Eyes Smile in
the Park
Sunday,
June 27, 2010
(Wednesday,
June 30, 2010 rain date)
The
Conference House Park
Contact
MaryAnn Talamo 718 668-0882
This event is
open
to all families with children on the autistic spectrum. There is no
sitting fee and no obligation to purchase prints. Each family
will be given a 30 minute block of time during the day to come to the
park and have their child's portrait taken. Siblings can be included,
but only if it's manageable - the focus of shoot must be on the child
with ASD.
You MUST call
for an appointment, and a scheduled time will be arranged that works
best for your child. Unfortunately, for the safety of the children and
to make the event successful, we cannot accommodate families that have
not contacted us beforehand.
The best photos
from
that day will be posted in a password protected online gallery, and
each family will receive a coupon for a free 8x10 of their
favorite portrait. Additional portraits can be purchase at reduced
prices for this special event.
My goal is to
alleviate all the pressure that families usually feel when they attempt
to have their child photographed. Now they will have nothing to lose and
only a fantastic portrait to gain. I hope you join me on this special
day. Pass the word!!
I ran this event last year, and it
was a such huge success that in honor of Autism Awareness Month, I
decided to do it again this year!! You can view just some of the
wonderful portraits created here.
A correction for our Eyes Smile on June 12th. The rain date will be Saturday June 19th, not Father's Day as previously scheduled.
Being the mother of three growing kids, as well as a portrait photographer, leaves me with an interesting perspective on the passage of time. Needless to say, it feels like it moves extremely fast! One day I'm photographing a sweet little newborn, and then before you know it, it's time for their 1st Birthday portraits. Holiday season seems to come again before I can even get ready, and then it's done, in a blur of glitter, tinsel and pine leaves.There are times when I look at my kids and wish that I took even MORE pictures of them as the years went by. While they may sigh and grumble when I ask them to sit for me, because I'm sure they think I ask them too often, I feel like I let too much time lapse between their sessions.I feels like yesterday when I took this shot of my middle daughter,
when it was actually 2003. Seven years ago!! And now at our last session, she's turned into this beautiful young woman.
And with my son, every picture of him, especially the ones of him smiling at the camera, has special significance to me. Here is our latest, as we practiced with some friends for Eyes Smile in the Park.
Because there was a time when I never thought he would be still, or look at the camera. Some of you may have seen this picture on the front of my information brochure.
This is Nino in 2003, right after his diagnosis of PPD-Nos. Technically, this is a horrible shot. It's blurry, because he paused for maybe a second, and I shook my camera in haste as I quickly snapped this one shot of him looking up. Most of the other ones from the shoot where like this.
But that image still means so much to me, I put it on my marketing materials, and there it has stayed for seven years. I can't change it. Technically flawed, but it captures his toddlerhood, which is the whole point of what I do in my work.
My husband complained about the twigs in his hands, but as any mother of a child with autism knows, sometimes empty hands is impossible. Nino has made me a better photographer - and faster! (wink) And he has become a MUCH better model through the years, as we've been through ABA, PT, OT, The Listening Program, Special Ed, RDI, etc.......As I have mentioned before, he is my little muse.
My experience with him has motivated me to reach out to other families touched with autism. I started to realize why parents with children with autism avoided having portraits taken. I know how hard it was for me to photograph my son
- and I was a professional, and his mother!! I could only imagine what it might feel like to face a photographer who had no understanding of autism, to make that investment and potentially walk away with only frustration and sadness.
This is the feeling of my good friend Melissa. At one point, all three of her boys had a diagnosis of autism. I am happy to report that two of them have COMPLETELY lost their diagnosis (yes, this is possible!!), but one of her sons, Matty, is still not fully verbal. Mom has become his main therapist, and she works with him for six hours a day. Matty now has approximately 150 words, and has just started using his words to make requests. It's wonderful to see all the progress he's making everyday.
Melissa does not take her boys for formal portraits. She snaps cute candids of them, but every family deserves professional portraits. Here is my buddy Matty.
And yes, it is possible to get the perfect sibling shot, with the help of some gummy bears.
Getting this shot for Melissa means everything for me. It's also important for me to share my experiences with other photographers, in the hopes of bridging the gap between them and families with special needs.Not everyone that steps in front of our lens will be the ultimate model, but it's our professional responsibility to make the end result look that way. No one should feel intimated to hire a photographer, because in the blink of an eye, that moment to capture our children at a particular stage is gone.
If you're a professional photographer, or even an aspiring amateur, come see me work with kids at the Professional Photographer's of Greater New York's Portraits In The Park event on June 7th, 2010. I hope to see you there!!
