When Creativity is all you have - Jesse Alan Paul

Written by Andy. Posted in Portrait Inspiration

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I don't think I truly knew the power of photography until the filming of the first season of Unknown Photographer Show. With the help of the homeless family and Mike Ridinger my eyes where opened to the true power of photography. We as photographers have a responsibility to not only take photographs, but to open people's eyes to the importance of photography. We may talk all day long about settings, cameras, posing, composition...but in the end it comes down to the image and what that image means.

My friend and commercial photographer Jesse Alan Paul is doing just that, proving how important photography really is. His project called HOPE FOR HAILEY shows you how. Check it out, be part of it and spread the word...

When Creativity Is All You Have

Hope for Haley Sometimes people need your help and the only thing you have to offer is your creativity. A problem arises, or a disaster takes place and everyone looks at one another wondering “what are we going to do now?” Many ideas and “what ifs” are thrown around, but nothing concrete ever takes place. In difficult times, help is needed in so many forms. From money, food, emotional support and friendship, counseling, and even faith and prayer. Everyone knows they want to help, but getting started becomes the hurdle. As a photographer and sometimes a “seasonally starving artist”, money is not always readily available to help. That’s when you turn to the only thing you have - your creativity.

Each group of family and friends has an individual that everyone just “likes”. You know, the one that is always laughing and smiling. The one that everyone thinks of when they look for some “crazy fun times”. In my group of friends, that person is Haley. Haley is my roommate's girlfriend. She’s the girl that everyone knows. She’s the girl that everyone loves. She can frustrate the living crap out of you one moment and then be right at your side to pick you up and give you support in the next. The ultimate “girl next door” - That’s Haley. She’s always good for a laugh and even through the hardest times has been a friend to many. She is a regular in the social scene of the area and has worked at a number of local establishments here in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

In December, Haley was diagnosed with Stage IV (4) terminal small bowel adenocarcinoma. It is a rare and brutal form of cancer. In fact a one-percent of all cancer patients type of rare. They cannot even give her a lifespan estimate due to the severity. The first rounds of chemotherapy in January had no effect, in fact actually sped up the growth of the cancer. She just underwent a more vigorous treatment last week and ended up in the hospital for 5 days due to pain and side effects. Haley is 24 years old and had just recently decided the direction she was going with her life when this happened. It has been the tragedy that has rocked our group of friends.

It’s times like these when people desperately want to help but do not know how to get started. So many ideas get thrown around. Some of them reasonable and many of them extremely far fetched. Everyone thinks with their emotions. I myself wanted to help any way I could. Kelsey is my roommate, Haley’s boyfriend, and has been one of my closest friends for 17 years. He came to me a few weeks back and asked me for my help. He loves my photography and knows that I dabble in the creative and that I might be able to have some ideas on how to help raise money to give Haley the best life he could in the time she had left. I told him to stay strong and that I would figure something out. That is where I turned to my creativity.

A few years ago I began expanding my photography to off camera flash. I had followed many big name light manipulators like Arias, McNally and Hobby. I had so many techniques in my mind, but nobody to try them on. I had a few speedlights and some modifiers, but no one to shoot. Thats when I met Haley. She offered herself as a “model” so I could try different techniques of lighting and composition. She was there to help me build the confidence I have now as a proficient photographer. Haley has always been my “go to” model when I wanted to try something new. And I have a pretty good library of images from our sessions.

Still not knowing what I was going to do to help, I decided to at least to show my compassion with a personal gift for Haley. I put together a hardcover photo book from my lab filled with the images I had taken of Haley along with a handful of Bible passages that I have turned to over the years. I had the book printed and gave it to her when she got back from visiting yet another specialist in Seattle. It was meant to be my gift to help her with some inspiration. To show images of her in happy times along with strong Bible verses to ponder. The book brought her to tears. She showed everyone. Friends, family, strangers and well-wishers. People were deeply moved by the book. That is when the once dimly lit bulb in my head went off and blew a transistor.

Without telling anyone the extent I was going, I decided to make a section of my website for Haley. For the next few days I got to work making pages to keep people informed with what is going on with Haley and her struggle. I put the book up for sale in two different sizes with all proceeds going 100% to Haley to help her with her bills and to live a satisfying life with what she has left on this earth. I put an option to add a donation to the cost of the book. I also gave an option to make a straight donation to a PayPal account so people who didn't know her wouldn't have to purchase a book but could still make a donation. I am not a web designer by any means so this took me a little longer than normal. I then hit the social interwebs.

Hope for Haley

I shared the link on my photography Facebook page, my personal Facebook wall, and then on Haley’s as well as her boyfriend Kelsey’s Facebook walls. I asked every one of our mutual acquaintances to share the link as well. By the end of the first 24 hours, I had orders for 19 books as well as a dozen donations ranging from $10 to $200. People had heard my message. I began receiving comments on the web page with messages of love for Haley. Some from people she didn't even know. I had a talk with another close friend of ours named Darlene. She had already had the idea of a Facebook page called “Hope 4 Haley” to let people know what was going on. After she had heard of the response I got from my website and the books, she went to work on the page.

