PERSPECTIVE: BLP Annual Christmas Party 2010

(Awaiting the raffle ticket to be drawn for the $180 Lush gift basket grand prize. © 2010 Tyler Branston.)

Benjamin Luk Photography has been very lucky this year in bringing various sponsors on board to help raise money for BC Children's Hospital Foundation. Our list of raffle prize donors include Lush, Fighting Chance Productions, Build-A-Bear Workshop and Blenz Coffee, and together, we helped raise $1,071 in a four-hour event. Many thanks go out to our sponsors and our team of volunteers. Philanthropy coordinator Jason Bell, event coordinator Sarah Thomas and photographer Tyler Branston all deserve a hand for the effort they put in and the work they've done.

(Event coordinator Sarah Thomas adding up the night's grand total. © 2010 Tyler Branston.)

In addition to coffee sales and raffle ticket money, a select few also decided to make direct donations straight from the heart.

• Tyler Green - $100
• Phileo Luk - $50
• D-Rock - $20
• Zachary Paradis - $5
• Anonymous - $5

Without their help, we wouldn't have been able to reach our goal of $1,000.

(Our lucky prize winner for $40 worth of Blenz Coffee gift cards. © 2010 Tyler Branston.)

I hope to continue this Christmas tradition for many years to come, and also encourage any other photographer who would like to take on a similar project to get in contact with me. I'd like to see Vancouver's photographic community rallying behind a night of charity every year, and more entrepreneurs building philanthropy right into their business model. For more details about this event, please see our previous post here.

Benjamin Luk Photography is available for assignment at BenjaminLuk.com.

PERSPECTIVE: Sabrina's Headshot Session

(Sabrina Prada, photographed at UBC in November. © 2010 Benjamin Luk.)

Months ago, our friend Fighting Chance Productions contacted us to see if we'd be interested in donating a headshot package to them to be raffled off during their 2010/11 season announcement. Since our entire team are big fans of local theatre and the performing arts, it was a natural decision.

Our prize winner turned out to be esteemed actress Sabrina Prada, whose film and TV work has taken her to "Smallville", "Fringe" and the upcoming Zack Snyder project, Sucker Punch. It was a privilege to photograph someone with such a knack for being in front of a camera. The photo above is virtually untouched. With our headshots, we strive to create a natural, accurate representation of who you are. Overdoing post-production can make life difficult for casting directors.

Fighting Chance Productions later went on to donate four tickets to their upcoming presentation of The Wiz to BLP Christmas 2010, also as a raffle prize. Thank them for their generosity by attending one of their shows. It's some of the finest community theatre in Vancouver.

Special thanks to team members Sarah Thomas and Tyler Branston.

Benjamin Luk Photography is available for assignment at BenjaminLuk.com.