Introducing: The 2020 Story Project
A photography project focused on serving our small business and nonprofit communities in Raleigh and Durham, during a time of economic and social stress. This June and July, we’re going to help y’all tell your stories by taking on a handful of shoots (including hair and makeup services) for FREE!! Our aim is these images help fill your photography needs immediately and also move with you into the future; aiding in your growth as things shift and change in our community. Continue reading to learn more about this special project and how you can be part of it! A little background…Back in 2012, I decided I wanted to be more connected with other small businesses in Raleigh that were outside of the wedding industry bubble, so I created the Raleigh Story Project. I reached out to a handful of businesses that I enjoyed frequenting or I was impressed with how they did things, and I offered to tell their story with my camera for FREE. I got a lot of puzzled responses. “What’s the catch? Why?” But the shoots and connections I created through it, the things I learned because of it, were all so valuable to me. It was truly a special experience that brought me closer to my community and their stories. Jump to this year…At the beginning of 2020, Becca and I sat down and got real with each other. We will celebrate 15 years of business as Story Photographers this year and that brings a lot of questions with it. We asked ourselves... “What do we want to keep doing? What do we want to do differently?” We were really honest in our answers and started gradually making changes.Well, then COVID-19 turned into a full blown pandemic and the U.S. began to shut down. That blew our plans wide open with our photography jobs being stopped for almost two months. I sat in a lot of anxiety, as I know so many of you have and still are, trying to understand what this meant for this business and for my finances. And now, as our country has entered into a racial reckoning and BIPOC (along with their allies) are calling for reform, I feel even stronger it’s important for us to be telling diverse stories with this project. That has always been a priority with our work and is even more so now.One thing I have not been able to stop thinking about is the way this unprecedented (#everyonesfavebuzzword) moment in time has hit a big reset button for us all. We have been given this chance to change SO MUCH about our lives. This reset has been a time of digging deep and deciding what stays and what goes, both personally and in this business.
What I know at this point is... I want to get even more focused on what kind of work gets our creativity flowing and what kind of work allows us to create how we are most gifted in creating. In turn, I want to use that creativity to help our community.
What it all means…In comes the 2020 Story Project! Here’s the deal, our summer schedules have drastically changed due to rescheduled or canceled weddings and events, so we want to serve YOU this summer. That means, Becca and I have decided to tell a handful of stories for FREE in June and July. Yeah, you read that right!We know firsthand this is an incredibly difficult time for small businesses and nonprofits, so we want to help tell your stories with our cameras. In this digitally driven world, it’s so important to have professional photography for your website and social media presence to help build your brand. We also know that photography can be on the list of things that needs to get cut in a time of financial crisis and we want to help. We want to focus on the actual story of your business, not necessarily how the pandemic is affecting it. We want these images to carry you past this crisis and into the future! We are also interested in hearing from individual storytelling ideas as well… it would be like a more meaningful, metaphorical headshot session.AND, Kris Bright has offered to do hair and makeup for FREE for people participating in these shoots. I mean, can you even?! I know!!! Y’all have seen and loved her work through the lens of Story Photographers for years and we have loved referring y’all to her. We KNOW you will love working with Kris for this special project. 
What’s next and how to help…Here’s where we’d love to hear from y’all. We’re already working on reaching out to who WE have in mind, but we also want YOUR input! Do you know of a small business or nonprofit in the Raleigh or Durham area that would greatly benefit from us telling their story? Share them with us! You can send us a DM through one of our social channels, comment on this post, or email us! Tell us, who do you want to see us reach out to for the 2020 Story Project? We’d also appreciate your help in spreading this beyond our typical network by sharing this with your friends and family. A simple share can get this beyond our network and in front of more people who may benefit from it!