I had a request from a good friend of mine in Australia, Marcus Bell, to see if we can spread the word about his fund raising efforts in Australia.
You may have seen the news footage of the significant flooding that occurred throughout Queensland Australia during late December 2010 and January 2011. Many lost their lives, many more lost their homes. Three quarters of the state was declared a disaster zone. This is an area roughly the size of Texas. What I love about having a tight knit community here at The Photography Business Institute, is that we can all ban together to help each other in times of need. Twenty years ago, this could have never been possible for all of us to reach out in such a way. Here are a few words from my pal, Marcus:
“While neither my business or my home were inundated with flood waters many of my clients, my friends and my family have been badly affected. Many have lost everything they own and the recovery is going to be a long slow process. I think what has touched me the most is that many of the people have worked their entire lives and in one day they have lost everything, not only all their possessions but also their homes. The saddest part is that for most of them the insurance companies will not be honoring their policies, claiming that it was a natural disaster rather than a flood. This means that they will also be left with mortgages for homes that are either inhabitable or not physically there anymore. This has simply spurred me on even more to help those that really need a hand, after all this could of happen to any of us.
There are two things I’ve decided to do in the short term.
Firstly, I’m selling Artist Proof Prints of my ten favourite images with ALL proceeds going to the Queensland Flood Disaster Relief Fund. I am aiming to raise a minimum of $10,000 for the Floods through the fine art print sales alone. The second thing I’m doing is I’ll be donating 20% of all sales of the Marcus Bell Photographers Resource Products during January and February, this includes the sales from the 5 new Instant Effects Presets that I’ve just released. The funds raised will be going directly to the official “Queensland Government Relief Fund” rather than to people I personally know.”
Marcus Bell
A resident of Brisbane Queensland, award-winning photographer Marcus Bell is raising money to help flood victims, by placing ten of his own classic images up for sale. All proceeds from each sale will be going to the Queensland Governments Flood disaster relief fund. Each signed “Artist Proof” print is an original award winning photographic work. Each unframed 24 inch print for sale for $950 (plus postage) and is printed to the highest quality 300GSM Archival cotton paper. Many of these prints represents a saving of between 50 to 75% off the normal edition print price. If you have a desire for some tools to help grow your business or some award-winning photographic art from one of the top photographers in the world, be sure to check it out here.