By Justin Craft

Here’s yet another great example of how a LexJet customer is using his talents to help worthy causes. What makes this story even better is that this buy one/give one program can help support the charitable works of pro photographers nationwide.  

For every canvas print purchased from Picture It On Canvas from now until the end of 2009, the company will donate one canvas print to charity.  Since this buy one/give one program was introduced in April, prints have been donated to a number of organizations, including an adoption agency, an organization that feeds the hungry and the homeless, and Operation Love: Reunited, a foundation of photographers who provide free photography sessions to military families before or after deployment overseas.

Bob McKeon, president of Picture It On Canvas, says the buy one/give one program was inspired by the conscious capitalism model used by Tom’s Shoes and other companies. Tom’s Shoes donates one pair of shoes to people in need for every pair of shoes it sells. After watching a TV commercial about Tom’s Shoes, McKeon decided to try something similar. 

Although a canvas print can’t provide the immediate relief that new shoes can give to child living in poverty, high-quality photographic prints on canvas can help non-profit organizations visually tell their stories or raise funds. For example, the adoption agency plans to use the prints to display portraits of the foster children in their offices.  OpLov Reunited is donating the prints to their volunteer photographers.  Other non-profits will use the prints for silent auction prizes, for their hallways and offices, and as awards to various volunteers and donors.

Founded in 2007, Picture It On Canvas is an online business devoted exclusively to printing photographs on canvas. To provide top-quality, long-lasting prints with spot-on colors, the company prints on LexJet Sunset Select canvas using ImagePrint RIP software with a 44-in. Epson Stylus Pro 9800 printers and UltraChrome K3 pigment inks.

“We receive outstanding results with this combination of printers, media, inks and RIP software,” says McKeon.  He praises LexJet staff members for helping the company resolve color-management issues.   

Prints are available in 19 different sizes, stretched on either thinner bars (for framing) or thicker bars so that the print can be hung on the wall without a frame. All prints receive a protective coating that increases their resistance to light fading and water.

Picture It On Canvas offers a variety of custom treatments including the addition of text, vignetting, colorization, sepia toning, or oil-painting-like effects. A single print can be also be split and printed as three separate canvas panels. Backplates can be attached to the back of the print, featuring the studio’s name and logo or information about the print itself. 

Consumers tend to order most of their canvas prints around Christmas and other gift-giving occasions. But Picture It On Canvas receives orders throughout the year from professional wedding and portrait photographers, many of whom actively support community causes.

“Photographers have wonderful, giving hearts,” says McKeon. “They donate a lot of time to photographing military families, sick children, and the less fortunate.” He believes the buy one/give one program can help photography pros further increase the beneficial impact of their charitable work.

For more details on the buy one/give one program, visit the Picture It On Canvas website: www.pictureitoncanvas.com