Christmas Minis | Grand Junction Holiday Photographer

I am so excited. I *just* got off the phone with Carla at Kairos Children's Boutique. We just scheduled another day of very special mini sessions in her store for October 22, 2008. These sessions will be targeted towards those clients who want just a few special portraits to give as gifts for the holidays and to be used in custom holiday cards. Expect each session to yield 8 unique images. Mini sessions consist of a 20 minute session in which we can photograph your family together, each of your children individually or in any combination. Special holiday collections will showcase your images. If you are interested in this special holiday event, give Carla a call at 970.241.0460 and she will schedule your slot. Space is limited so reserve today!!

giving is good.

Recently I completed my NILMDTS training in Glenwood Springs, CO. It was a full day of heartfelt training to prepare myself to give back to our community. Some people think "how could you do this? Isn't it hard? I couldn't do it." My thoughts, "How could I not?" To give to these families in need, to give them something tangent to hold on to, to give when they hurt so much, to help them heal. How could I not?

With the Month of October being recognized as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, The Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation holds its Annual Fund Drive for six weeks starting in mid-September and ending in October.

President Ronald Reagan enacted Proclamation 5890 in October of 1988 to recognize that each year, approximately a million pregnancies in the United States alone end in miscarriage, stillbirth, or the death of a newborn child. Reagan stated, "A national observance offers us the opportunity to increase our understanding of the great tragedy involved in the deaths of unborn or newborn babies. It also enables us to consider how, as individuals and communities, we can meet the needs of bereaved parents and family members... " To read the full Proclamation signed by Reagan, CLICK HERE.

If you are in a place to make even a small contribution to NILMDTS, please know that doing so will continue to allow the organization to provide improved resources, training, communication, and other tools necessary in support of our amazing contingent of professional photographers who provide the gift of free remembrance portraiture to families in need.

The next project they are working on is an online, interactive webinar version of their Formal NILMDTS Training taught by Co-Founder Sandy Puc' allowing anyone in any country with access to a computer to complete the course online. Donations help make programs like this a reality!






Your Donations Support the Organization in Many Ways

* By supporting the continued education of our volunteer photographers
* By allowing us to further our outreach to hospitals and hospices across the world
* By offsetting the costs associated with outreach efforts including Formal NILMDTS Training Seminars
* By supporting the Family Forum which creates a productive and supportive haven for healing
* By supporting the Photographers' Forum which provides a helpful environment for our member photographers to express their feelings and receive advice on the various issues that they face in this noble work
* By supporting the day to day operations of our Headquarters Offices

computer issues

Some of you may know that this last week I've had some serious computer problems. We've been working diligently to recover all of my lost data and as of today I'm back online and almost running smoothly. Rest assured that ALL of your images are safe. But, there's always a but isn't there? I had to upgrade to Vista and in the upgrade I've lost my calendar, all but the most recent of my personal emails and all of my phone and message logs. If you have a session scheduled with me and I haven't called you PLEASE call me to confirm time and dates.

I'll be back on track by Monday.

~C

Alexandrea | Grand Junction Senior Photographer

Another teen. And SUCH a beautiful girl inside and out. She was a dream to work with. What a treat for me to photograph someone that holds still! She knew what she wanted and mom just left us to do our thing. We wandered the allies behind all of the wonderful Main Street shops for a couple of hours, laughing and chatting while we zig-zaged and back tracked for clothing changes and to go back to someplace we had seen that looked like it would work for what we wanted. I think I actually wore her out.

My own Walker.

Some of you know that I use cloth diapers. Some of you also cloth diaper but when many of you hear this you kind of give me a strange look. Cloth diapers have evolved immensely since the days of our parents and grand parents. No longer are they boring and white. And no longer do they require the pins and soaking that many associate with cloth. They are so full of fun prints and colors that I hesitate to cover them up. I'm always on the hunt to increase my stash and eagerly await my fluffy mail. Many can be found quite readily at stores like http://www.cottonbabies.com/ and http://www.nickisdiapers.com/. You hear of brand names like Fuzzy Bunz, BumGenius! or Haute Pockets. Then there's the WHAM brands that you find readily at Etsy or at eBay. Still others are hard to find, selling out within seconds of going up for sale like the diapers at Hyena Cart. My favorite diapers come from my friends at Hyena Cart. I feel very lucky to own a single Stinky Couture diaper as Daphne only sells a very limited number of diapers every month. I was happy to find in my email box I had just earned another. Check out my youngest in his Stinky, the July winner of the Stinky Couture photo contest. www.hyenacart.com/StinkyCouture/

holiday deadlines and mini's at Kairos.

I really need to keep up on this. I've had so many beautiful sessions since my last update and I thank all of you for keeping me so busy.

It's time to talk about the holidays. I know, I know...holiday's already? yeah. It's creeping up on us fast. If you're thinking about portraits for holiday or Christmas gifts for the grandparents it's time to give me a call. The ordering deadline for gift and wall portraits for delivery before December 23 will be the Friday BEFORE Thanksgiving, November 21. Holiday cards should be designed, finalized and ordered by November 14 for a December 1 delivery. Canvases, books and other specialty products will need to be completely designed, finalized and ordered by Thursday, October 30. I will be out of the office and completely unavailable the week following the November 21st deadline and cannot guarantee delivery dates if these dates are missed.

A few weeks ago I did a series of mini sessions at Kairos Children's Boutique, located at 129 South 6th Street, right behind Main Street Bagels. If your looking for something fun and unique for your little one to wear, pop in on her. She carries name brands like Daily Tea and Petunia Picklebottom and See Kai Run. Things you can't find anywhere else in Grand Junction. She also has beautiful, handmade, one of a kind clothing that is just to DIE for. I love her stuff. I could run my hands through the little clothes all day long. Mini sessions like these were a first for me and I found the morning light inside her store AMAZING. So amazing that we're cooking up another day of shooting in the near future. If you're interested in this give Carla a call at 970.241.0460 and she'll put you on the list.

A couple of the images from that day:

Eleanor | Grand Junction Newborn Photographer

I think little Eleanor is my newest newborn poster girl. But then, I think that after every newborn session. Newborns are special. They are so new and fresh and perfect. My kids tease me because I always get so excited when I talk to a new mom on the phone. "Squishy" is the word I used on this call. My kids are still laughing at me and making fun of me. I like to get my lens on them before they are two weeks old and convincing a new mom of that right after they gave birth is sometimes hard to do. But at two weeks they start to loose that brand newness. That just out of the womb look. They start to realize that they can stretch those little frog legs out and that they like this newfound freedom. It's a newness that you can't bring back. A newness that calls to be captured, to be forever remembered with the lens. This one was just on this cusp of brand newness and her mother is so, so glad that I was there to capture it. I hear she's grown so much since these were taken.

And yes, this is Everett's little sister. And Connor's. And Parker's. L, you are an inspirational mom with 4 so young.