Being a Part of Something Great | Photographing Children With Special Needs & Giveaway!

On October 1st, I stalked my front door.

I felt like a kid waking up the morning of their birthday.

With every rev of a car, I was peeking at my front door to see if the infamous brown truck was here to deliver my long awaited package.

When the doorbell finally rang, I sprinted to the door and ripped open the package to find this:

Me Ra Koh’s sequel to Your Baby in Pictures, Your Child in Pictures, was JUST released and in my anxious little hands!

Not only was I awaiting this book because Me Ra does a great way of breaking down photography so parents can become their child’s own paparazzi, BUT I had the honor of being a part of it!!

Last fall, Me Ra had done a callout for parents and photographers to submit their photos for inclusion in the upcoming Your Child in Pictures book. Being a devout Me Ra follower, I submitted a few photos.

I was overly eager to share my photos of children with special needs for her section on photographing children with special needs.

I was BEYOND ecstatic when I received an email asking if I would share some tips on photographing children with special needs. Um…heck ya I was going to share!

When the book came last week, I was in tears reading my tips in black and white. Yes folks, some of my tips made it into the book!!!

Insert my happy dance that includes the running man AND the cabbage patch at the same time!

Once I stopped dancing, I turned a couple more pages to find myself in tears as I stared at one of my photos staring right back at me.

And right beside it was my name…twice…in black and white…in a book…authored by a best selling author…whom I web stalk on a regular basis…

I am so honored and proud to have been a part of this chapter in this book.

I sat there reading it with tear-filled eyes.

As I read it in its entirety, I no longer cried from excitement of being included.

I was crying because Me Ra thought to include a topic that so few photography books discuss – photographing your child with special needs.

She was bringing it to light. THANK YOU ME RA!

It was a topic I had discussed multiple times with parents that were desperate to have at least one photo of their child showing their personality, looking at the camera, or participating in a family photo session.

This chapter breaks it down to make it a stress-free experience for both parents and children.

Not only do I think this book is a must-have for parents of children with special needs, but it is a great book to have on hand for parents of children between the ages of 2 and 10.

For most parents, after about 3 years old, you find yourself slowing down on photographing your child. Many times, they no longer want you chasing them around taking pictures at every event.

This book provides ideas for photographing your child throughout their many stages of life.

Because I think this is a “MUST HAVE”, I want to gift one of our readers with their own copy of Your Child in Pictures!

Use the Rafflecopter entry form below to enter! Good luck!

The giveaway starts today and ends on Monday, 10/14.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Going Behind the Lens on LoveThatShot.com

Awhile back, I had the honor of being showcased on the Adobe Photoshop Elements website. (Click on the photo below to view the showcase.)

As a result of that showcase, I had the amazing opportunity to be interviewed by Love That Shot.

It is my first interview as a photographer and I am BEYOND excited about it!!!!  

THANK YOU, Love That Shot, for sharing my story!!!

20 Things About Me You Probably Don’t Know and Could Have Lived Without Knowing

Just like with any business there are many others in the same business as I am and we may have similar styles of photography. What sets us apart from each other is us as individuals and our personalities.

Through the blog, Facebook, Twitter and website you do not get to “see” my personality so I like to share useless :) bits of information with you so that you can get to know me as “Michelle”. Plus, it is pretty fun to hear from people that they are also Air Supply fans (you know how you are), enjoy scrapbooking or share similar interests. In a people-based-business like photography these shared interests help to guide conversation and make people more comfortable in front of the camera. So that is why I enjoy sharing tidbits about myself. :)

And because you know your life wouldn’t be complete without knowing these things about me (heehee), here you go…

