Babies

They are looking like healthy little people.

As Charlotte's babies continue their triumphant struggle with life, they are both looking so great. It's been a few weeks since I'd seen the twins, Gavin & Alexis, and they are looking so great. I think, after seeing them today, that Char has so much to look forward to with these two.

I am fully aware that they are not out of the weeds quite yet, but my God, they looked amazing today. To walk into the NICU and see those two precious babies doing so well was such a relief. I think as a visitor, and having not seen them in a couple weeks, I notice their improvement more perhaps than Charlotte even. When you see something day in and day out you tend to not notice the subtle changes as they occur. The twins looked like two completely different babies today. They have gained color and mass. I noticed that Gavin's hands and feet have reached developement and are now very normally shaped. They have both gone from being intubated to being on a CPAP (basically breathing support which is only on the nose externally instead of intubation being a tube down the esophagus) which is a huge step in the right direction.

Charlotte is very encouraged and excited that they are feeding on her milk, which I can't imagine there is anything better for a baby. I'm sure as well, it provides a sense of attachement for her knowing that she is directly providing for her babies.

I continued to capture some moment of Charlote with her babies in the hospital. She tells me that she uses the pictures I've already taken to feel closer to them when she can't be with them. She looks at them nightly while she is home and they are at the hospital and it helps her to feel closer to them. I will forever struggle to find a more satisfying subject to photograph than Charlotte and her babies. To be able to capture these moments and to provide some level of peace to Charlotte when she cannot be with her babies is beyond what words can explain. I am truely blessed to have the opportunity to be welcomed into such a private and intimate situation as a mom with her twins who fight twenty-four hours a day to grow big and strong.

The past visits, I had my reservations about what the future held for Gavin & Alexis. After my visit today, I am quite confident that I will see them grow and be strong and live long healthy lives.

Charlotte, you have two beautiful babies there who are going to do just fine and are going to be home with you before you know it. Stay strong and know that your children are making it their mission in life to go home with you.

Busch Family Portrait

Tonight I shot a group of 16 for the Busch family. This was my biggest group to date. Much of the extended family was in town for Thanksgiving and the Busch's had the foresight to make sure the occasion was captured.

It was a fun shoot with a great range in age of three generations. The pressure was on (from myself, not the Busch's) to get this just right. I'm still getting comfortable with my lighting techniques and I've been studying up quite a bit lately. It paid off tonight. I threw up three shoe mount strobes with umbrellas and they gave off a nice soft light. Fortunately they have a gorgeous house with tall ceilings so I was able to put the lights up nice and high and get the whole group lit nicely.


Big thanks to the Busch family for the opportunity to capture them and their loved ones for this holiday season.

First Engagement Shoot

On Veterans Day I had my first engagement session with my friends Jason and Oanh. Jason is a fellow firefighter in Marina with me. They will be getting married in September of '09. It was a great day and a great chance to get to know Oanh a lot better. They were a great couple to shoot with and we had a bunch of fun. I felt a bit of pressure to perform as I knew they were taking a chance on me. I am sure they are going to be happy with the results. They are a great couple, together for five years, and very ready to be married I think. They will make a great couple. I saw them both really come out of their shell and let their guard down around each other.
Enjoy the teaser pics and thanks you two for taking a chance.









































--Just added below...my first blog slideshow. What do you think? Drop me, Jason or Oanh a comment

Twins

Recently I have had the amazing and heart warming experience of being called on by my good friend Charlotte to photograph her newborn twins, Gavin & Alexis. Char had her babies a few weeks ago and she was blessed with them a couple months early as I understand twins sometimes are. I was fortunate to get to see and photo them for the first time just two days after their birth. It is terribly difficult to see two premature babies hanging on to life and giving everything they've got just to keep going. I have never seen such an outpouring of love to these babies as I have from Char. The love is deep. These are her first children and at the time of my first visit she had not yet even been able to hold them in her arm. The best she could do is to reach in through a small hole in the incubator and lay her hands upon them. It was hard to see and I can't begin to fathom how hard it must have been on her. At the time both Gavin & Alexis were both intubated (a breathing tube) and being helped just to breath. They are in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), ICU for newborns. While Char stood looking over one baby at a time I went to work fulfilling her wishes of capturing their precious and delicate new life with my camera. It was an amazing experience as a photographer and as a human being. Later, when I was able to send Char some of the pictures she was overwhelmed and emotional over them. She was home and not by their side. It brought her to tears. The amazing part however, was that she was able to look upon these pictures as if she was looking in on them in the hospital and she could see them any time she wished. I think this made her feel closer to them and gave me a warm feeling knowing that an image I had created was able to make such a enormous impact on her as she struggled being away from her babies she loves so much.

A week or so later I was back at hospital, camera in hand, with Char to see the babies again. Incredibly, as it was meant to be and as we had hoped for, I was able to be by Char's side for the very first time she was able to hold Gavin in her arms. To see little Gavin come out of the incubator and be placed in her arms was just numbing. Still hooked to the respirator and struggling to keep his heart rate up (through gentle stimulation) she held him close to her chest where his little ears could her is mom's heart beat again for the first time in over two weeks. I quietly snapped away while Char grinned ear to ear. I was capturing what I'm confident was the happiest moments of her life. Gavin did great and he looked completely at peace, like for the first time in his short but eventful life he was right where he was supposed to be. It was simply amazing to be able to be a part of this rare experience and even more so because it was a good friend I was experiencing this with. It was a day I will not soon forget.

I plan to get back to the hospital (it's an hour drive) every two weeks or so to watch and capture as they grow and become less dependent on the support they are so brilliantly receiving, and in a few months at home with mom, learning to crawl and walk talk. How great would it be to be their for their first T-ball game? Their first time off training wheels? Perhaps I'll be fortunate enough to be around to capture their weddings.

For now we just keep hoping and praying for their strength and fortitude that they may grow big and strong.

Love ya Charlotte, keep hanging in there.

PS
I forgot... I got to do this on my birthday. By far the best gift of the year!