The Art and Soul of East Valley Art Exhibit at the Black Bird Music & Art Center

"Heaven's Gift" and "Following the Leader" have been excepted in an art exhibit here in the East Valley. I dropped the signed prints off today. I wish that the gallery was closer to my house, I would love to have my kids do art and music lessons there. They also have an "Open Mic Night" on the weekend...It's really cute with the cafe and all. They are going to be having an opening night this friday. I wish I could be there for it, other commitments made before I knew I was going to have my work in it. They are having the show exhibited before the "Open Mic Night" so head on out for a great night. The address and info is on the flier. Just click on it.

It amazes me to see the prints large and framed. Even though I look at them on my computer screen all the time...it is so different seeing them large(24"x36"), signed and in frames..."Heaven's Gift" literally took my breath away. I had it printed on this amazing art paper that just made the blacks and grays pop out at you, but at the same time it has such an calming soft effect on you when you look at it. You have got to see it in real life.

ABOUT: A little about this shot.
This shot is of my little newborn baby boy Santi (Stephen Santiago Robson, named after his grandfathers and daddy) I took it of him when he was 2 hours old. I feel I need to clarify a few things here. I know that some people have heard some crazy story that I took the picture myself after giving birth to him...yes,the story is TRUE.:) Santi was an At-home, waterbirth, hypno-birthing baby...can I say that all in one breath? Barely. In the future I would love to find a way to educate women on alternative options to child birth. Just so that as women we are educated on what is out there. I had such amazing experiences with both my births being done with these methods, I would love to spread the knowledge.
So I decided one way I could do that was when Santi was born I wanted to take picture of him at an hour old. It ended up being 2 hours but that works too. Yes, you heard right, I actually shot this photograph. People think that I am crazy, but I felt great, couldn't even sleep that night I had so much energy. I asked Jason (plays Christ) to be on stand by for when ever Santi wanted to be born. I needed Jason to come over to do the shot literally within an hour or so of birth. Poor guy ended up at my house shortly after midnight. By the time we me taken care of and Santi, got the lights set up and did the shot it was 3 am. What a sport. Good thing he is a long time friend and I can bully him around a bit.:) I left a foot of Santi's cord on for the shot, and even though I knew it was totally grossing Jason out, with it touching his hand and everything...Jas was amazing cause you couldn't tell he was gagging inside. If you only knew the stuff we photographers put our models though to get "The Shot".

This next shot...WOW how the colors pop when it is printed on paper. I have people curious why I have Christ's top part of his body cropped off. To tell you the truth, when I go the inspiration for the shot, I was laying in bed just about to fall asleep and that is the way I saw the shot. For some reason it is how God gave it to me. He has a reason I guess one of these days I will know why, but I actually like it that way. Although the look on Christ's face without it being cropped is soooo cute it is so tempting to have both versions available. One with the whole body and one without. I am also debating on changing the title from "Following the Leader" to "Come Follow Me" Im really leaning towards the second.

"One At A Time"

This shot was inspired by a foundation called "Rescue A Million", based out of NYC. Their goal is to help 1 million children and plant 1 million trees around the world. The founder is Julie Butler. One of the most amazing women I have ever met in my whole life. She inspires me with her love and drive to help children. Recently 3 of her good friends that work with her on projects around the world, were killed in a small plane crash in Guatamala on their way to a project they were working on there. Two were husband and wife, leaving behind children and the third person left a spouse and children behind as well. Please be sure to put their families in your prayers...especially the children. I would like to dedicate this shot in loving memory of them and also to their families they left behind. Their lives were about service and helping children.

"Sharing"

This picture is dear to my heart, it is of my little girl Giselle and her little friend Ryan. This shoot helped me realize how much of a hand God was playing in bringing everything together. Let me lay a couple of things out to explain, and wrap it up with the story of this shoot.

I have been putting photo shoot productions together for years. Everything from fashion editorial shoots to commercial children shoots. One thing that is absolute, is that they never go exactly as planned. This made me a tad bit nervous. Originally the collection was going to be only one day of shooting and 8 final images. It took me 3 weeks to pull the ideas, people, locations and props together. Pulse putting a shooting schedule together that would catch the light in the exact spots I needed for each shot and location. (most were done with natural light that day) I have done many shoots with children and know there is one thing you can count on... young children rarely do what you would like them to, when you would like them to do it for photos. (any mother getting a family picture taken with young children would know what I mean). You are on their schedule. Children with Christ begin the theme, this made me so nervous that we would not get everything done that we needed to, let alone in the right timing with lighting and other children and parents waiting for their shoot times.

