Sweet Valentine's, it's Been Two Months | Journey to Sandy Hook

Photo Bracelet by Made for Memories

Driving into the fog just at the boarder of Connecticut, I was instantly stirred with sadness. The days leading up to my trip to Newtown & Sandy Hook included a DUMPING snow storm that affected the entire Northeast. I'd been staying with family in New York, a short drive to the edge of where tragedy struck just 2 months ago today.

In January, I worked together with Mamatography students and beyond to raise funds for a project that at times felt, frankly, trivial. 

But what inspired it was anything but. The violent loss of 20 elementary school children did (and should) make any person, mother, father, HUMAN want to get off their ass and say or do SOMETHING.

Clicking through my Facebook newsfeed after the holidays, a pretty little photo charm bracelet popped up from Made for Memories Photo Jewelry. 

(I don't wear much jewelry, but the softness of this piece made by the talented Clarissa Hickman was something to take notice of.)

Bracelets in production

Sleeping on some thoughts of what was happening post 12/14/12, that bracelet kept coming to mind….

"What if the moms of the children lost in Sandy Hook had one of these with a memory of their child attached to them when they felt they needed it?"

But with that came so many additional questions...

1. If I were that mom on the receiving end, the mom who's child was now painfully absent from my life, could I bare to be reminded?

2. How would they get into the right hands?

3. How to pay for them all?

Finished bracelets delivered in a plush box. The quality of the stone was just incredible. I cried.

 Not long after I woke up one Monday morning, emails were bouncing back and forth, these questions being answered. First, Clarissa telling me she was game to contribute her time to make these stunning artifacts and then that same day, a reply from a member of the (Olivia) Engle family. He thought that Olivia's mom would in fact find joy in having one of these bracelets. So we carried on!

The plan was to raise $500 in one week and quickly get the ball rolling on production of the bracelets. I'd be staying this month in NY with family and thought, why not hand deliver the bracelets instead of mailing them. And, I'd bring Safi with me to tell her what she'd been apart of one day.

Soon I would hear from a lovely resident of Sandy Hook, Rebekah. She offered to meet me in Newtown, pick up the bracelets, and distribute them to the moms at hand. Rebekah helped organize the My Sandy Hook Family Fund in the days following the shooting. In meeting with her this week, I was enlightened to find that her fund has raised over $1 Million dollars and counting for the victim's families. She told me that the goal is 2.6 Million so that EVERY family would receive $100,000 to cover long term expenses while being out of work and all that comes with coping with such a mindless event. 

If you would like to contribute to the My Sandy Hook Family Fund, you may do so HERE.

I didn't know the geography of Newtown, CT and thought that Sandy Hook was just the name of the school. As it seems, Newtown is the larger town where the village (and schools) of Sandy Hook reside on the map. There are multiple elementary schools in the area, that I imagine the spared children now attend. 

If I were to paint a picture of a classical town in America that I would want to live, THIS town would be it. A sleepy village where kids can ride their bikes to the toy store or throw a fishing line in the stream during the summer. A place to enjoy and be amongst neighbors.

After my insightful and emotional meeting with Rebekah and her lovely, local friend (both moms of 6 year olds in the town), I dashed off to drive by the school to snap some shots before heading back to my hotel.

The town and village were a BLANKET of snow. It was dreary, it was lonely. I can count on one hand the people out and about that day on my way into Sandy Hook village. A tractor driver, 2 teenaged girls on a porch puffing smokes, the fireman who turned me away from the school and a snow plow driver in the parking lot along this dreamy river bank.

School was canceled that day, Sandy Hook Elementary remains closed and I guess there was probably no need to plow through the strange side road that leads up to it. Needless to say, I didn't get through to the 'scene'. For the best I suppose. The town stood for it's self. The stars on the phone poles with words from children spoke volumes though their was no one around to speak to.

This wasn't my score to settle, there's no closure from this. Not for any of us. Just acts of kindness to be performed with no expectation or want….just silence and peace, for all souls.

To all who donated to the Photo Bracelet project for the Sandy Hook moms, THANK YOU. Rebekah has told me that they are being well received.

