gwendolyn waite photography :: blog

I’m sure that most of you have been following news stories about the devastating earthquake in Haiti, and and some of you might even have personal connections. I have been following a personal story on facebook posted by some friends of mine, about a little Haitian girl named Gracie. My friends’ cousin has been trying for over two years to adopt Gracie from Haiti. After a long and difficult process, and an incredibly stressful few weeks, Gracie landed in Florida on Saturday, and was united with her new mom early Monday morning. They are now getting to know each other as a new family in their home in Columbus, Ohio. You can read more about Gracie’s story here. I know there are stories like this all over the country about people trying to adopt, and so many of them do not have such happy endings. There are still many children stuck in Haiti who desperately need help.

Since the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti, I have been thinking about ways I could help, beyond making an individual monetary donation. About a week ago, my friend and fellow photographer Sally Clark contacted me about taking part in a program she had just created to help raise money for the orphans in Haiti.

It’s called Lenses of Love: Hearts for Haiti, and I am honored to announce my participation. It’s a nationwide effort by photographers dedicated to helping the people of Haiti.

Book your Limited Edition Lenses of Love session by February 14th (you have until April 30th to complete your session) and I will donate 100% of the sitting fee to Kentucky Adoption Services, a nonprofit organization that is helping orphans in Port-au-Prince.

I am offering a special sitting fee for this fundraiser of $150 (normally $200).
Limited number of sessions available. Call 612-747-0372 or email today to book a session.

All Lenses of Love sessions include:

- A pre-session phone consultation to answer questions and discuss location and wardrobe

- A full 1-2 hour photo session at a location of your choice

- An online slideshow featuring 20-35 fully-edited images from your session

- A personalized ordering meeting to choose your prints and products

The session fee is for Gwen’s time and talent only. Wall galleries, albums and other products are available at standard pricing. May not be combined with any other offers. Minimum order of $300 applies.

A great big shout-out to Sally Clark for creating this program, and putting all of the hard work in to make it a success.

Please share this link with your friends, family, and help get the word out. If you are not in the Twin Cities area, please visit the Lenses of Love website and click on “Find a Photographer” to locate a photographer in your area.

612-747-0372
gwen@gwendolynwaite.com

Week three of our Project 52 is our first themed week, so we had a specific challenge. This week’s challenge is to shoot without looking through the camera, or “shoot from the hip”. While I can see how this will be useful with many kids, and can give some very unexpected, exciting shots, it’s something I would definitely want more practice with! Lots of blurry frames, subjectless shots, and very unpredictable results.

I tried outside one day last week when Oliver was outside sledding with his friends, but really wasn’t happy with the shots. Very out of focus, lots of empty frames. I tried again this morning and got some cute captures of Elliott in the kitchen. He was helping Michael make pancakes, or “pink-pinks” as Elliott says, and drinking frothy warm milk out of my favorite childhood gnome cup. I’m posting two photos – love these two together as a series.

Bedhead.
Blueberry-stained cheeks.
Milk moustache.
Footie pjs.
That’s my little man.

ISO 800
f/1.4
1/125

So today is another dreary, messy winter day in Minnesota. I missed getting outside to shoot the early morning frost on all the trees – we had a couple of really gorgeous mornings this week. Our crabapple tree looked so beautiful, the frost coating all the remaining red apples. But I missed my chances, so I’m left with an overcast day, inside while Elliott naps.

I shot this in our newly painted hallway. It gets very little light, so I wanted to go bright with the color. I love how it turned out – a fun apple green. I installed some white coatracks, down low for the kids, and up high for the big folks. This has been one of our favorite robots through the years, and here he stands on the kids coatrack.

I really upped the ISO since it was so dark, so it’s a bit grainy. I used my 100mm macro again, and opened it as wide as it would go. No overhead lights, no flash, just shot it using the window light that came in through the bathroom.

Happy Friday!

ISO 5000
f/2.8
1/200

One of my personal projects for 2010 is to do more photography for myself. Get back to what inspired me in the first place. And capture more photos of the everyday happenings of my family and my life. I made a casual post on my facebook page about considering Project 365, which is the simple idea of taking a photo every day for a year. Well, this facebook “conversation” evolved and several of my photographer friends determined that Project 52 is probably more realistic given our busy family and work lives – one photo a week. I’m so excited to be doing this together with some great friends, all of whom I met last year at a workshop. We’re planning on even taking it so far as specific weekly challenges which will push us creatively. I’ll be posting the photos each week here on my blog and on my facebook business page (where, by the way, you should come be a fan!).

Here’s my first week’s photo. It’s been incredibly cold here in Minnesota for the past few weeks, and the windows in my house have grown some pretty spectacular frost crystals. Fortunately/unfortunately, it warmed up today – a balmy 18 degrees right now – and all of the frost has melted. I’m glad I captured it when I did.

I’ll post my settings on these photos as well for any of you who are interested. If you have any questions about how I shot these photos, I’m happy to talk about them! Leave a comment on my blog with any questions and I’ll try my best to answer.

I shot this with my 100mm macro lens, on manual mode and using manual focus.

ISO 400
f/2.8
1/3200

Enjoy!

Happy New Year to you all! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, and were able to spend some time with family and loved ones. I took some time off from my work to gather with family, spend time with the kids, work on some (major) house projects, splash at the water park, play Santa Claus, and sleep in.

Now the kids are back at school, swimming lessons, art class, cub scouts, homework, ECFE, and all our weekly activities are starting back up. Busy busy.

I wanted to share a little bit about the family I chose as the winner of my portrait session giveaway. It was an extremely difficult decision – I received so many heartbreaking stories. But this one especially touched me, maybe because this little boy is so close in age to my son, Elliott.

Ben is two years old, and was diagnosed about a year ago with a genetic eye disorder. The main issue with this condition is his compromised eyesight. Ben wears glasses, and that helps him to be able to see better.

However, in September of last year, they received another diagnosis, this time much more serious. Ben was diagnosed with a very rare immune disorder. He will require a bone marrow transplant soon, and will need to spend 4-6 weeks in the hospital. Prior to the transplant, he will be undergoing 7-10 days of chemotherapy, to clear out all of the abnormal cells so he can start fresh with the new cells.

They are still looking for a bone marrow donor. Please visit the National Marrow Donor Program website to find more information about donating bone marrow. You can give the gift of life to someone like Ben.

Ben has a big sister who is 4 years old, and I’m sure Ben’s transplant will be very hard on her as well. I can’t wait to meet both Ben and Lydia, and their parents, and give them some photographs which I hope they will treasure forever. They will be receiving a complementary session, as well as a $1500 print credit to use however they wish.

I have been so blessed to be able to do what I love, and this is a small way I can give something back to the community. I challenge each of you to find one way you can give back, even something small. Maybe you can buy a gift card for the person standing in back of you in line at the coffee shop. Or volunteer your time at a local school. Go through your closet and donate the clothing you don’t wear any more. Or maybe your profession would allow you to donate a service to a deserving family.

Just do something.