As I headed out to my first shoot that morning I said a prayer. "Heavenly Father, I have done all I need to do to be ready for this shoot. I am leaving it in your hands. No matter what happens I will trust and have faith that it is going the way it needs to, to get the shots that we need, when we need them. This is your project, I am an instrument n your hands." I felt peace that whole day. Believe me tons of things happened that I was not planning on that pushed us off schedule. I will share those with you as I post the pictures that were part of them. One thing I was not planning on was children thinking they really were with Christ. It was amazing to watch them as they walked up to Jason.(who played Christ) Some were in awe, and others were freaked out and scared of him. That was what I wasn't planning on. One shoot took 30 minutes, just to get two children to stand by him. Another 15 mins to were they didn't look scared in the picture. That particular shot is still being finished and there is more to the story that is so amazing. I will share that when I post the final image.
What was amazing is that that delay actually put us in a better natural lighting then we were planning on for the rest of the day. God's hand was in everything that whole day.

My daughter's shoot "Sharing" (if anyone has a better title idea, I am open, please share) was suppose to be the last shoot of the day, we ended up having to switch it with another one. When we got to the pond, the sun was setting perfectly in the back ground. Gigi, my daughter was not participating very well. She was crying and being a 2 yr old. I got some shots I thought would work. When I looked at them later that night, I had nothing. I looked at the digital file and saw the exact minute they were taken. Dressed my husband in Christ's wardrobe and took him and Gigi to the pond the very next day, at the exact time. Hoping to get the same lighting. To my surprise the sun was drastically different and didn't look as amazing as it did the day before. The sun was peeking over the trees totally different, I had missed my amazing back light. The light was good on Giselle, so that worked out. One of my favorite things about that shot is the sun light in the back...It made me realize how God really did help me down to the very second, not with just this shoot but all of them. Fortunately I was able to get Giselle smiling and happy, and with my photo shop magic you wouldn't even know I had a crying, unhappy 2 yr old.

Prints now available

Titled: Feast On My Words (to help homeless teens)

Click on the link on the right hand this site to link to the purchasing site of Captured Miracle's prints.

or go to

htt://www.bounceproduction.smugmug.com

What Do They Do All Day In Heaven?

I Illustrated this Children's book when I was 19 yrs old. Wow, that was 14 yrs ago. We worked with SIDS Alliance (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Alliance) in helping them raise funds. It was very successful, the book helped them double what their normal donations were. Im excited to include it with helping to raise funds for children with Captured Miracles Collection.

My aunt, Staci Crowton Thomas, had two sets of twins under the age of two years old. One of her babies from the second set died of SIDS at two months old. Her little two year old twins were so upset, she couldn't find any children's books at the time, that could help comfort them. So she took their questions that they asked about their baby sister in heaven and put them into a poem and I illustrated pictures for it. The book is not ment to explain death, but to give a child's view of heaven, to comfort them and to open up the doors for the family to talk and start the healing process. It is non denominational and is ment for not just children but anyone looking for comfort after the death of a loved one. Come and take a peak into a little child's heaven.

If you would like to purchase a book, email us at
capturedmiracles.org@gmail.com
to put in your order.

Proceeds will be donated to children's foundations with the rest of the Captured Miracles Collection.

link to
http://bounceproduction.smugmug.com/gallery/3143289_4brgC#172466870_QLRwQ

(this link shows only a few pages of the book.)

Who plays the Role of Christ in your photos?

This is a question that Erin asked in a recent comment. I have had several people ask me. So I thought I would post an answer.

Christ is being portrayed by a long time friend of mine, Jason Calvi. He did a wonderful job with all the shoots. Last fall when I asked him to do the shoot for me, I saw that he was growing his hair out for fun. I said to him, "Don't cut your hair. I want you to do a photo shoot with me and I need your hair long." When I told him that I wanted him to play Christ. It took him off guard, it's quite a role to play, I could tell that he felt uneasy with the idea at first. He jokingly said, "What... you want an Italian Jesus?" We both laughed and I told him I was serious and that I knew that he could pull it off. All we needed was for him to grow facial hair, and put the robes on him. As long as he had the basics it would look great. To both our surprise, it turned out better then we thought it would. Even after the first day of shooting he was still thinking that he didn't look like Christ. When he and his wife saw the shots from that day. The shot of himself with the little baby "Child of God" with the gold tones (that baby is his little boy Hayden at 3 wks old),it is the shot that convinced his wife (I think she was a little not sure as well)

