It’s always fun meeting a Twitter friend IRL (In Real Life). About a week ago, I met Children’s book author Judi Riley at a book signing after we’d been tweeting for several months. She mentioned that she’s been hounded about getting an author photo for a while, but hasn’t been able to get to it.

Not long ago, she suffered crush injuries to her arms as a result of a cabinet coming off a wall and pinning them to her washer/dryer. They’re still in splints, making it difficult to juggle being a mom to her young child and promoting their books (he has books of his own).

Coincidentally, I caught wind of a movement called Help-Portrait where photographers were called upon to take a picture of someone in need and simply give it to them, on or around December 12th.

We got together at a Christmas Maui Tweetup that day and did some shooting. The results couldn’t have been more rewarding.

It’s interesting that it should take a groundswell movement like this to prompt photographers (or anyone else) to think about donating their time, equipment and expertise to someone in need. Everybody needs to make a living, but every once in a while, it’s good to take time out and give back, even if it’s not the holiday season.