There’s a sense of stress when your child brings home a folder filled with cookie dough catalogs and order forms. As soon as you see them remove that thick packet from their Sponge Bob or Hello Kitty backpack, you know, as a parent, you’re on the clock. You have two weeks tops to get as many coworkers as possible to purchase your child’s fundraising confections. Luckily everyone adheres to a specific unspoken office culture rule: if you support their kids’ BS fundraiser, they’ll support your kid’s equally as BS fundraiser. I can spend a full year buying their kids’ useless crap. I’ve bought things I’ll never need, from 10 pound bags of trail mix, which by the way contained NO chocolate, to wick-less candles. All the while, doing so with a smile on my face, because I know eventually it’ll be my turn to collect on those bills. Thanks to my son’s fundraising being so close to the beginning of the holidays, I (we) sold over 24 tubs of cookie dough. That amount was enough to make him one of the top salesmen in the school.
Matt doing tricks for the camera in an elementary school bus lane. This is the one image of his in which I’m the happiest.
When I was in school, the top salesmen in any fundraiser would be awarded with a myriad of prizes in which to choose: pencil trolls, a 10 pack of Smarties, spiral notebooks, combs, etc.. A veritable treasure trove awaited any student, or parent, who had the fortitude to stick out the fundraising window and ascend to the top of the leader board.
Of course that was in the 70s, things have changed greatly.
I was surprised when my son told me that the top 200 cookie dough salesmen get to attend an assembly with America’s Got Talent finalist and X Games Medalist, Matt Wilhelm. For those who don’t know him, Matt is someone worth photographing, so I contacted the school and volunteered to shoot the event. I've shot enough Fall Festivals and Milk & Cookies with Santas, to know that this school loves anything free, this time was no exception. Once I was cleared by the school, I emailed Matt directly, stating that I was shooting this particular event and asked if he wouldn't mind having his portrait taken before the assembly, which he agreed.
I arrived early to set up outside, the bus lane behind the school was the only suitable location. Once the lights were ready, I marked a spot on the pavement in which I wanted him to do tricks. I knew how I wanted the images to look, plus I needed to use a fast enough shutter speed to freeze his motion. The day wasn’t the sunniest, which worked in my favor. I used to low film speed, fast shutter and cranked up my two Alien Bees light heads. The large umbrella from the front spread enough light to cover Matt evenly. A second light was added behind the subject in hopes of adding more separation between the fore and back grounds. Not so sure that’s what was accomplished, however I do think it looks cooler. And in this business, you can never fail with cooler. Since he needed to pick up a little bit of speed to do so, he started about 15-20 feet away. Each time he rode up to the spot, he’d do a Tornado Flip, Bunny Hop or any other tricks I can’t name. We only could take one exposure per trick, so Matt would jump over his bike, then get back on, ride out 20 feet or so and start the process over.
Matt taking one of several passes in front of the camera.
After 25 minutes, Matt got off his bike and made his way back for the assembly. Once inside, he regaled 200 top cookie dough salesmen with an anti-bullying message and some of his signature bike tricks. Afterwards, Matt waded through the bleachers, and personally autographed postcards for every student in attendance. When each received a card, they walked down the bleachers to cross the cafe-gym-atorium floor and meet up with the rest of their classmates.
Seeing this, I ran over and got my son’s attention and motioned for him to join me below. I wanted to make sure Nicholas wasn’t just another over achieving cookie dough salesman who gets a card and goes back to class with no fanfare or special treatment. When Matt had completed signing 199 cards, I brought my son over to meet him, shake his hand, and of course get a photo.
Nicholas and Matt Wilhelm.
I got some amazing images of Matt that day, one of which was used for Matt’s profile on a sponsor’s website.
it’s crazy to think i owe it all to cookie dough sales. You never know where and how you’ll get your next great image………..or cookie dough.