Partner profile: Photographer Monique de St. Croix’s featured National Philanthropy Day portraits

By Monique de St. Croix

 
The wonderful thing about being a part of Hip Image is being a part of a team, a professional one at that! I started out as a full-time teacher, turning my focus to becoming a professional photographer in 2000. Jo has had an equally rewarding journey as small business owner and communications professional.  Both of our respective job titles have exactly the same job description: “Doing the job we love, and loving the job we do.” Hip Image is such a perfect meeting of each of our passions, where both of our professional backgrounds join forces to create a whirlwind of fun.

 

We still have our independent jobs. I am still teaching as a Guest Teacher, the “best substitute-ever” as the students attest. I get to bring the stories of my experiences, complete with images, into the classroom. From being witness to holocaust survivors returning to their ghetto homes in Poland, to interacting with amazing speakers such as Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield, to the annual honouring of Calgary’s top philanthropists, it is such a wonderful thing to live and love my job as a photographer.

 

This week celebrates the 2017 Generosity of Spirit recipients, Calgary’s inspiring philanthropists. The biggest challenge I have had since 2003 when I first began photographing the portraits for National Philanthropy Day Event is to learn how to say “PHI-LAN-THRO-PY” without stuttering. (Try it… three times… really fast. See? Not so easy to speak “phi-LAN-thro-PY”). It is marvelous to meet these amazing people, who donate not only of their money, but of their spirit, their time, their ideas and their passion. It is in all of us to give of our hearts, be kind with our words, generous with our smiles, and spread goodness in small ways that will generate the biggest of impacts.

 

I am inspired by the stories, and elated each year to get to know them, and to capture their portraits. Meeting people like these motivates me to be a better person. It is also a lesson, as each of their stories indicates, that we all have the capacity within us to be better, to give generously. The smallest gesture of kindness can have far reaching positive consequences. It starts in this moment, with a conscientious decision to be kind, to act with generosity.

 

Be inspired by their stories at the following links, and do note, that Monique is available to capture your important moments too.

Jim Gray – Lifetime Philanthropist

Fran and Andy Porter – Family Philanthropist

Shell Canada – Corporate Philanthropist

Something2Wear – Small Business Philanthropist

Jay Westman – Doc Seaman Individual Philanthropist

The Kinsmen Club of the Stampede City – Group Philanthropist