The shot of the battered mother and 2 children(the shot that I use as part of the Title of this blog)...that one was the shot that got him(it is his favorite). He said that particular shot, when he looks at it, he doesn't see himself, he sees Christ. It really made a strong impression on him. I have to say it did me as well, It is also one of my favorites. I have known Jason for many many years. When I see these shots I don't see Jason, I see Christ. He was amazing at catching the loving look that I picture Christ having when he looks children. There is so much love and emotion that comes across in his face, eyes and body language. I know that he was led by the spirit in knowing what to do to achieve the feelings and emotion he did.

Jas, your awesome....thank you thank you thank you. I'm excited to work on our next project that is already brewing in my mind:) So start growing your hair out again:)

THE MASTER'S TOUCH
This shot is a perfect example of the amazing look of emotion in the eyes. I love how they are looking at each other in this shot. The connection between them is amazing.

This shot is called "The Master's Touch", no matter what happens to us in life. When we fall down he is there for us, but it is up to use to choose to get back up on the bike.

Any ideas?

I had so much a fun with this shot of my friend Stephanie and her little girl. Stephanie has been so amazing with all she has done in helping me with any and everything since I moved to AZ. I wanted to include her in this collection, she is one of the most Christ like people I know. Her sister put it best,"she is happiest when she is helping and serving others."

I don't have a definite tile for this shot. Any ideas, I would love to get your comments on it. I have thought of "a mother's prayer" but I am still not sure.

This was the first shot that I had played with this type of "spot lighting" on. I was not quite sure how to get this look until talking with some other photographer friends...thanks to their guidance, I feel it turned out awesome. I love how the light shines on Christ and then bounces onto the mother and daughter.

Christ's Love- 2 new works of art

This sweet little girl is my friend Heather's little baby. Believe it or not, this sweet pea was born with all that long, curly, platinum hair. When Heather first showed her to me I just fell in love with her. She looks like a porcelain doll.

When shooting babies you have to expect the unexpected...and it is all about their timing and their way. All kids for that matter are like that when taking pictures. :)And any parent who has had a 2 yr old would especially know that. Nothing wrong with that, you just have to be willing to be flexible. I had a totally different shot for this little sweet pea, but she had a different shot in mind and it turned out better then what I had planned. Infact, I had such a hard time picking the final shot, that this shoot ended up with 2 final images. I LOVE her cute little face in the one shot. And I love Christ's smile and how he is looking at this sweet baby in the other. His smile and look is exactly how I picture him looking. Every child in this world deserves to have a loved one look at them that way. You know every child does, because every one of us is a Child of a Loving Father in Heaven and a brother that gave his life for us. I don't think I ever really truly understood what that look or that type of love was like until I became a mother. I never imagined it would be so wonderful.

One of the charities or foundations I would really like to have participate in this effort is something involving adoption. When I was a young girl I saw a documentary on orphanages in Romania and also China. They showed how babies would cry and cry hours for someone to hold, feed and love them. There were to many babies and not enough workers. Many would die before they were 2 yrs old. Mainly they died from broken hearts, because no one was there to love and hold them. It broke my heart. I decided then and there, that I would find a way to stop their crying, and find each child a loving family. That calling is stronger then ever now. When ever I hear my 6 wk old baby crying in his crib alone, cause I am in the other room. It takes me back to that promise. I plan to use my talents here to make a difference for those small, forgotten ones where ever they may be.

First set of images

I am so excited about this photo collection I am putting together. I have been wanting to use my talents, in photography and art, to help children, so I developed a series of around 30 works of art ... I have named it "Captured Miracles" . These are photos that portray Christ interacting with modern day children in different real life situations. Prints will be available for purchase very soon. We will be donating proceeds to foundations that make a difference in children's lives.

I am still in the works of getting things together ...I am looking for children's foundations, churches, and organizations, that would like to help participate with this project, by hosting exhibits, and helping to spread the word so that we can help more children, through the purchase of the prints. The exhibits will be nation wide, this holiday season. We are looking for help nation wide in this effort. Check our blogs for updates on these events. I will have a site and blog up soon for this project. Until then just check back here.

thanks
helen