So I sent out an email to my 800 contacts in my constant contact account. It announced the opportunity for FIVE famiies to win a Studio Portrait Session, ONE 11 x 14 and a set of 4 x 6 prints of all the imags in their session. My intention is for the winners to be able to keep all the memories that we capture in the session and not have to spend a penny.
I was looking for special families that were struggling this holiday season with severe illness. I received numerous stories, most relating to a parent or child with cancer. The same day I sent out this email I received news that my mother's sister was diagnosed with colon cancer. The sad thing is that my mother's brother died of colon cancer 30 years ago. This is very scarey for my mother who won her own battle against breast cancer seven years ago. It amazes me how many families experience at least one family member with cancer.
I received numerous nominations and was able to select Five PLUS Three, ok that is eight families to receive my gift certificate. It was too hard to pick. Most of them were dealing with either a child or parent with some form of cancer. There it is again, the C word. I originally offered the session for only February and April and it quickly hit me that illness has no calendar. I extended the expiration date so that most of the families would indeed be able to find time to redeem their certificates.
I know this gift will not make them better but I am hoping that when they do recieve the prints it will bring at least a little joy and hope to their lives. I am not the only photographer doing this. There are MANY of us. It is part of a program called Giving is AWESOME! So far there are 355 participating photographers accross the country.
Merry Christmas to all! Cherish your family and your health! They are the most precious gifts of all!
I have been getting a lot of inquiries these days for gift certificates. Many out of town family members (grandparents/aunts & uncles) wishing to give the gift of professional portraits to their family members in my area. Yes, I do sell gift certificates for portrait sessions and prints. I can get them in the mail the same day if you are looking for a last minute gift idea for the holidays! Not sure if your relative lives close to my studio? Here are some of the towns that I service (plus more of course): New Canaan, Wilton, Westport, Ridgefield, Redding, Darien, Norwalk, Stamford, Greenwhich, Riverside, Weston, Fairfield, Southport and many towns in Westchester County as well. Portrait gift certificates are also an amazing gift for baby shower or new baby gifts! I even do PET PHOTOGRAPHY! A studio session is $150 and an on location session is $250 in my area. Prints start at $55 for a 5 x 7 and $60 for an 8 x10. Email me or call to order yours! I take Mastercard and Visa as well as check!
My son Derek turns 2 tomorrow! Where did the time go? It is so true, that first year (or two or 18) fly by! My oldest daughter is 6 1/2 and my other is 4 3/4 (as she likes to remind me).It seems like just yesterday I was taking this photo of my milk mouthed 4 month old baby! It really does! It is for this very reason that I know how important photography is to my clients and their families (to all families). These images become our strongest memories.
Here are three images from my most recent Precious Moments Club Newborn sessions. Common, can you believe how sweet and precious these images are! Welcome to these adorable little babies! You are the greatest gifts your parents have ever received!
This little guy below belongs to my dear friend Catalina, who helped me raise my little ones for the last four years! She is now blessed with the opportunity to be a mother (an amazing one at that) to this precious angel! He is just delicious and I love him!
And Happy Birthday to my son Derek! You amaze me every day and you will never know just how much I love you! Here is Derek coming home from the hospital!! Now THAT is a precious memory!
I am feeling like such a bad mother. I have spent very little time with my children (or my husband) in the last three months and the next four weeks are not going to be any better. I can tell they are all feeling a little neglected and really starting to need some mommy time. Balancing time with them and my work is just about impossible this time of year, at least with the commitments that I made and need to fulfill.
Not only have I sacrificed time with them but I have sacrificed my health. I don't sleep much at all and my only exercise is my Thursday morning tennis clinic. It is a miracle I have not pulled a muscle in that clinic being that I am so sedentary all week! All I do is sit at my computer working (and unfortunately snacking instead of eating heathly meals). Bad mommy!
So, I have decided that I will dedicate an entire month to just being mom, taking care of my family and even myself! So, the studio will be closed from December 21st to January 24th. Of course I will be chcking emails and doing some "business housekeeping" when my kids are in school but I am not "officially open".
My au pair is leaving on December 20th and my new one arrives on Jan 22nd so this works out perfectly. We are even going on a much needed and well deserved carribean vacation for a week! I am SOOO excited, well not about putting on the bathing suit! The kids and my husband will have me all the time and we all can not wait!
I LOVE what I do. I feel so lucky to be doing work that I am passionate about. It's funny. I never really feel like I am "working". I love almost every minute of it but my family really needs me and I need them and some time off!
THANK YOU to ALL of my clients that have blessed me with this problem! Too much work is a gift that I am VERY THANKFUL for!
You probably think I enter this contest all the time but this was just the third image I have entered in almost two years! I could not resist sharing this image with www.thecutekid.com community. The images has graced my homepage for the past month and now it is the Toddler category winner for October's CuteKid contest! This puts him in as a finalist for the Cute Kid of the Year! Too funny! This and the world series! Daddy is a proud man! Congratulations to Derek Topalian AND Derek Jeter!
Check it out! http://www.thecutekid.com/monthly-winners/2009/october/photo-contest-winners.php
oments by Andrea is a professional portrait studio located in Wilton, CT in lower Fairfield County, Connecticut, near New York. Owned and operated by Andrea Topalian, a professional portrait artist specializing in family photography including maternity portraits, newborn and baby photos, high school senior portraits, as well as candid portraits of children of all ages. Andrea’s Precious Moments Club is a popular baby portrait club that documents the important stages of a baby’s growth: newborn, six months and one year. 