Nichole and Paul (Above) were the winners of my most recent giveaway! It was such an honor to work with them!

This is something that I get questioned about frequently and something that I have actually been patronized for! I absolutely love doing giveaways (as in giving away a free session, mini session, t-shirt, spot to my workshop, etc.) and I do this for a few reasons:

1. I genuinely love giving people the opportunity to have photos done, especially if they may not have that opportunity without the giveaway.

When I have a client that wants to book a session with me but can’t due to financial reasons, it just breaks my heart. I want to photograph as many people as I can because I think everyone deserves the opportunity to have their love or their personality captured. I think that having photos taken is such an amazing experience for so many people and getting to keep those photos is something incredibly meaningful. I believe that life is all about making memories and cherishing them, that is what I love most about being a photographer. There is not a person in the world who doesn’t deserve to have their memories captured to keep forever. Giving away sessions gives everyone an equal opportunity to have this experience.

2. It brings people together.

This may sound weird at first, but it’s so true! When I kick start a giveaway, people start tweeting, sharing, commenting and coming together because of it! They share their excitement, the reasons that they want the session, the meaning behind their entry…and it’s all because they have one thing in common: they entered the giveaway. I love watching people get excited and really want to win the giveaway…it shows me that I’m doing something right!

3. It helps me get to know my clients.

When people start entering a giveaway, I get loads of emails, texts, comments and tweets with people telling me how excited they are, asking when I’m picking a winner and sharing their stories behind why they want to win. This allows me to get to know so many amazing people in the community and, sometimes,

A lot of people think that I do this to gain followers and strictly for selfish, marketing purposes. Contrary to popular belief, this is not the reason. Yes, I do gain followers from these giveaways, but I LOSE almost 90% of these followers once the giveaway is over, because they were strictly following me to try and win. This is fine, and I have no problem with it because that is not the reason that I give away sessions. (I also don’t do it to annoy you by filling your news feed up with HTP giveaway posts…sorry if you’re a victim of this!!)

I have always and will always love giving away the opportunity for people to have their photos taken. Although I do not choose the winners myself (they are chosen with a random generator), I believe that everything happens for a reason and the person that wins is someone who deserves it more than I know.

YES, in fact, to end this post, I am kicking off a giveaway! Check me out on Instagram (@hopetaylorphotography) for more details on how to enter and GOOD LUCK!
Hope you all have an absolutely amazing weekend!
xoxox