A Christmas miracle - Jon & Gavin

"Firefighters save hearts and homes"....Author Unknown

Christmas is an amazing time of year. There are so many things to be thankful for...the most important being the birth of Christ. God created the perfect son who was born on Christmas day. 

Over the years the holiday has turned into a time for family gatherings and the giving and receiving of gifts. One local family decided to do a Secret Santa gift exchange. This is a firefighter family. Dad (Jack) and his two grown sons (Pat and Jon) are all proud firefighters. When Jon's sister drew his name for the gift exchange, she wanted to do something heartfelt and memorable. But what do you give to the tough firefighter who wants for nothing and rarely shows emotion? Well, you get creative and call me! 

Though I've only known Jon for a few months, he's seemingly pretty tough. He runs a tight ship both at home and at work. But when you see him and his 4 year old son together, you can tell their bond melts his heart. 

Several days before Christmas we "borrowed" his son for a few hours, and with the help of some fellow firefighters, we took him to a fire station Jon used to work at so I could snap a few photos. This is one kid that's not easy to photograph....he was way more interested in checking out all the firetrucks than he was in being photographed. Not one to sit still for more than a minute, we used every form of bribery we could think of to try to get him to smile and to wear his fire hat and jacket. After a good hour we said goodbye to the firefighters and headed home. We hoped he wouldn't spill the beans and tell his dad what we were up to :) 

After uploading all the photos, there were a lot of really great ones. We picked the best one to frame, and then printed out a few extras so Dad could bring them to work. On Christmas day he opened his present, and what happened next was true Christmas magic. Never would I have imagined that he would open the framed photo, and it would literally bring tears to his eyes...Which in turn led half the room to get teary-eyed. It was a truly touching moment. This just goes to show you....a child can bring absolute joy to the life of a mom or a dad. And a picture is worth a thousand words....

To see more of my work or for pricing information, visit www.fashionforwardpalmbeach.com or www.facebook.com/fashionforwardfotos

Holiday photo bomb

Children in a family are like flowers in a bouquet: there's always one determined to face in an opposite direction from the way the arranger desires. ~Marcelene Cox 

A few weeks ago I got to spend some time with the O'Brien family. I was invited to Thanksgiving and I offered to take some family photos. Mr. & Mrs. O'Brien have 3 grown children, the oldest two whom are married with kids. Their vibrant Irish family has grown over the years, and their personalities are as big as their blue eyes. 

Probably 1/3 of the family actually wanted to suffer through a family portrait session while the other 2/3 wanted to eat, drink, and have fun. But despite their slight unwillingness, they are a very close-knit family so I knew they would ultimately appreciate the end result. We finally got everyone in "matching" attire (white shirts and blue jeans) and wrangled them into the backyard. 

As is the case with most large family portrait sessions, some just wanted to smile and get it over with, some felt the whole thing was awkward, some loved being in the spotlight, and some tried everything they could to get the others to cooperate and smile. Photographing big families is kinda like herding cats some days :) 

Anyway, despite the terrible afternoon sun and slim pickings for backgrounds, we got a few photos that I loved and I hope they do too! The one overwhelming thing you can sense about this family is that they truly love each other. Thank you to the O'Brien's for letting me capture your family essence! 

Of course, no photoshoot would be complete without a funny outtake.....and the O'Brien's did it Irish style...beers in hand! I think my friends at www.photographerdepot.com would appreciate this one! They are having a contest for the best Christmas card outtake. I think this one fits! Although, knowing the O'Brien's, they may use it! 

Comfort in helping others, Amanda's story

2 Corinthians 1:4 says: He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.

For the last six years I've had the pleasure of volunteering with the American Cancer Society. I've filled a variety of roles for them....I've walked in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk for a couple of years, was Chairwoman of the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in 2009, was a member of their gala committee, spoke at about half a dozen Relay for Life Events, was team captain for a Relay for Life event, attended the State Leadership Conference in Orlando, and went to countless team fundraising events. Cancer has affected many important people in my life, and I got to see firsthand how the money raised by the American Cancer Society impacts people who battle this deadly disease.

