Donate to the project, get a Portrait Session!

So, at the suggestion of a dear and wise friend of mine, I have decided to offer a sort of incentive to those of you squeamish about giving money away.  I absolutely don't blame you, especially since this is by no means a conventional charity, and it sometimes can be a bit sensitive to give money to friends, even more so, to people we don't know so well.

Consider this an exchange of services.  Or at the very least, you buying something from me.

As a contributor to this project, not only will you receive the fabulous rewards outlined in the first post of this blog, BUT... all of you who donate will also receive an express portrait session with me!  How's that!? What this includes is basically the same thing as having a full length portrait session (which is never very long with me anyway... I work quickly and without dragging you through painful series of poses...) but slightly shorter and with slightly fewer photos.  You will receive at minimum of 5 edited, professional quality portraits of yourself (or your dog, your cat, your baby, your band, your car, etc...) for ANY AMOUNT including and over 25 dollars donated to the project.  I don't discriminate based on how much you donate, it's your reward for being so kind and generous in the first place!

Again, think of it more now as you buying a service from me instead of just giving money away. For all of you who have already donated, this applies to you too!

And to tantilize you further, I have included some samples from other portrait sessions I have had recently!

THANK YOU!...

... to everyone who has donated so far!  together with your help i have surpassed the 300 dollar mark ALREADY!  It's truly amazing how every little bit counts, and even the smallest amounts can add up to a significant sum.

So far, this will take care of half my ticket to Canada.  That leaves half, plus the trip to Guyana, and the monstrous amount of post production necessary afterwards... you know what to do  ;)  Again, PayPal is by far the easiest way, by using guyanacalling@gmail.com as the delivery address, OR you can use my Bankgiro 445-7917 OR you can email me for other bank info.

Huge thanks so far go out to:

Marjorie Hammel (Montreal, Canada)
Lars Hagström (Bad Gastein, Austria)
Terrence Ross (New York, USA)
Sheri Miller (New York, USA)
Anders Härnqvist (Göteborg, Sweden)

These lovely folks have set me on my way!  The one bit of pressure that comes from such overwhelming support is the expectation to deliver...  I'm starting to feel a slight bit of that pressure, but in all kinds of positive ways!  It's pure inspiration...

Thank you for inspiring me to keep going!

Now I am off to the north, north, north of Sweden to celebrate midsummer, with 24 hour daylight and hopefully some skiing (in slush, probably)... Riksgränsen here I come!

Goodnight, and look out for more updates next week!  (including some new developments in Canada - interview subjects, a possibly gallery show and involvement with the community back home!)

US Dollars vs. Other currencies

Another note to all of you lovelies who are looking to donate....

The US dollar thing was purely a guideline.  Of course, you should donate in your local currency, if it makes a difference to you, and then it will sort out somewhere along the line.  I thought to ask for US dollars, since it might be the most widely used currency out there among you, but then again, I think my mass mailings reach all corners of the globe...

Anyway.  Carry on with your Friday celebrations!  And PRAY for sunshine here in Göteborg!  Dance, voo-doo, spells, manifestation, prayer, ju-ju, mojo... whatever you can conjure up, help me make the sunshine happen!

Pay pal instructions

Hi Everyone!

I just want to say how amazingly glad I am at the overwhelming and positive response that I've gotten for this project!  I never really imagined that a small idea that I imagined could be important for me has become something that seems to be important for so many other people too!

You always hope that a story or an event that is important to you and your loved ones will be relevant to others, but you just never can tell!  I like to remind you though, this blog and the things I have written so far are only a reflection of my take on things, and I am so open to welcoming other people's experiences and feelings about it as well!  So share away!

Anyway... for those of you who have not been acquainted with the wonders of Pay Pal, it's quite simple actually.  There are more than a few ways to use it to make payments, securely over the internet.  I believe it's mostly used for purchases made on Ebay, but as I have recently discovered, you can also send money via Pay Pal to anyone with an account!

You have to go to www.paypal.com and set up an account.  Most likely, you will connect it to your credit or debit card.  Then you follow instructions for sending money, using the email address I posted last time guyanacalling@gmail.com

Then, you can complete the payment (it feels absurdly easy and unofficial, but it really does work and is secure!) and I get an email saying that I have received money in my PayPal account.  It stays there for safekeeping until I need to pay someone to edit this monstrosity of a film!  Ha ha ha...

If you have any other questions, totally email me or call.  I will see what I can do!

Happy Friday everyone!  As if I didn't have enough to do, I have taken on a music video this weekend! So I will be wheeling wagons,  riding in an EL CAMINO, dodging beach police and lighting fires... should be interesting!

Pay Pal rules!

So, I received my first donation today, by PAY PAL!  Which I realize now is an excellent idea (thanks Marjorie) so now you all know, it's super easy and instant and safe to send money as a donation to the Guyana Calling project via Pay Pal!  You can send it to the following address, and it will end up in the account I have set up for fundraising!

guyanacalling@gmail.com

Stay tuned... more fun developments coming up this week!

Best,

Alana

Guyana Calling (Promotional Trailer)

Now the fun starts.  My ticket is booked.  My bags are waiting to be packed, unpacked and then packed again, and I am starting to collect pieces of my family's life in order to reconstruct a history of what they have seen and experienced together.

This video is the result of a very small amount of work in comparison to the amount of work that lies ahead of me.  But I am so excited for this trip, I really have a hard time putting it into words!

Youtube is not letting me embed today, so to watch the video, go here!

Guyana Calling (Promotional Trailer)

I have even contacted my aunts and uncles about participating in the film as well, and they have responded positively and most have agreed to sit for interviews before I depart for Guyana.  I'll be posting an itinerary for those of you who are curious.

In any case, I tried to start a Kickstarter page to help with the fundraising for this project, but apparently I have to live in the US (which I'm not allowed to do anyway... ha ha ha) so I will have to use this as a fundraising site until I figure something else out.

In the meantime, I would like to offer something in return, if you decide to lend a hand, so I will do it like this:

With a donation of:

20 USD or more you get a hug
50 USD or more you get a hug and a limited edition numbered photo from Guyana when I get back
100 USD or more you get a hug, a limited edition photo and credit in the movie once it's edited

All donations can be made directly into the account I have set up for the film's fundraising, which I cannot post here, but can email to you if you like!  You can make the donations anonymous, but if you want your prize, you should probably tell me who you are ;)

The plan is to arrange some kind of photo exhibition as well, possibly in the fall or winter of this year, in my hometown of Kitchener - Waterloo, as well as a preview screening of the film at that time.

The money of course will go to the expense of travel.  It will also go to the massive amount of time needed to edit a documentary film, and to the eventual cost of distributing it to festivals and making the DVDs.  I have no definite goal, but I know everything comes up to about 3000 USD.  But every little bit counts!  So please don't be shy!

I would like to extend a special thank you already to Susanne Sävenholt and Iceland Explorer for helping to arrange my travel for this trip, and for her enthusiasm and support of what I'm trying to create!

That's all for now!  Spread the word to your friends, others who come from Guyana, others who have a family history that they care about, others who's family has been touched by loss, by immigration, by displacement, others who have felt a calling to do something outrageous to try and connect with their ancestors.  Just pass it along... and be well!

Warmest,

Alana