This weeks Littlest Hero..."Noah"

Noah's Story:

"Just about 4 years ago in January, 2004, baby Noah born. At the age of 5 months, we learned that he was born with agenesis of the corpus callosum. He is missing the part of his brain that connects the left and right hemipshere together. He is also diagnosed with colpocephaly, cerebral palsy, and speech apraxia. While these are very scary diagnoses for our family to hear from doctors; they do not make who he is today or who he will be in years to come.

I am Noah - a fun, loving, sweet 3 year old boy getting ready for my 4th B-Day in January, 2010. My journey of doctors, MRIs, exams and therapies has been pretty intense, but with each visit my family and I have something more to be thankful for. I wore a helmet to reshape my head, hand splints for my thumbs, braces for my feet, and have endured endless needles for testing. I have also gone from visiting the doctors once every three months to once a year. I currently participate in speech, physical, and occupational therapy. Although I cannot talk to you using my words, I can communicate by using signs and I am becoming quite versed in sign language.

Our son brings joy each and every day in all that he does and tries. He is so innocent and happy and keeps our hopes high with all that he will do one day! We truly learn something new each day and are so very blessed to have Noah in our lives."

-Noah's mom and dad

I got to meet Noah yesterday and instantly fell in love. Such a sweet wonderful little boy..and the love and dedication invested into Noah's little life so far...is shining progress. I had no Idea what to expect when arrived.. but its apparent after talking with his sweet mom and meeting this adorable little boy that he has surpassed any expectations dr's and specialists had when he left the hospital as a newborn...Yay!!!!! Keep up the good work family!! Noah you're going to be great buddy!

Noah's inspiring story will be passed along to the Littlest hero's project to be shared with hundreds of other families for the use of hope and inspiration.

NV daily and something different

This morning was a little different as we met with a reporter from NV daily. A local newspaper looking to do an article on the two organizations I contribute to.. "the littlest heros project" an an organization of volunteers and (volunteer) photographers who give back to these brave and inspiring families by giving the gift of professional capture. We travel to homes, hospitals, chemo clinics to make sure these little heros (children and teens who have a life altering disability or illness) get the royal treatment...and we can capture and celebrate them (and there family and siblings) in there own elements.

On a tougher to swallow note.. NILMDTS (Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep) is also a charity photography service. Geared towards children who have passed or will pass in the near future. May times the photographer is contacted prior to delivery if they know their baby wont live but might have short time on earth...so they want every single moment captured. Many of the babies are stillborn and the photographer is called to get the best possible photographs of the child with or without the family so that they have some visual memory to hold onto. The photos are then taken and edited and processed to achieve the look of slumber..not of death. They are beautiful..and so so valuable to the families.

Anyway, although I have not had an NILMDTS client yet... I participate with both organizations and look forward to educating the public on these available services.

As far as the something different.. I got this night shot of Katy looking at water droplets under the street lamp. Nothing extraordinary..but out of my element a tad.

studio tweaking..is shooting outside over for the winter??..quick season sum up.

So this is my first winter season as a professional photographer...Its been an amazing first year and im feeling very blessed to have met so many wonderful clients...thank you so much everyone for your love and support thru this growth process (which I hope will never end)!!

Now that its getting darker and colder.. its not been easy get the child photography done out doors (kids get cold and unhappy quickly). So I may be moving it indoors until spring. I have a little sunroom studio in my home that hasn't seen a lot of work yet. I was able to get just a handful of photos this afternoon of Lucy (my 18 month old) to test the morning studio light. Not 100% pleased with the set up yet.. but I'll get there soon! Sooo. what was I doing just a few weeks ago???

welcome to my new blog!!

This sweet baby girl was 10 days old and an absolute dream to work with. Let me give you some insight on this set up... newborn photos seem to be best done for both parent and child in the comforts of their own home...babies sleep easily if cozy warm and well fed between day one and week 2-3. I'm finding that Its usually the germ factor is what keeps parents from generally getting brand new baby shots done ...so I'm beginning to master the art of "portable studio". I have a suitcase packed with the essentials for a successful newborn shoot. IE: portable heater, cloth diapers, back drops and mini pops. The above shot was done on grandma's hope chest next to a window in the nursery. I brought about 5 fabric choices for a back drop and hung them over the crib railing. then used a piece of baseboard trim to finish it off.