Published by Michele August 6th, 2008
in Image of the Week.
Hello everyone! I hope your summer has been a good one and you are all ready for the fall and holiday portrait season.
A couple of things to note:
I am working on the camera bag sized flip books with images and how they were created (little cheat books). I loved having proof sets in my camera bag for inspiration and ideas and now I am finally working on a series of my own. Each book will have about 40 images grouped in different sets. Weddings: Bride, bride and groom, family groups, bridal party and so on! The portrait series will be: Infants, children (in studio and location) and families. These books will be a great tool for beginners to experienced photographers. I will be offering a special rate for pre-orders. If you are interested in hearing more about the books or pre-ordering please contact me at: http://michelecelentano.com/contact.html and you will be notified when they will be available.
Also- in order to help raise money for future trips to Africa (I already have a team ready to go on the next trip) I am selling a fantastic DVD slide show of my favorite images from this last trip for only $10 - all of the proceeds will go into IRWY for the next trip. This is a great way to experience the journey and help make next years trip possible. Again, contact the studio at http://michelecelentano.com/contact.html and we will be able to get you those DVD’s!
Thanks!
Anna running on the beach in Florida!
This is the face of pure joy!
Published by Michele July 30th, 2008
in Image of the Week.
Back to life!
Now that I am in the habit of blogging I’m really enjoying it.
Thank you for taking the time to read it and send comments.
This is one of my favorite images!
Maren is about one week old.
It is not always easy to talk a mom who has just gone through childbirth into having a portrait with her new baby but I believe it is one of the greatest portraits I can create.
I always reassure moms that it will be more of a close up image focusing on the baby.
Once I show her so samples of what I want to create she is usually on board.
This image is created using pillows, a white blanket, and sheer fabric.
I wrap mom in the sheer fabric, place her on the floor on the blanket and pillows.
I then put the baby in her arms and wait for him or her to settle in.
I am on a ladder above my subjects shooting straight down.
It is not difficult to make a mother look absolutely beautiful holding her newborn baby.
The image was created with my Canon 5D a 70-200mm lens at 70mm. The exposure is 800ISO, 1/100th at 4.5 using available light and one silver reflector.
Retouching was done using PhotoShop and Nik filters.
Published by Michele July 24th, 2008
in Image of the Week.
So- on a personal note:
After more than a year and a half of non-stop laughter Paul proposed to me on Tuesday night.
For many of you who know me personally this may be a bit of a shock since I swore I would never marry again. I happily said YES to him. We have been living together since November and when Paul moved in he sternly announced that he did not want to be a “boyfriend” forever and that he wanted more than just living together - he wanted “official”! Ok- I thought. He did say that he would someday ask me to marry him and would keep asking until I said “yes”. He is really happy he only needed to ask once.
How could I possibly say no to this amazing man who has given me back my faith in relationships and the meaning of true love? He was patient, loving and he knew what he wanted and was not willing to settle. Paul makes me laugh like I have never laughed before. It is difficult to describe the depth and dimension of a relationship that has brought more joy, happiness and laughter than I ever thought was possible.
So - you might be asking - when will the big day be? We have talked about it a little and we are not sure what we want to do yet but with holidays, conventions and other commitments we are looking towards May or June of 2020! I mean 2009!!
Published by Michele July 23rd, 2008
in Uganda.
After getting past the jet lag I have been thinking a lot about why third world countries still exist. Growing up and living in a modern world it is still so hard to wrap my brain around the idea that Uganda and so many other countries are in the condition they are in. I won’t pretend to be educated enough in political science or world economics to even begin to take a crack at getting to the root of the problems.
But- I have been thinking about the problems of a country with no ports or an import and export trade industry and how that effects an economy. I have been wondering about corrupt governments and leaders who aren’t really looking out for the benefit of it’s people.
So many people have asked “why Africa?” why not serve your own communities? I believe the answer for me is simply “opportunity”!
In this country we have the opportunity to create any life we want. No matter how poor you are in this country you can get an education. No matter how poor you are there are programs in which we can get government assistance. There are so many success stories of people who came from nothing but worked hard, used the system and became successful. If you have not seen the movie “The Pursuit of Happiness” this is a perfect example of what I mean. There is opportunity and possibilities at every corner in this country. Maybe this is our greatest blessing - not that we have what we need in this moment but the opportunity to grow, to do better, to succeed is always there for us. Our economy has a history of rising and falling and while we worry when it is stressed it always comes back stronger because we have the opportunity to work hard, change things, see our mistakes and grow stronger.