1. In 12 years of school, I went to 8 different schools in 6 different cities
2. My dad was in the Coast Guard so we usually lived on islands or “islands” – Treasure Island, Hawaii, Guam and even the one island in Alaska – Kodiak
3. I may be the one military brat that LOVED moving. So much so that in the last 15 years I have moved 12 times
4. I was a tomboy growing up. I loved climbing trees and fences and doing whatever my brothers did. BUT I was also a girly girl so all my adventures were done wearing a dress (with shorts) and carrying a purse (full of rocks and gum wrappers).
5. Pink is my favorite color, but you will hardly ever see me wear it. I am trying to change that.
6. I quote “Friends” often. My friends say I am TOO much like Monica. Doesn’t everyone have a “Wedding Binder” and a label maker????
7. When I was 5 I told my mom I was going to marry Donny Osmond
8. But then I “met” Bo Duke and forgot all about Donny
9. My favorite drink is water
10. I used to ride a motorcycle, but sold it after my first son was born. I miss it!!!
11. My favorite chore is laundry
12. Out of the 5 jobs I have had in my life (other than Photography), I have only had 1 interview. The other awesome jobs kind of just “fell” into my lap.
13. The first car I bought on my own in 1991 was a pale yellow ‘84 Audi 5000. It was so long that we called it “Carnival” as in Carnival Cruise Lines.
14. I can dance the whole routine to “Cool Rider” from Grease 2. You’re impressed, aren’t you??? =)
15. When I worked a full-time job and commuted to work, I looked forward to day light savings because that meant it was dark on the ride to work and I could sing my heart out in my car and no one would see me. The Miss Saigon soundtrack was my favorite for the “full-on concert” affect (If ever you had question of my dorkiness, you now have confirmation haha)
16. I keep in touch with many friends that I have met throughout all our duty stations. First we kept in touch by letter and now by email. Other than my 2 best friends since toddlerhood, the oldest friend I still keep in touch with was from when I was 8 and living in Alaska.
17. Alaska was my most favorite place to live
18. When I was in 7th grade and taking wood shop I cut my thumb on a jig saw because I was too busy talking instead of paying attention to the shelf I was making. =) I know, you’re in shock since I hardly ever talk much. =)
19. I am an optimist
20. I was only 4, but cried when Elvis died. My mom was a big fan and so were us kids.

Random Things About The MRS

Before I start the real post, I just have to say -I just love how my initials are MRS. It makes me the “official” MRS. LOL Before marriage, my initials were MRC and because I enjoyed making handcrafted cards, a friend and I joked that I should call myself HallMaRC. Okay…it was funny at the time! ;)

I thought it would be fun to share 20 random things about what makes me Michelle. Here you go…

1. I swore I wouldn’t be a stay at home mom – that was before I had kids
2. Looking at ants makes me itch. They don’t even have to be on me, but they still make me itch!
3. Grease 2 is one of my favorite movies of all times and I still know the “Cool Rider” routine by heart. Jealous, aren’t you? ;)
4. As a military brat, I moved every 2 years growing up and I miss that
5. I have two friends that have been my friends since we were 3. We are still all very close after over 30 years of friendship. They are Godmothers to my two children and we each served as bridesmaids or maid of honor at each other’s weddings.
6. I have a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science…but I don’t like programming
7. After playing piano by ear for years I took my first piano lesson in college. My piano recital piece was “Moon River”.
8. Romantic comedies make me happy
9. Air Supply and ABBA rank high on my favorite bands of all time list – Ya, that’s right, I said AIR SUPPLY! heehee
10. If there was one profession other than photography that I would want to do it would be nursing
11. My husband and I got married after 9 months of dating and have been married for 8 years now.
12. During pregnancy was when I was the most comfortable in my body. I miss being pregnant.
13. When we got evacuated from our home in the 2007 (?)San Diego fires the first thing (other than the kids and pets) that I grabbed was my laptop because it had our family’s entire collection of pictures on it.
14. I am serious when I have to be, but would rather spend time smiling and laughing instead
15. I like change
16. My favorite book of all time is Where the Red Fern Grows. I read it for the first time when I was in 3rd grade.
17. I can do a mean Electric Slide!
18. Our wedding reception “wedding party” dance was not a typical slow dance – it was the chicken dance.
19. I like food…scratch that, LOVE food – that is why I am eternally on a diet! ;)
20. I find myself watching cartoons or listening to Cody’s Yo Gabba Gabba and Hi-5 CDs even if the kids aren’t around – and enjoy it!

About Us

Simple Beginnings

I have always been one that enjoyed taking pictures of beautiful scenery, friends and family, and just about anything I could take a picture of.

How I saw things through the lens, however, changed when I became a mom.

After my 1st son was born, I snapped pictures of him almost every day for the first year. It was in taking these pictures that I realized that these were not JUST pictures to document this point in his life, they were memories. Memories that his father and I would cherish. When we look through his scrapbook, we can remember the exact moment when the picture was taken and feel the excitement we felt with that first breath, first smile, first crawl, first step.

Since then, I have taken thousands of pictures of my sons to capture their innocence, love for life and personalities.

This is how my love for photography began.

And now, with the encouragement of my husband, family and friends, 2008 brings upon me a new adventure in photography.

I am excited to begin this new adventure and help other parents capture their children's memories through pictures.

Michelle