Let’s Help Ukrainian Refugees. – Mobile Phone Webinar

Resources For Ukrainian Refugees
Here’s An Opportunity To Make a Difference

It’s very hard for me to comprehend that there is a need for this effort; that our neighbors in Ukraine are in such dire straights that they require the help of nations and of individuals, like you and me. 

Photographer Don Komarechka, who lives near Varna, Bulgaria, has been making daily trips to the Ukrainian Refugee Center in Varna delivering food and other critical supplies. Seeing Don’s example, I asked what I could do to make a difference. 

With Don’s support and cooperation, I’m offering the webinar, The Magic of Mobile, to help raise $20,000 for the Ukrainian Refugee Center in Varna, Bulgaria. All proceeds will go to Don so he can continue to provide much-needed items.

Publishers note:  Rad Drew is a good friend and regular article contributor to the photoPXL website. I know each and every one of us is witness to the struggles of Ukraine and its people right now.  When Rad wrote to me about this I thought it would be a good way that readers of this site could help and get something in return. Everyone of us uses a mobile phone and I know few people that know mobile phone photography better than Rad.  He’s a great teacher and I know you will discover new uses for your mobile phone.  Please consider signing up for this.  All money collected will go to a good cause.  The webinar will be recorded so if you can’t make the actual webinar you will be sent a link to view it afterward.

Here are the details:

Purpose: Benefit for Ukrainian Refugees in Varna, Bulgaria
Who:  Photographers for Ukraine

What: How I Did It!™ Webinar: The Magic of Mobile
Where: Zoom Webinar
When: April 8, 2022, 5:30 PM EST
Cost: $21

Register HERE

The webinar will be recorded, and the recording made available through the end of 2022. All proceeds will go to help people at the Ukrainian Refugee Center in Varna, Bulgaria.

The webinar will cover many basics of iPhone photography and will include:

* Tips on making sharp photos
* How to make “soft water” waterfall photos
* How to process your images with the free but powerful app, SnapSeed
* How to remove unwanted elements from your photos
* How to process your images in seconds using the Apple editor
and much more!

The presentation is designed to offer something for all mobile photographers and is intended to be a THANK YOU! for participating in this effort.

Our Goal:
Fill 1000 spots and raise $20K.

How Did We Come to This?

Friend and fellow photographer, Don Komarechka, started it all. I read one of Don’s Facebook posts and was immediately interested.

Read Don’s recent Facebook post that kicked off this effort.

The next day he shared a second post, which you can read here.

Don has been taking action that matters for a couple of weeks now.

He and his family moved to Bulgaria last year and today they live very near the city of Varna, Bulgaria, where one of the many Ukrainian Refugee Centers is located. Don has been driving to Varna on an increasingly frequent basis (daily now) delivering food and other aid to the refugees gathered at Varna.

After reading Don’s posts and giving this thought and discussing it with Nancy, this is where I landed. I considered that we are all part of an international photography community full of wonderful people throughout the world. During the 12 years, I’ve been in business as a photographer, I’ve become connected to more people than I would have ever imagined and, so, it occurred to me to do something that would engage this great community.

Here’s What We Came Up With

I’m going to host the Zoom webinar, The Magic of Mobile, that will benefit the Ukrainian refugees. With Don’s support, I’m offering a 90-minute webinar on mobile photography geared to everyone who likes to take photographs with their phone. Teaching iPhone photography is something I’ve been doing for a long time and I know I can share tips and techniques that will help almost anyone with a mobile phone create wonderful photos!

Don has agreed to create a video of his experience at the refugee center that will serve as an introduction to the webinar. With each visit, he meets new people and learns more about what is most needed. He will share his experience so that those of us on the other side of the globe can see what he’s seeing.

Other Ways to Donate

If you would like to donate instead of, or in addition to, The Magic of Mobile webinar, you can send your donations via PayPal directly to Don Komarechka using this email: [email protected]. Please include the note “Donation for Ukraine refugee aid” so Don can sort all the donations that come in.

If you are in Canada and wish to eTransfer funds to Don, you can send them to [email protected].

For those of you who know and trust me, but don’t know Don, I can say that he is a trusted friend, someone I’ve met and know personally. We are part of several unique photography communities. And if you don’t know me and are uncomfortable donating to a grass-roots effort like this, I totally respect that. Don spoke to that concern very well in his second post, which you can read in full here.

Don Wrote:

“If anyone wants to contribute, I’d be happy to run multiple trips a week or more [to the refugee center in Varna]. I’m not a charity and cannot provide you with tax receipts, and you’d have to trust me with your money.

“I’m just a stranger on the Internet for most people reading this, and you absolutely shouldn’t trust a stranger with your money. You can find a list of charities doing good work in Ukraine here: https://www.cnbc.com/…/heres-a-list-of-top-rated… .

“Even still, if you know me [or Rad] personally and you’d like to help my efforts, I’d welcome it. Thank you so much to those who have offered help already.

“If you are in Canada and wish to eTransfer funds to me, you can send it to [email protected].

“If you are anywhere else and wish to use PayPal, send the funds to [email protected] a note “Donation for Ukraine refugee aid” so I can properly sort all the donations that come in.

“The food we’re supplying is the kind that doesn’t require a lot of prep work: fruits, canned fish, cured meats, juice, etc. that doesn’t require a kitchen to prepare. After tomorrow’s grocery run, we will ask a coordinator what they need the most, and then go out and source exactly that. We’ve also picked up some art supplies for the kids.”

Whether you do it through this effort or find a charity that you trust and with whom you feel more comfortable, I hope you can find a way to show your solidarity with the Ukrainian people and help those who are suffering far from their homes.

Thank you for joining in this effort. Please share this via social media and help it go viral so that we can meet our goal of $20K.

Please note, that the email with which people register will be used only to send the Zoom Link, and to send a follow-up email after the event that will include a link to the recording of the webinar which will be viewable for the rest of 2022. No one’s email will be shared with anyone, and nor will it be added to any email list.

If you have questions about the content of the webinar or about this fundraising effort, please email me here.

Together, I believe we can make an immediate and significant difference that will matter in the lives of many.

Let’s make a difference, please make sure you mention photoPXL.com when you register

Rad Drew
March 2022

Kevin Raber
Indianapolis, IN

Photography is my passion and has been for 50 plus years. My career in photography has allowed me to travel the world, meet some of the most interesting people on the planet and see things I could never have dreamed of. My goal is to share the passion of picture taking through photographs and teaching with as many people as I can, hoping it brings them as much joy and happiness as it has me. I do this through photoPXL.com, this site, as well as Rockhopper Workshops, and other projects, as well as teaching as Artist In Residence at the Indianapolis Art Center.