One of the photographers whose style I like best is the incredible Mike Colón, who like many of the photographers I look to for inspiration is based in Orange County, California. The place must be a hot bed for incredible wedding photographers. Mike’s style is really cool, very fresh and natural, and those are the elements I work to capture in my own photography. Aparently his fees for shooting a wedding are about $20,000 and he shoots a lot of celebrity weddings. Check out his website and blog.

I had been looking at the DVD workshops on Mike’s site for a while and was intending to buy his four day wedding workshop from Newport Beach, but at $299 for a download, I was thinking it would have to wait until next Christmas! I checked out his blog last week and saw that Mike had decided to give a free download of one of his DVD’s if you donated $20 to Thirst Relief. Check out the initial blog post here. Thirst Relief International is an amazing charity which works to improve access to safe water in nine countries worldwide (click here to learn more and donate).

I couldn’t believe my eyes and donated straight away and am now enjoying the workshop. I think this is really generous of Mike and when I get a chance I’ll probably attend one of his workshops in the US or buy another download. It’s a great way for him to build loyalty and a following. For me I’m over the moon with the workshop, and for the charity they are benefiting from the donation. This whole experience is exactly what I try to do in my own business and life – experiences should be ‘win, win’ for everyone involved. It ends up leaving everyone with a warm fuzzy feeling. Everyone has benefited, and these are exactly the types of experiences we share with others and have conversations about.

Check out this video of a Thirst Relief benefit shoot during WPPI 2010. Photos and video courtesy of Theresa Minnette Photography. Special Guests; Mike Colon, Luke Edmonson and David Edmonson.