The "Help Austin Get A New Camera" Fund
Donation protected
I have been a freelance photographer for many years. I absolutely love what I do, but professional gear can be very expensive so I've started this GoFundMe page as a "tip jar" that will go toward me getting a new camera and a couple of lenses for it. If you are a fan of my work and would like to see much more in the future, please consider donating.
Above all, please share this page to let folks know about me and my photography! Thank you so much :)
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You can see my work here:
www.austincaine.com
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"SO, WHY DO YOU NEED A NEW CAMERA?"
About a year and a half ago while I was across the country my apartment burned down taking pretty much everything I owned with it, including most of my photography gear along with my secondary cameras. At the time I utilized crowd-funding through IndieGoGo.com to help me rebuild some gear so I could simply continue working. The campaign was successful and many people came together in small ways to help me in a very big way! It was quite overwhelming to be honest and allowed me to regain necessary equipment to keep shooting.
Well, even since before the fire I've been using my Nikon D300 as my main camera but now with the loss of my secondaries it has been my only camera for everything I shoot. This means it travels a lot, gets dropped more often than it should, is exposed to elements it normally wouldn't see in the studio, and the general wear and tear on the body is becoming quite apparent, not to mention I've snapped well over 100,000 shots with it so the shutters have certainly been given a workout. Plus the button often times fails to fire and the built in software has become slow and glitchy at times. To put it plainly, it's time for me to start shopping for a new one before this one dies and I'm stuck without any way to work at all!
"WHAT KIND OF CAMERA ARE YOU GOING TO GET?"
I've been giving this a lot of thought. There are so many out there and they all have their benefits and disadvantages that it came down to two very important factors: The body size and the manual controls. Currently my Nikon D300 is a monster of a camera, much larger and heavier than many others, but the ease of use and conveninent placement of the manual controls allow me to shoot uninhibited and very quickly switch settings in dynamic environments so I don't miss many moments. Basically I don't have to navigate clunky menus, all of the settings I need are physically on the camera.
With that in mind, I knew I needed something with full manual control but I'm tired of my wrists hurting at the end of the night by lugging around this giant beast of a camera. It hinders me from doing much casual shooting or street photography as the sheer bulk of it both makes it inconvenient to bring out with me and keeps me from getting some of those great moments one has to be stealthy to obtain! Therefore I need something smaller like a Rangefinder style.
So I did my research and have opted for the Fujifilm X-T1. It's small, light, and oh so powerful! With it's sleek body and full manual control, it would allow me to shoot even more than I already do. I'm thrilled about the idea of bringing my knowledge of photography to more arenas outside of the studio setting. I could do more photojournalism, document more parties and events, and even casually shoot more personal moments of my own. I enjoy my life and would like to capture it as best I can but a phone just won't cut it when you know what you're doing ;)
"WHAT DO I GET FOR HELPING YOU?"
The age old question! I've given this a lot of thought too, you know incentives and all. Well of course I want to help those who help me so I have a couple offers on the table.
* First, should you ever desire to hire me for a photoshoot, every dollar you donate will be doubled as a credit toward the price of that shoot!
So if you know you want to do a shoot soon, get a quote from me and donate half of it. Then it will be fully paid for plus you will be helping me reach my goal that much sooner :)
===================================================
--- For Donations up to $20 ---
Choose any photo on my website and I will send you a one megapixel unwatermarked version for use online.
--- For Donations from $20 to $49 ---
Choose any photo on my website and I will mail you a beautiful 4x6 print of it.
--- For Donations from $50 to $99 ---
Choose either two 4x6 photos or a single 8x12 photo from my website and I will mail the prints to you.
--- For Donations from $100 to $199 ---
I'll send you two 8x12 prints or a single 16x24 large poster print from my website.
--- For Donations from $200 to $499 ---
You can either get a beautiful 20x30 large poster print or I'll donate a day of photography to be used as you see fit. Got an event you need covered? Maybe some new products you want to show off online. Anniversaries, birthdays, kids, pets, real estate, you name it I'll capture it!
--- For Donations above $500 ---
At this point I'm only putting this here to see if anyone would really go that far. If you did donate this much I'd be overwhelmed and speechless and frankly you can just name what I can do for you. Prints, shoots, knowledge, whatever!
