day of the event was a busy one. Greg and I were up at 4am to get to Crown Point Shores by 5:30 to finish setting up the booth by 7:00, just as the first Walk participants started to arrive. We had a steady stream of people visiting the booth, which was great. It was a fun day of meeting new people and their pooches and taking pictures (which are going to be posted within the next two days so the contest for a free session can start!).
I need to give a HUGE shout-out to my spectacular sales crew because I could not have handled all that we did on my own. I think all who met them will agree, they were awesome! Greg, Grant, Jen, and Lisa answered questions, helped people learn about what I do, got them signed up on the mailing list and with the photo contest (coming soon!), and got sessions booked at my very special 50% off rate. (And those of you who know me know what a big deal that discount is — I have never ever ever discounted my rates that much!)
I also need to send a special “thank you” to Three Dog Bakery who generously provided goodies for our booth visitors.
It was truly a great day and I had so much fun meeting the Walkers, seeing friends who came to say hello (your support means the world to me!), and photographing so many of the cute pups who stopped by the booth. Keep your eyes peeled for the photo contest coming in just a few days… the winner will get a free pet portrait photo session!