There is little to no opportunity in Uganda. If your family doesn’t have money you don’t go to school. The struggles are so great that success in achieving goals is almost impossible. The government doesn’t support it’s greatest asset - it’s people. When just the basics are so hard to come by opportunity doesn’t seem to be possible. I think what makes the children so beautiful and inspiring to me is they are hopeful - they believe - the know that if they can just go to school and get educated that they might just have a chance to change their life.
If the lesson and the gift I came home with and will give to my children is to not waste opportunity I will have been successful. It is so easy to take for granted something that is given to us as a right - an education! I can look back now and see that I wasted the opportunity for the best education I could have achieved. (Maybe then I would know more about the global economy.)
This idea of opportunity lends itself to my life now and I can see the economy effecting so many small businesses. Professional photography can be an expensive luxury and when people are trying to save a little extra money those little luxuries can be excluded from the family budget.
For so many of my colleagues and fellow business owners sales are down - way down - and it means possible closings and finding different jobs for many of them. I love my career and wouldn’t want to do anything else. It is up to me to seek out the opportunities to continue to grow my studio to find creative ways of finding new possibilities to better serve my clients, find new reasons for them to keep coming in - growth in economic times of trouble is possible - after all anything is possible in America.
Published by Michele July 18th, 2008
in Image of the Week.
For those of you using explorer try firefox browser firefox.com- it’s a free download and a much better browser.
Published by Michele July 17th, 2008
in Uganda.
Some have you have emailed to let me know that the photos on the blog were too small. I spoke to my internet company today and they helped me fix the problem. If you want to take another look the pictures will be easier to see.
Thanks again for visiting.
Michele
Published by Michele July 17th, 2008
in Uganda.
What day of the week and what time is it? After a 40 hour journey and a ten hour time difference I’m still a bit out of it. I was expecting to bounce back in a day and clearly that has not happened.
Sleeping has been hard. My internal clock is off and the middle of the night here is the middle of the next day in Uganda. I have been waking up in the middle of the night thinking about all the children I met, photographed, hugged and spoke with. All of their faces have stayed with me and I continue to think about them and how they are doing.
Coming home to a world of privilege and opportunity really puts things into prospective. I won’t say that I want to sell all of my worldly possessions and turn my life over to missions in third world countries. I do however know that I am more grateful for the life and the opportunities that I have. I am grateful for the blessings of my life – for my beautiful family, friends, my health, my career, my more than comfortable home and the availability to do more with my life. I have come home with the intention of making an effort to be less wasteful in my everyday life, to take time to be more grateful for the little things that life has to offer. I have come home with a sense of how can I better serve less fortunate people in this world. I think the most powerful lesson is opportunity, no matter how poor you are in this country we have the opportunity to go to public school for an education. If you work hard and apply yourself and the recourses that we have available in this country anything is possible.
Thank you again to all of you who helped to make this trip possible. You gave me the opportunity to give a small gift to people who truly appreciated it. It was amazing to see how excited children and families were to have a photograph of themselves. It was the most rewarding gift I have ever given. From the students in schools who never had a school portrait, to families in villages who never had a family portrait, and to the mothers holding their sick children who may have the only photograph they will ever have of them- thank you for the opportunity to take your picture.
I’m leaving some of my favorite images of Uganda for you to enjoy.
Published by Michele July 17th, 2008
in Uganda.
These are our 2 other adopted boys Moses and Isaac. Moses is six years old and Isac is five. They are both so cute! They were both a little shy like most kids their age.I was able to meet them the morning that we were leaving. My mom’s little girl did not make it in time for me to meet her before I left. We will be able to get some of those pictures of her when Elizabeth Flynn gets back from Uganda.
I had gone shopping to the market the day before and picked them up some new clothes, flip flops and new backpacks. The smallest gifts mean so much to them. I also put gum in their backpacks. They loved chewing gum. I was able to spend some time running and playing with the boys and then they sat with me for Sunday services where they both liked the loud singing and dancing. It was hard to say goodbye when I left. It was hard to think I was leaving them behind but at the same time I knew that the quality of life for both of them would improve because of our sponsorship.
Published by Michele July 12th, 2008
in Uganda.