===================================================
"I'D LOVE TO DONATE BUT I JUST CAN'T RIGHT NOW..."
Listen, I'm not going to be offended or slighted in the least if you cannot spare anything right now. Many of the people I know personally probably couldn't donate to this fund, heck I can't donate to some of their funds so I fully understand. Times are tough, that's why I made this page in the first place! But if you've worked with me or enjoy the work that I release and would still like to help you can SHARE THIS PAGE with your network of friends and maybe give them a reason or two why they might want to chip in :)
Thank you so much everyone for every drop of help you may offer. Without such a vast community of amazing people I could not have made it this far so quickly. I'm very grateful and intend to bring so much more visual stimulation to your lives in the coming days!
"WHAT KIND OF CAMERA ARE YOU GOING TO GET?"
I've been giving this a lot of thought. There are so many out there and they all have their benefits and disadvantages that it came down to two very important factors: The body size and the manual controls. Currently my Nikon D300 is a monster of a camera, much larger and heavier than many others, but the ease of use and conveninent placement of the manual controls allow me to shoot uninhibited and very quickly switch settings in dynamic environments so I don't miss many moments. Basically I don't have to navigate clunky menus, all of the settings I need are physically on the camera.
With that in mind, I knew I needed something with full manual control but I'm tired of my wrists hurting at the end of the night by lugging around this giant beast of a camera. It hinders me from doing much casual shooting or street photography as the sheer bulk of it both makes it inconvenient to bring out with me and keeps me from getting some of those great moments one has to be stealthy to obtain! Therefore I need something smaller like a Rangefinder style.
So I did my research and have opted for the Fujifilm X-T1. It's small, light, and oh so powerful! With it's sleek body and full manual control, it would allow me to shoot even more than I already do. I'm thrilled about the idea of bringing my knowledge of photography to more arenas outside of the studio setting. I could do more photojournalism, document more parties and events, and even casually shoot more personal moments of my own. I enjoy my life and would like to capture it as best I can but a phone just won't cut it when you know what you're doing ;)
"WHAT DO I GET FOR HELPING YOU?"
The age old question! I've given this a lot of thought too, you know incentives and all. Well of course I want to help those who help me so I have a couple offers on the table.
* First, should you ever desire to hire me for a photoshoot, every dollar you donate will be doubled as a credit toward the price of that shoot!
So if you know you want to do a shoot soon, get a quote from me and donate half of it. Then it will be fully paid for plus you will be helping me reach my goal that much sooner :)
===================================================
--- For Donations up to $20 ---
Choose any photo on my website and I will send you a one megapixel unwatermarked version for use online.
--- For Donations from $20 to $49 ---
Choose any photo on my website and I will mail you a beautiful 4x6 print of it.
--- For Donations from $50 to $99 ---
Choose either two 4x6 photos or a single 8x12 photo from my website and I will mail the prints to you.
--- For Donations from $100 to $199 ---
I'll send you two 8x12 prints or a single 16x24 large poster print from my website.
--- For Donations from $200 to $499 ---
You can either get a beautiful 20x30 large poster print or I'll donate a day of photography to be used as you see fit. Got an event you need covered? Maybe some new products you want to show off online. Anniversaries, birthdays, kids, pets, real estate, you name it I'll capture it!
--- For Donations above $500 ---
At this point I'm only putting this here to see if anyone would really go that far. If you did donate this much I'd be overwhelmed and speechless and frankly you can just name what I can do for you. Prints, shoots, knowledge, whatever!
===================================================
"I'D LOVE TO DONATE BUT I JUST CAN'T RIGHT NOW..."
Listen, I'm not going to be offended or slighted in the least if you cannot spare anything right now. Many of the people I know personally probably couldn't donate to this fund, heck I can't donate to some of their funds so I fully understand. Times are tough, that's why I made this page in the first place! But if you've worked with me or enjoy the work that I release and would still like to help you can SHARE THIS PAGE with your network of friends and maybe give them a reason or two why they might want to chip in :)
Thank you so much everyone for every drop of help you may offer. Without such a vast community of amazing people I could not have made it this far so quickly. I'm very grateful and intend to bring so much more visual stimulation to your lives in the coming days!
Organizer
Austin Dalí Caine
Organizer
Charlotte, NC
