Angela's Baby Project
Man oh man have I been busy the past few weeks. Needless to say Christmas and New Years seems like it was years ago right now. I’m OK with that. I like that it is February now and we gotten January past us and we are one month closer to Spring. I am a huge fan of the warmer weather and sunshine. Bring it on!
Steve and I had a wonderful trip to Orlando over the New Years holiday. Regardless of the cold weather, we had a really great trip. The fireworks at the Magic Kingdom were really spectacular. We also had a great fireworks show at our hotel in New Years Eve. (The JW Marriot in Orlando, I would recommend it). I just love fireworks. I guess I have since I was a kid.
Just after we returned from Orlando I flew down to Nashville for 5 days for our big Professional Photographers Annual convention. It was a really great show. I saw so many lectures that I enjoyed and learned a bunch. I am still (I hope I always will be) a student. I just love to learn. I like to put new ideas and concepts in my head. Just because I do a lot of teaching doesn’t mean I know all I need to know. The convention is a great way to start off the year. Of course, I also got to see my many photography friends from all over the world. I am so blessed to have met so many great people in my profession that a now like family to me. My professional photography extended family is a real blessing.
The reason that I have mentioned my educational and creative seminars is because my time away really helped me plan a huge project I have started. As you know I just love to photograph babies. The younger and smaller they are the better. I am in awe of the newness and innocence of newborns. I am also very aware of how fast that newborn stage of life goes. It is a window that is only open for a few weeks. I get all choked up trying to describe my infatuation with newborns. I love to look at them and wonder who they are going to be in their lives. Where is the journey of life going to take them? Do they know that they can do anything they want, be anything they want to be? Like I said, I just adore little babies!
I started thinking at the end of last year that I wanted to give myself a creative assignment for 2010. I wanted my assignment to involve photographing newborns. My goal was to photograph one newborn baby a week for year. As I was thinking about my creative assignment I thought about what a great collection of portraits I would have at the end of the year. I should get the images published in a book, I thought. I have also wanted to get a little more active in helping others this year. I know that I have been blessed with many gifts and I want to use my gifts to help others.
As I continued to process and plan my self assignment I realized that I could publish my collection of newborn portraits and help others all in one. I thought about giving away all the profits from the book sales. As I began to think about a charity to help I knew two things. It had to be a charity that helped children and I wanted the money we raise to stay in Michigan. It didn’t take long for me to select my charity. A couple of years ago I met and worked with an amazing woman who is making a real difference in the lives of sick children and their families. Lisa Zimmer and her co-founder Mike Hopkins started their foundation Just for Kids in 2001 with one single purpose. “Replace the pain with a smile, if only for a while.” 100% of the funds they raise go directly to the kids and there is zero administrative cost for this charity. The selfless work that they do is an inspiration to all.
Out of all of this thinking “Angela’s Baby Project” has been born. It has been a whirlwind of activity at the studio the past few weeks. We have started our project, printed marketing materials, designed and published a website (www.angelasbabyproject.com) and photographed 5 newborn babies! I am so jazzed about how fast my little project has taken off. It has quickly become even better than I had dreamed it would be.
Over the coming months (did I mention it is a year long project) you will be hearing much more about “Angela’s Baby Project” because we need your help. We need babies to model for us. We don’t know that many pregnant women. However, we all do together. You may be expecting, or you have a friend or relative that is expecting. Someone you know knows a woman that is pregnant. See how this works, we need you to talk, email, text, tweet and whatever else you can do to help us get the word out.
On the website (www.angelasbabyproject.com) there is a place for models to sign up. The website has lots of information about our project and it is very easy to sign up. If you have any questions simply just call Rosa or me at the studio, 249-349-3916. We would love to chat with you and tell you all about “Angela’s Baby Project”. It is a very exciting and fun project and the more people involved the better it will be.
I hope that you can tell how excited and inspired by my new project. It has already taken off so fast. It is going to be a great year and all help we are getting our project running is really amazing. I am so jazzed and charged for the coming year. I hope you can feel it and catch a bit of it for you life. Until next time, be well.
Comments
jennifer gilman commented on February 3rd, 2010
what a wonderful idea, and such a great cause! can't wait to see the book!
Nicole Barczak commented on April 11th, 2010
What a great project! I just found your blog from Emily P. I'm a photographer in Jackson, MI (www.nbarczak.com) Nice to "meet" you! Nicole
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