I met our Ugandan son Kenneth/Wafula
What an incredible experience to have met this adorable boy. When I first received his picture from H4KI I thought he was so cute and couldn’t wait to meet him. Today I traveled into the village (in the bush) where he lives with his grandparents, his brother and his uncle. They also care for three other boys and one girl. Kenneth was very shy but so sweet. I hugged him and kissed his cheeks like the good Italian girl I am and of course this behavior is not common in Uganda so he was very embarrassed. I had a few photo taken with him and we printed them out for him and then I photographed him with his brother and then his family and they were so excited to have the pictures. I told him that I am him American mother and he smiled at me. I told him about his American sisters Anna, Ashley and Alli too. Then I gave him the gifts that I brought for him. They were very basic gifts, flip flops, tee shirts, note books and pens – he was so grateful that he brought me a goat. It was his goat that he gets as part of the sponsorship (you know you are in a third world country when…. Someone gives you a goat as a gift) It was awesome. I told him I could not take the goat to America so he could take care of it for me, then he wanted to give me a chicken. From the many homes I visited Kenneth is in a great one. It is clean and well cared for, his school is nearby, he is healthy and they have plenty of live stock. Once I began to really understand standard of living and quality of life here I feel good that Wafula has a nice home (mud house). I loved meeting him and his family. He and his family are now close to my heart since I grew up my grandparents I know who special that is. I feel so good about knowing that the money I give to H4KI is being used for him. I know his field officer (social worker) Barbra. I know the field officers check on the kids in the program, they know their story and family history. The social worker is notified if they get sick and they bring them to get medical attention. They make sure they are in school and have the uniform and supplies they need. $26 USD is $41,000 shillings, such a small amount for money is so helpful to these kids, it really means more than you could imagine.
If at any time you are interested in sponsoring a child go to www.h4ki.org Tomorrow I am meeting two other boys Paul and I are sponsoring. We will have three Ugandan sons, one for each of our three girls. I will also be meeting my Ugandan sister (I always wanted a sister). My mom is sponsoring a 10 year old girl. Their villages are so far away that the field worker s went to pick them up today and bring them back to Tororo for me to meet them. I went shopping at the market for some things for them today, (I know where all the clothes you sell at garage sales end up).Families are families no matter where you go. When I first arrived here everything looked like chaos to me. After two weeks I feel a sense of life here. Mud house villages are neighborhoods with families just like ours. People help each other, children are independent and contribute to the family. In the morning they go to get water for the day, children are off to school and fathers are off to work, mothers are home taking care of babies that they carry on their backs with fabric (no baby carriers or strollers here). The mothers and grandmothers take care of the property and do laundry (no washer and dryers) Children go to school very young and they all walk pretty far in bare feet to get there. Some mothers work in the fields digging and pulling weeds. There is a separate hut for cooking and the meals are simple. The meat has been delicious because there are all fresh. It is the freshest meat I ever ate. They get milk from the cows, eggs from the chickens, and life is very peaceful. It is a very hard life but in a simple way it is peaceful. The country side is incredible and beautiful because it is untouched. The landscape is like nothing I have ever seen. There is the occasional moment I think a mud house with running water and electricity would be nice with this view!!! Don’t worry though I won’t be moving anytime soon. But I will be back again. There are some images here of some of the orphans we visited yesterday holding up the pictures I left for them. I love these images so much. The children were unbelievably excited. I was filled with the kind of joy I will never be able to fully express. Such a small, small thing made such a big impact. This will be my last blog from Uganda as my long journey home begins tomorrow morning. I want to thank you for taking the time to read this and for all the good thoughts and wishes so many people have sent me. I will keep up with the blog and talk about my thoughts after returning home and letting this experience settle into my heart and mind.
With love from Uganda-Michele
Published by Michele July 10th, 2008
in Uganda.
One of the highlights of my mission!
After getting back from Smile Africa I was still overwhelmed by the experience. But as our bus was turning the corner to go down the road the True Vine Village two boys were walking home from school. The boys noticed me on the bus and pulled out their picture that I took and gave to them this morning and they held it up to me. I was so happy to see how much it meant to them that they held it up for me to see that they were taking them home (to the mud house).
Almost 200 families today will be surprised when a child returns home from shcool with a portrait. This make me so happy!
I must once again thank all of you who made this possible- My amazing family, friends, clients, vendors and so many photographers - Thank you again - Because of you this was possible and will continue to grow in the future. I plan on coming back many times with teams of photographers.
I must also thank so many people on this mission who have helped me. I can not begin to explain how much your help meant - Elizabeth, Tom, Larry and Jeanette, Mark and Desiree, Mike, Brian, and Stanley - and Nick, Chris, Valerie, Makayla, Liz, Leah and Dave. Thanks for helping to lug my stuff around and with the printing. And to all of you who picked up my camera to make sure I had photos of myself in Uganda-
