Get your Pride Portraits here!
Last June a client said to me, “Deb I am surprised you don’t do anything for pride month?”. And that got me thinking, so this year I am very happily doing Pride Portraits. But let me tell you a little bit about why this is important to me.
I photographed around 60 High School seniors last year. And yes, they were not all straight cis gender people. It does not matter to me- I was excited to meet each and every one of them and get to know them. I will use whatever pronoun they request I use- and whatever name they give me. Because knowing they are seen and celebrated is such a big deal!
Let me hit you with some numbers from The Trevor Project:
Top-Line Statistics
- Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 10 to 24 (Hedegaard, Curtin, & Warner, 2018) — and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth are at significantly increased risk.
- LGBTQ youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers (Johns et al., 2019; Johns et al., 2020).
- The Trevor Project estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ youth (13-24) seriously consider suicide each year in the U.S. — and at least one attempts suicide every 45 seconds.
- The Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health found that 45% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, including more than half of transgender and nonbinary youth.
This breaks my heart!
It got me thinking about the youth in our area, and how can we support them. I found very few resources for teens in this area- but maybe I didn’t know where to look.
Out Now in Springfield
House of Colors in Holyoke
Girls Inc in Holyoke
I reached out to Hollie at Out Now, since they are the closest to us, and we had a great conversation. They are youth led and adult advised. I mentioned that I am looking to do a fundraiser to benefit a local group and she enthusiastically told me about their Zine they are putting together to distribute as well as the mural projects they have been creating.
Here is my Pride Portraits plan:
Come to the studio on June 1st 4-8pm or June 4th 8:30-11:30am. I will do quick portraits of you, your family, your children, your friends. There is no cost to take the picture, and I will be donating at least 50% of the profits from whatever you buy, to Out Now.
Hey Deb, can we wear all the colors of the rainbow and really celebrate Pride in these pictures? Of course! I have some rainbow tattoos and pride flags you are welcome to incorporate into your pictures as well.
Hey Deb, do we have to wear rainbows? You do not, I am happy to take your picture how ever you arrive. Any purchase is welcome to support this group.
Hey Deb, I can’t make these dates but would really love to help you help Out Now, how can I do that? I will happily take any donation you would like to give. Venmo me @Deb-Hanna-1 put a rainbow in the subject line!
Go here to book now!
Please help me support this local organization and our at risk LGBTQ youth!