New Years Resolution HOW TO: Sort, Organize, Print your family photos by Stacey Panassidi

It's January 4th already and I don't know about you but I often have files filled with pictures from the previous year of my own family and friends that I haven't had a chance to sort/organize/print . Part of my new year's resolution (besides working out regularly) is to get my personal photos in order! So where to begin? How about the beginning. Rather than make yourself crazy, take it one month at a time and work on it once a week. 

Here is an idea of my sorting/organizing/printing flow:

1. Take the 1st of each month to work on the month priors photos
2. I make sure that month's images have been backed up, if they haven't, I back it up on my external hard drive. 
3. I review my images from that month and decide what I want to print, what I want to save and what I want to delete. Yes, I delete images, sometimes my images are blurry, or don't tell the story and I don't keep them. 
4. I put a folder on my desktop labeled to print and all to print photos go there. (I recommend printing with mpix.com)
5. Each month I upload to mpix.com and print those images. 
6. I have slip in albums that I load those pictures into (my kids at ages 12 and 15 still love flipping through a photo album, looking at the computer is just not the same!)

Besides what I take with my BIG MAMA DSLR camera and my point and shoot, I also have a ton of pictures that I take on instragram w/ my smartphone. (You can follow me at @spanassidi) and I found the coolest thing for printing instagram pictures! It's called Printstagram and they have some really cute products! I just printed a 365 calendar and I love it! Check out printstagram here http://printstagr.am/, I definitely plan on printing more with them. 

Last thing I do is figure out what images I want to display around my home. My favorite artwork for my walls is my family. I love canvas, I don't have to worry about framing, I can just hang it immediately and enjoy it, a big plus for a procrastinator like me!  I just ordered huge 28x28 canvas' for a small wall in my kitchen from this year's holiday pictures, but you can see here canvas's of my dogs, last year's holiday pictures and other favorites hanging around my house. It makes me happy to see my family as I go from room to room. 



















So there you have it, not so hard to sort/organize/print and ENJOY! Before you know it will be Jan. 4, 2014, so get started today!

Stacey Panassidi is owner/photographer at The Memory Studios in Marlboro New Jersey. She is a Mamatography Photo Workshops Affiliate and teaches photography to moms in her area and soon, online.

Holiday Photo Planner :: Mamatography Photo Workshops :: Photography Lessons for Moms

With the Holidays in full swing, there's no end to the photos we'll be snapping. So, this week I've put together a little Holiday Photo Planner to help get you through. The Planner is printable, in high resolution for your enjoyment! 

Just click on the Planner to view it in high resolution.
Then, right click and choose to save the file to your computer.
Open the saved file from your computer and go to File, Print!

The main thing that I struggle with as a Mamatographer I think is simply the age of my daughter Safi. She is a rambunctious almost 2 year old! (Surprise, Surprise) So for her holiday pics this year, I called upon my most avid student, Jodi for her hand in capturing my sweet little "monster".

For these in her Laura Ashley gold dress, I had a particularly difficult time as I didn't have an "assistant". (A Daddy in the same room doesn't count ; )

But I got incredible joy from the few shots where she wasn't sucking her thumb or picking her nose!

Camera Settings f/2.8 at 1/50 Shutter Speed & 320 ISO

I used flash for these as you will need to for indoor, Christmas tree pics.

Camera Settings f/2.8 at 1/60 Shutter Speed & 500 ISO

This month is FULL with fun Mamatography activities, local classes and webinars! For a complete schedule, check out my Facebook Page and "click" on the Calendar.
Happy Holiday Shooting,
Vicky

Holiday Photo Book Gifts for Mamatographers by Blurb Books

Click the pic for 25% Off a Blur book!

Happy Sunday Mamatographers! I hope you had a Gobbleicious Thanksgiving : ) The winners from last week's Happy Brands baby foods giveaway are located on the post below, in case you missed it!

Taking a break from the grind this week, but had to share this offer from Blurb Books for 25% off holiday gift book making:

Through Monday, 11/26 create the perfect pesonalized gift and get 25% Off with Blurb when you use promo code HOLIDAYTHANKS. Blurb books are a great way to make thoughtful gifts for friends and family while letting you unleash your creativity. Also, don't forget, with Blurb you can now create a photo book by uploading your Instagram and Facebook images. Don't miss out on these great savings and create your Blurb book today!