Hope for Haley News of Haley, the book sales, and donations got out and we had almost 500 followers on the Facebook page in less than two days. Many of them were people who had known, had met, or were touched by Haley’s predicament, and most of them local from the Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and Spokane, Washington areas. People started offering up percentages of profits from their local businesses to helping Haley. Many offered up their words of encouragement. Some offered to bring food to the house where she has been living with Kelsey and myself. The word was out and every one’s ideas and thoughts that they once had a hard time getting started were brought to the surface. I had a hard time keeping up with all the people who wanted to help.

Watching this amazing growth and participation, I went back to my creativity to see if there was anything else I could come up with. I had a vague idea for a t-shirt design, but nothing I could come up with was impressing me. Then Haley brought me a drawing she had sketched up of her idea. I locked myself in my room and after a long night of going back to my photoshop roots, I came up with a design for a t-shirt for both guys and girls that incorporated her design and the “Hope 4 Haley” slogan. Again, she was floored emotionally. I shared the design with our group and everyone was excited. New ideas and volunteers surfaced.

I began with the book idea on February 1, 2012. By the 5th talks of a fundraising event began, and on Friday, February 17th 2012 the community is coming together for the Hope 4 Haley Fundraiser. Barely over 2 weeks from the first posting of a book for sale and we have had over 100 local businesses donate products, services and supplies for the event as well as raffle and auction items to bring in more donations during the event. The outreach of the community to help one of their own has been overwhelming. It is going to be a celebration of Haley’s life and one heck of a party.

Hope for Haley

Some people ask “doesn’t she have insurance?” and “what does she need that money for?”. What you have to realize is that Haley is in a situation that not many of us can possibly fathom. The medications she has are to keep the pain subsided and the nausea at bay just long enough to enjoy part of her day. She cannot work. She doesnt leave the house much due to her lowered immune system. But her life still goes on. She has car and insurance payments. She has student loans and other bills, as well as medications and expenses that health insurance just wont fully cover. It is hard seeing her day in and day out struggling with this. Knowing the bubbly, fun loving, cheerfully spirited girl she once was and still is deep down inside is being sidelined by this disease is very hard to watch. But we all try to stay strong for her and keep pushing her to fight and enjoy the life and time that God has given her on this Earth.

I cant even pretend to imagine what Haley and others who have been given the news that they do not have long to live are going through. It makes my own problems seem so minuscule in comparison. Every time I get overly upset or stressed about something going wrong in my life, I reflect on Haley. Imagine for just one minute what it would be like to know you might not make it to your next birthday 6 months away. Now think of all the things you still want to do with your life. It means you have to live for the here and now. There is no more planning for the future. Because if God has it in His plan for you, that future could be over next week.day in and day out struggling with this. Knowing the bubbly, fun loving, cheerfully spirited girl she once was and still is deep down inside is being sidelined by this disease is very hard to watch. But we all try to stay strong for her and keep pushing her to fight and enjoy the life and time that God has given her on this Earth.

That is what the “Hope 4 Haley” movement is about. It isn't just about finding a cure. It is about a different kind of HOPE. It is about a HOPE that through all this pain and frustration and medication that she will not lose touch with the fun-loving, spirited person she is. It is about a HOPE that Haley can and will have the best experiences possible in the time she has left. It is about a HOPE and FAITH that God has a reason for this to happen to someone like her. And ultimately it is about a HOPE that she will be able to extend her life comfortably for as long as possible without suffering. That is what the donations are going for. Giving Haley a chance to have a rich, full experience in life with whatever time she has left.

Hope for Haley

Like I said before. I don’t have much money. I can’t offer material things to help. But what I do have is a level of creativity that I am proud of. I have offered up a full day photo session as well as prints and a book as an auction item at the fundraising event. I am going to be doing another photoshoot of Haley next week because she wants to show the world what this stupid cancer has done to her. She wants to share with people the need for diagnosing early and hopefully finding a cure for this devastating disease. I have a feeling the portraits are going to be very strong.

So as a photographer, artist, designer, musician, or creator in any sense of the word, do not be afraid to help in any way you can. Those images you once took of someone, or that song you once wrote could one day mean something special. You never know when a simple gift to a person in need will spark a much larger movement. And remember, “larger” is on a relative scale. What happened up here in my neck of the woods is going to be one of the largest positive things in my tight-nit group of friends and family as well as our community. But it is small in comparison to others. For example yours could possibly get as large as Cowart’s “Help Portrait” movement, and that is worldwide. Doing what you love to do in order to help someone in need, even on the most basic and simple level brings a level of satisfaction that money cant buy. When my friend Haley gives me a hug and says “thank you for everything you have done for me”, knowing that I had an effect on making her future as comfortable and hopeful as possible, I am richer than I’ve ever been.

- J