I think I'll just ramble

Sometimes I don't blog because I just have no idea where to begin. So, rather than not blog at all, I guess I'll just ramble. Happy Sunday everyone! Here we are, about to enter April, and the beautiful MN weather forecast says we could have 8-10 inches of snow on the ground by Tuesday morning. Most of the ground is clear now, the weather has been in the 40's. I was just telling my sister (who lives in Florida) that I wish it would just rain so that all the SNIRT would wash away. For those of your who don't know what "snirt" is, it's quite simply a snow and dirt combination most famously found at the side of the road in snowbank remnants. Mall parking lots are a common place for late-spring snirt, because the 20 to 30 foot tall piles of snirt from clearing the lots takes a long time to melt. I think the fire department should come in and spray it with their hoses and make it all go away. That really wouldn't be the best use of their resources, though. Oh well. Spring will eventually come to Minnesota.

I am sitting next to Brad, both of us catching up on our computer work, listening to Sixpence None The Richer Collage. It is a hits album, and something I haven't listened to in a long time. Great tunes.

I've had a lot of joy this week, as I've found out from several of my NILMDTS families that they are expecting new babies come fall and winter. It's always such a gift to hear that, to be included in the follow up of their lives. Every photographer does things differently, but I really like to give a free newborn session to these families as their baby gift when their new babies arrive. In each case, it was such a privilege to get to meet their babies that the world didn't get to meet, to help create memories for them so that they could share the photographs of their babies with their world. It seems to make sense to me that in the spirit of offering what is referred to in the medical world as "continuity of care," I should enable them to have a happy, healing photo experience with the babies who are the younger siblings of those whom they held for too short a time.

OK, rambling done. It's getting too late and I have to sleep. I have a really full week! One of our photographers, Erin, is getting married on Saturday! YAY Erin and Matt! So, she's not working this week and Ginger Murray is coming back to pinch-hit and I'll take a couple days as well. I have an important meeting regarding several hospital accounts this week, and have to follow up on some other pending accounts and conversations. Watch in the next week or two for our new logo and added FDP web content. By late spring, we'll be offering birth announcements, too! Such fun! Now, off to bed. Good night.

Twins! and Fox9

I started my day with a 3 + minute interview on the Sunday morning news at the local Fox affiliate, KMSP channel 9. It was a live interview about First Day Photo and also about Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. Most of the interview was about FDP, which was great. Walking into the interview, I wasn't sure exactly where they were going to go with it. I walked out of the studio thinking that I hadn't exactly done what I came for in terms of sharing the First Day Photo vision, but I was pleased with how the part about NILMDTS went. When I got to work about 20 minutes later, I already had emails from all over Minneapolis/St. Paul asking about whether First Day Photo was available in their hospital, or inquiring about pricing and if we would come photograph their baby or grand baby. So, I must have gotten some of what I wanted to say out there. I did finally summon the courage to watch the piece this evening. It wasn't quite as bad as I thought ; )

In other news... I got to photograph some adorable twin boys today. We do twins with relative frequency, but they never cease to be a challenge. When the babies are close in size and weight, it is a bit easier because they usually lie in the same focal plane (if they're being reasonably still). These guys, though, were separated by a whole pound! This meant that their heads were also different sizes, and when lying on their backs one was always out of focus. The lesson here is that you have to play with your aperture and with the background of the babies (perhaps place them on pillows covered by a blanket, so that you can prop one up more than the other.) These guys broke the "simple patterns are best" rule, but look carefully - their blanket has puppies on it and the outfits have paw prints!

In case you missed it - Today Show link

In case you missed it, or want to see it again, here's the new link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23481435#23481435

You might want to have a kleenex on hand.

Wow

I saw it! I know that it has yet to air in the mountain and pacific time zones, but wow! They did an awesome job with such difficult subject matter. I cried seeing baby Olivia again. Her family was so courageous to share their lives with the nation. Such amazing people. As with every family I serve, I am truly honored to have met their beautiful daughter.

They led the story with my work in the hospital with a normal newborn... that our business First Day PHOTO! I talk about in an earlier post, but you can see our site (and the beginnings of our new look) at www.firstdayphoto.com

Of course, there are links to Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep below too, but here it is again. www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org If you are a professional photographer, logon and join!

The Today Show

It's finally going to air! Reporter Kerry Sanders was here in Minneapolis last October to film a story on Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep for NBC's Today Show. They followed me and a family expecting a baby with Trisomy 18 (the same condition our son Eli had). Unless the story is bumped by big news, it is scheduled to air in the 8:30 half-hour.

I am really excited and really nervous. It was hours and hours of tape that turned into a few minutes of story. I know that's their job, they do it every day. It was such a privielege to meet Kerry Sanders and Vicki Collins (the producer). They were such a pleasure to work with. The Cameraman and audio person were just fabulous, we hardly noticed they were there as we worked with baby Olivia after she was born.

I guess we'll all see how it goes...

A busy week - Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

Ok, so I haven't really gotten used to blogging yet. I've been so busy these last few days that I've collapsed into be around midnight and don't even remember falling asleep! I had to reschedule a 6 month session for a First Day PHOTO! "graduate," this morning because my kids are sick and I didn't want to get the little boy I was supposed to photograph sick. Oh well, I am looking forward to doing it next Wednesday. Check back for his slideshow!

Today I photographed a little boy on his way to Heaven. I have the privelege of volunteering for a great organization called Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.com/ It's a 501(c)3 orgnization (that means non-profit) set up to provide volunteer professional photographers for babies who will not leave the hospital. I am one of about 40 members in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area - but it's an international organization. In the last 8 days, I've met three of these little angels and their parents and families. I don't usually do so many in one week, we all share the burden, but two of the three families I had relationships with so I was their photographer. On Sunday, I met Baby Maddy, who went to Heaven before her mommy and daddy got to hold her in their arms. I met them as their Childbirth Educator and then got to meet Maddy as her photographer. Maddy had Trisomy 18, just like our first little boy, Eli. (You can read Eli's story at http://www.prenatalpartnersforlife.com/Stories/StoriesTrisomy18-Eli.htm )

I am so humbled that these families invite me into their lives. There are so few people that get to meet their little ones, and to be one of them is a gift. The gift we give, then, is a tangible memory. We offer a photograph of something that would otherwise only be in their minds. Look for me in a piece on NILMDTS on NBC's Today Show sometime soon, probably Feb. '08.