Stay tuned this week for a little something I'm putting together to help get you through picture taking during the holidays.

Happy Shooting, Vicky

Thanksgiving Food Photo Tips & Happy Family Gobble Gobble Giveaway! | Mamatography Photo Workshops

This week's photo assignment in the Mamatography Photo Sharing & Critique group was a bit like pulling teeth! (But, I love everyone anyway!)

I asked for the Mamatographers to prepare a Thanksgiving themed dish, shoot it and share their recipe. I guess I'm not the only one that growls at my husband when he asks "what's for dinner"? WHAT A RELEIF!

Fortunately, my mama amiga runs a vibrant food business here in Panama, Express Nutrition. They have an awesome blog with tons of tips for eating WELL and healthy, by the way.

She is hosting an upcoming holiday themed cooking class so was in need of food photos and I as well to contribute to the given homework assignment. 

We gathered in the EN kitchen last Sunday and together, put an alternative spin on a traditional Thanksgiving!

A couple days late, back in the group, the photos came streaming in and Mama was impressed! The common feedback was FOOD PHOTO IS HARD. So here's some tips that I shared with the girls and some others I've learned along the way having shot lots of yummy food and displays in my career thus far…

First, cook something YUMMY looking, pretty but simple. Or buy something from somewhere you know has a style of food worth shooting. Maybe even a few different small dishes to create variety in your shots. Then, clear the room of the kids, open the window shades and take some time to shoot under nice light. Putting your food as close to a window as possible for strong light, consider what time of day is best for this.

Using a reflector will help you obtain light and vibrance in your shots. Definitely shoot using a low ISO, a tripod if you have one and compare a wide aperture, i.e. f1.4 to a small i.e. f8 or f11 and see what you come up with! Your camera's Shutter Speed isn't significant here (unless you use a flash or strobe lights) so you could just use Aperture priority...if you have a tripod. I say this because if you're shooting at a low ISO (to reduce grain) and you've chosen your aperture using shutter priority, the camera may choose a Shutter Speed which is too slow, thus you'll end up with motion blur in your shots. A BIG no, no for food and product photography.

Lastly, enjoy the moment, the look of the food and learn something from each shot as you go. Refer to your camera settings after you've taken a shot. How did it come out? Critique your self, but have fun with it!  

So, I guess you saw the word GIVEAWAY in the title of this post. I love nothing more than to give free stuff to my readers!

For this Thanksgiving themed piece, Happy Family Brands has generously offered these FREEBIES to new & old Mamatography fans.

My daughter Safi has lived on organic Happy Family foods since she first hit solids! 

This month's Mamatography Newsletter headline

Enter below for a chance to win their Gobble Gobble stage 3 pouches, Happy Munchies or Puffs, and a Nutrition Guide with a Happy Family Baby Tshirt.

This year, I am Thankful for my little family, my students and audience for working with and believing in me. Muchos Gracias!

I want to wish you all a prosperous, STUFFED Thanksgiving.

Happy Shooting, Vicky

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Photo Book Making Ideas :: Mamatography Photo Workshops :: Photography Lessons for Moms

I'm sure many of you like me are still reeling from Halloween. It was an interesting one for us living abroad this year. Come to find out, Panama is really into this Americanized holiday and Trick or Treating was a hit! 

Of course, I was snapping away, this being Safi's 2nd Halloween, and I wanted to get the photos off my camera and desktop asap! I find that if I let the photos sit for too long, they loose life and become just another (loved) memory. But, if I make prints and EVEN BETTER design an album, I'll have a kind of closure on a specific event or holiday. There's a sort of guilt that comes with being a Mama-tographer..a 'memory' alone just isn't good enough. I need to reflect, visually, and that usually means flipping through a photo book to get that satisfaction.

So this year, I made a Halloween book right away. I use Blurb for all my books, even my self published title, Photo Basics & Beyond. I have printed albums with soooo many companies over the years and Blurb really takes the cake!

