Lansie Sylvia is the brains behind and master organizer of a group of some über talented people who have created the Philadelphia-based charity known as “Philly Give & Get”.
Philly Give & Get is a charity event that auctions off master classes with local pros (ranging from home brewing your own beer to baking with local chefs) and donates the proceeds to some local cause/institution. The event that I was a part of sent the proceeds that we raised to the Scribe Video Center in West Philadelphia.
We got together on a rainy evening and packed what seemed like several hundred people into the second floor of Johnny Brenda’s in the Fishtown district of Philadelphia and got this party started. The bar, the stage, the classy photo booth, and the cool people-who even accepted me despite being much overdressed in my tuxedo.
I was auctioned with J. Kyle Keener (who is an accomplished photographer in his own rite) in the photographer master class. The person who “bought” us would get a class with each of us. Kyle is quite the hilarious guy and we planned a stupid fun entrance to the stage which included me setting up additional lights and making a commotion and Kyle “strutted” toward me on stage. It was as terrifying as it was hilarious, I think we pulled it off pretty well though.
With that said, we sold and we sold high, second highest bid of the night to be exact. Flattering. Nick Eubanks (local SEO whiz and all-around cool dude) purchased our lot for a rather hefty sum of money for his girlfriend, Kira.
Kira and I planned a full-fledged shoot to spend time talking about location scouting, lighting, cameras, and even post production. (Kudos to one of my prettiest friends, Sarah Harley, for modeling for us).
You can see some of the photos we got of Sarah that day. If you think you have a skill or idea to be auctioned at Philly Give & Get, reach out to Lansie! She’s pretty cool and she laughs a lot. I would probably even trust her with my kids--if I had any.
