Most of us bundle up when the snow starts to fall, but Trudy, of Trudy Hause photography, asked Facebookland for volunteers to do the opposite, in the name of a good cause and the volunteer list was long.
When Trudy posted on Facebook that she was doing another pin-up calendar and needed volunteers she had more names to choose from then she had anticipated, including a charity to raise funds for.
Seeing Trudy’s post the NWT Breast Cancer Action group made it known, that if she didn’t already have a group to raise funds for they’d be happy to be part of this project.
Checking an important item off her list, Trudy accepted and moved on to phase two, how to select the girls for her pin-up calendar?
“A few of the volunteers had been a part of my first calendar, published two years ago,” Hause said. “Another calendar I produced that raised funds of the PJs for Seniors program here in Yellowknife.”
Hause grandfathered those women in and decided the rest of the names would be drawn out of a hat for the project.
“The group selected included women of all body types and various cultures,” Hause said. “My vision was to have all of the photos taken outside, in the winter, showing off the beauty of Yellowknife in its most famous season.”
The group brainstormed together, coming up with locations, costume and prop choices, which Hause, happily accepted and sometimes vetoed, based on her own artistic vision. If it didn’t get her excited, she wasn’t going to shoot it.
“The results of this collaborative, creative effort resulted in 13 months of tasteful, sexy, beautiful, creative shots,” Hause said. “Despite the white backdrop, you’ll find a colourful, scenic look at Yellowknife and what makes it special.”
Each photo was taken outside with temperatures ranging from -7 to -38, between the months
of February and March.
“The ladies, in various states of dress, became miners, snowshoers, snowmobilers and car mechanics,” Hause said. “They cut logs, played hockey and adventured along the ice road, depicting the beauty and the strength of Northern women.”
With help from Signed, Trudy’s photographs were made into calendars to sell, with all proceeds going to the NWT Breast Cancer Action group.
But all of this hard work deserved a proper launch Hause says.
“Selling tickets, assembling a silent auction and rolling out the red carpet, I booked Copperhouse and put on a show for attendees,” Hause said. “The ladies arrived in a party bus, were greeted by Godson who sang “Paradise City” and were introduced by Ollie Williams from Cabin Radio.”
After some mingling, guests, who had the first copies of the calendar in hand, sealed, followed the ladies
around the room as they each stood by their photos hanging, wrapped in brown paper on the walls.
One by one, they excitedly revealed the photos Hause had chosen for the calendar. Which was as much of a surprise for the guests as they were for the women featured in the calendar.
Sales took off after that evening, Hause says.
“With the Launch, silent auction and calendar sales the YZF pin-up calendar was able to raise $14, 416.46 for the NWT Breast Cancer Action group,” Hause said.
The cheque was presented on Dec. 14th at Copperhouse by Hause to NWT Breast Cancer Action group who had no idea how much the donation amount was.
Hause says there are some favourite moments and props from here project which she shared with 100.1 The Moose.
“We needed a retro-style toboggan for the month of March,” Hause said. I found one on Kijiji in Edmonton for $50.”
When Hause told the woman selling it why she needed it the woman selling it decided to give to Hause for free.
“A friend who was in the area picked it up for me and took it to another friend who took it to his wife and she took it to work with her and put it on a Canadian North flight to get it to me,” Hause said.
Hause’s favourite moment occurred while ice fishing for the September picture in the calendar.
“Destination NWT let us use their Rainbow ice fishing village for this shoot,” Hause said. “While we were shooting a few looky loos came by to watch. This wasn’t unusual, but it got crazy fast. Turns out these tourists were from the Polar Bear Swim Club in China. After snapping photos of and with Miss September, one enthusiastic traveller stripped down his skivvies to get one last photo. Funny to note, he was wearing less clothing than the model was.”
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