Safi's 2nd Halloween, Panama 2012 | Make Your Own Book

They have multiple interfaces from the most basic for amateur photographers, Lightroom plugin options for pro photographers and InDesign plugins for pro designers and authors.

I have used all of the above and depending on what I'm working on is how I choose the right interface for each project.

For this, my simple little Halloween book, I used they're in-browser Bookify interface. This is the fastest way to design books to print with Blurb. 

Personally, I first take my fav shots into Lightroom or Photoshop for a little exposure and color correction before I make prints or books. This just assures the quality of the photo once it's no longer in a digital form. Prints show many more imperfections in photos than you'll ever see on screen, so if you're serious about photography, it might be worth your trouble to learn how to use these. I teach both of these in my online, live webinars.

Other books I've made 'just for mom' include this one that came from my Instagram's, how cool is that?! We snap all these shots with our mobile devices, and then what? Well Blurb offers two book options for printing your Instagram AND Facebook photos straight from the source. 

Their software automatically designs a book according to the timeline they were taken and VUELA, a photo book is born!!

Safi took the liberty of adding her own touch to my Instagram book : (

With every Blurb interface, you have extensive options for type, colors, photo layout and more. This was the first quality that I appreciated about their products, CHOICES! With other book makers I always felt pinned in a corner with no graphical options and I need options! If you're a writer or in a business where book making could be an asset for your company, you also have the ability to sell your books straight from their site or your own.

So to sum up this first tip for the upcoming Holiday season…

Output your photos! Don't let the memories collect dust in your computer's 'pictures folder'.

Make books that you and your family can flip through with joy. 

Blurb is offering 30% Off all Photo Books in the month of November! Get this deal HERE : )

Happy Shooting, Vicky

The Ultimate Mamatography 1,000 Fan Giveaway!!

Mamatography Photo Workshops is just a couple of clicks away from 1,000 Facebook Fans! I am thrilled to have reached so many Mamatographers this year and now it's time to show thanks with this HUGE Giveaway...

This month marks the one year anniversary for Mamatography Photo Workshops. Becoming a mom and starting a business in under 2 years has been exhausting, amazing, exasperating…I could go on. I wouldn't change a minute of it, not for anything. The women I have met through Mamatography have left their mark on me forever. Fellow fem-photographers, moms and kindred spirits we are. Many of those I have come to know (typically through Facebook) are often in just the same boat as me. They're starting a career from scratch that they'll love SO they can spend as much time with their children as possible without ever feeling like they're "working". Photography is often that outlet for many of us.

With that, I'd like to show my appreciation to those who have in some way been inspired by Mamatography Photo Workshops and the WIDE world of PHOTOGRAPHY. It's an interesting time to be a Mama-tographer, no matter your skill level. Let us keep on this journey together, sharing our pictures and kind advice.

Below, use the Rafflecopter to Enter to Win FABULOUS prizes from the following sponsors:

• Blurb books is giving away 2-$50 Gift Codes towards ANY of their PRO Quality printed photo books

• Matilda Jane clothing is offering a $75 Gift Card towards any of their photographable girls collection  

Matilda Jane is leading all the trends in children's apparel today.
They're also very popular amongst Mamatographers ; )

• Totally Rad is giving away a copy of their Rad Lab plug in software for Photoshop valued at $149
• Photo Prop Floors & Backdrops-$25 Gift Certificate
• Savvylicious Sweets-1 Dozen Cake Pops

"Not So Plain Jane" Cake Pops by Savvylicious Sweets

• Amazing Grace Vintage Rentals is giving away a Prop rental to 1 lucky winner in the SE Florida Area
• Mamatography Instructor Affiliate, The Memory Studios is giving away a custom portrait session valued at $150 with a $50 print credit
• Earrings from Sweet Fashion Deals &
• A Turquoise Quilted Diaper Bag from Life's Little Joys
• On behalf of Mamatography Photo Workshops, I'm giving away 2-1 hour one-on-one photo mentoring sessions valued at $120 PLUS 1 Blurb-Printed Photo Basics & Beyond book & 5 ebooks!

To enter, simply check the boxes in the Rafflecopter below and support these awesome brands and small business in thanks for shelling out these generous prizes!

Your support means the world to me!
Happy Shooting, Vicky

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