One of my favorite projects was organizing and photographing all the wigs in their West Palm Beach gift closet. Did you know they provide free wigs for women who lose their hair because of cancer treatment? They get dozens of new wigs every week and it can sometimes be a challenge to keep them organized and give women the chance to see all the wigs and pick the right one for them. We came up with a great organizing system and I spent several days photographing all the wigs for the catalogue system. I enjoyed using my photography talent for such a meaningful project. Quite an interesting project, I might add....

Anyway, I also learned that cancer can be a very expensive disease. Insurance companies don't cover everything, if you are even lucky enough to have insurance. I've seen so many families fall into financial ruin because of medical costs associated with treatment. It seems like every time I'm on Facebook I see another family having a fundraiser to help a loved one with medical bills.

While not medically related, I've also had a tough financial year trying to bounce back from a divorce and starting a small business. This year, I decided I was going to do something a little different for the holidays. Instead of buying tons of presents for everyone, I would rather "pay it forward". I decided to start a program called Holiday Photo Angel. I decided to find 5 families who were struggling financially and couldn't afford family photos. I asked people in my community to help me identify 5 families and then I would spend several hours with each one capturing their essence. I am then gifting those 5 families with a CD of photos and some prints as well. My plan is to photograph all the families before Christmas 2012. Hopefully I can do it!

So, I figured I would pick the first family. Several years ago I produced a series of pageants for the South Florida Fair. One year I met a young lady named Amanda. She was a vibrant, beautiful young lady with a big personality and an even bigger smile. She was a total natural at pageants....and quickly became one of my favorite contestants. She competed for a couple of years and then took a break. I didn't hear much from her for a while, and then I found out she met an amazing guy and they had a beautiful baby girl, Leah. Shortly after Leah was born, Amanda was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. Since this is typically not a "young woman's cancer", it was quite a shock to everyone. Amanda began very aggressive treatment including surgery and chemotherapy. The financial burden to her family has been tremendous. Fortunately she is doing great, she had her last chemotherapy dose not too long ago, and she recently had her port removed. She lost all her hair but her smile is still as big as ever. On a whim, I decided that I wanted to catch up with her and ask if I could gift her with photos. Fortunately she said yes! She also said that she never had the chance to take family photos so she was really looking forward to it. Music to my ears!

A few days later we met in Palm Beach and spent a few hours wandering along the Intracoastal stopping at some of my favorite places to take gorgeous photos. It was an absolute joy to meet her little daughter and her fiancee. I couldn't help but think that Amanda's desire to see her daughter grow up was a HUGE motivating factor in her will to live and to fight cancer. The bond between mother and daughter is always beautiful, but in this case it was even more so. I wanted to keep the day fun and light so I didn't ask too many questions about her cancer journey, but I know it wasn't an easy one. She's in the process of working with a writer to share her story and I KNOW it will be published one day soon....and hopefully I will have the honor of taking photos for the book. At one point in the day she mentioned that she really wanted to share her story with others, and I filed that away in my mind.

Not more than a week later I photographed the Laureate Dinner for the American Cancer Society. It was a last-minute photography job and as I mentioned above, I'm a huge fan of the organization. As if I didn't already know that God is working in my life....the speaker that night was a researcher for Ovarian Cancer! And...the event organizer invited me to sit down and have dinner with a group of ladies who, much to my surprise and pleasure, were volunteers with an organization called Diane's Voice. Diane's Voice is a group dedicated to informing women about Ovarian Cancer. Wow! Now that was a powerful night...who says God doesn't want you to be in a certain place at a certain time!?! I couldn't wait to get home and call Amanda and share the news with her. If you want to learn more about Diane's Voice, go to www.dianesvoice.org. Amanda has since connected with them and I can't wait to hear how these powerful forces will join together to make a difference in the lives of women, young and old, who are suffering from this terrible disease.

I saw an E-card a few months back and now I feel like it really rings true:

If by connecting Amanda to Diane's Voice, they are able to save one life... then I will be overjoyed and I think that may be my superpower! In closing, I encourage you to use your gifts to make a difference in the lives of those around you. I feel beyond blessed to have met so many amazing people through my volunteerism, and each one holds a special place in my heart, but this one in particular might take up a little more room. 

Here are some of my favorite photos from my session with Amanda and her cute little family. Thank you Amanda for the honor of photographing you and sharing your story.