It was picture day for hundreds of Saskatoon residents on Saturday.
Desmond Bird and Sheena Davis, along with their two children, attended Help Portrait Saskatoon after first getting their picture taken at last year’s event.
“We got it framed and put it on our wall. Normally, we can’t afford to do a family picture so it’s really nice they have something like this,” Davis said.
“The best way to describe it is it’s something to treasure and hold, and you own something,” Bird said.
The gymnasium at White Buffalo Youth Lodge was transformed into a photo shoot set on Saturday for the event.
From hairstylists and makeup artists to photographers and editors, Help Portrait provided a mini makeover and a professional portrait, all free of charge.
“Everybody, especially in this area, lives on their cellphones. They lose that cellphone, they lose everything so having a printed image of themselves and their family at that moment in time means a lot to people,” said Bruce Johnson, the chair of Help Portrait Saskatoon.
Dozens of working professionals volunteered their skills and time, like Karen Pidskalny who has taken pictures at the event for five years and says it’s become a tradition.
“Many of these people, they’ve never had a professional portrait before so this is an opportunity for us as a community to give back,” Pidskalny said.
In Saskatoon, 338 people got a snapshot of their own to take home.
Help Portrait takes place around the globe with more than 3,000 events in nearly 70 countries.
“When you’re living from paycheque to three days before paycheque, when you go to a big box store or something, even their $29.95 special ends up being a $100 bill. You can’t really afford that with kids and everything else, so we provide that here for free and it captures that moment in time,” Johnson said.