A Win Win situation

[Meadster]

Just had to share a bit of good news that's come my way recently. Last summer I sent some time visiting the Center for Birds of Prey near Charleston, South Carolina. As a biology teacher and conservationist. I was very impressed with what this small organization does to educate the public about raptors. They also do a fantastic job working to rehab birds that were injured due to human activities ( hunting, car accidents, east coast oil spills, etc). After visiting, I wanted to do something meaningful, but my finances did not allow the six figure donation I wished I could give . A few days after my initial visit I returned and spoke with their staff who were gracious enough to let me photograph several of their birds up close. I then took my images and made 5 x 7 greeting cards ( which I usually sell as sets to friends, family & FB fans). I personalized 4 cards for the center and donated 20 sets of cards to them to sell in their gift shop. Within several weeks I received nice thank you notes from the leadership of the center. At that point I was satisfied and felt good that my photography was helping a good cause.

Last month I was contacted by the marketing firm that does pro bono work for the center. They requested permission to use several of my specific images for their upcoming capital campaign. I agreed and have now started to see my images in publications promoting the center. Yesterday they called me and offered to purchase several hundred cards to use as gifts for those attending their gala fund raiser next month!

I'm happy to be able to have helped a great cause and also happy that it turned to my benefit in the longer run. After hearing so many cases of copyright abuse and the like, I thought I'd share a more cheerful "Win - Win" story!

[Sterling]

Great story. Nice to see somebody's photos used for a "good cause."

[pjflan7]

That is terrific! win wins are awesome indeed.

[Jim Bryant]

Good deal, that's works and gets your name out there.

[faeriegodess612]

OMG! I'm so jealous! I worked as a volunteer in the Raptor Program at Bay's Mountain Park in Kingsport TN. I LOVED it! There is nothing more awesome ( well, there is, but you get my point ) than having a barred owl on your hand, or actually playing with a black vulture that thinks shes a human because thats what she imprinted on. We got, I think, about half of our birds from The Center for Birds of Prey. I remember I had our barn owl on glove one day, and there was a photographer and reporter from a local publication taking photos. I remember his FPS, mustve been up there, because he'd press that shutter release and the camera would sort of sputter with how fast it was going. I loved doing the shows for school field trips, being there made me decide that I wanted to go to school for a Wildlife and Fisheries degree. (Something that has changed now, since no schools here in Central Texas offer that)

I mean, I'm happy for you that things worked in a win-win. I just saw that about NC and knew exactly what your talking about and could relate, sort of. ( I got a lil excited, lol ) If you ever make it back out towards the East coast, Drop by in Eastern Tennessee, and check out Bays Mtn. Another fave thing there of mine is the wolf enclosure. The park is beautiful, I have a couple of pictures of it on my Flickr.