As I was driving to The American Family’s Children Hospital late Friday night I couldn’t help but wonder about this family I was about to meet.  Wonder about this sweet little boy who had been such a fighter over the past few months, & wonder how they were going to all say goodbye.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep {NILMDTS} is an organization that was co-founded in 2005 by a photographer in Denver by the name of Sandy Puc’ & a mother Cheryl Haggard, who had recently lost her infant son Maddux & thus NILMDTS was formed.  NILMDTS specializes in infant remembrance photography & now has over 7,000 volunteer photographers worldwide. Sandy Puc’ has become such a source of inspiration to the entire industry as she encourages all of us to give back.

At first when I heard about NILMDTS, I was like many other photographers & questioned whether or not it was something I could do.  After seeing Sandy speak a few years ago I came to a realization that what these families need was a way to remember their children & if that is something I could possibly do, I had to at least try.

I assure you that it is not easy, and it does not get better, ever.

But what we do & the gift we give.  It IS worth it.

Typically we as NILMDTS photographers are not supposed to BLOG about our sessions & post images for obvious reasons.  I felt though, this time that I needed to bend the rules slightly. My hope is to provide awareness & offer inspiration & encouragement to those wanting to become involved.

As photographers we are aware that what we do on a daily basis for our clients is special, by giving them memories to look back on for years to come, images they can pass down for generations.  But NILMDTS is so much more.  You are allowing a family to remember, grieve & love all over again, forever.   We are helping them keep the spirit alive of their loved one that they had for only such a short time.

Each NILMDTS baby has their own story.

Young parents.  Older parents.

Only child.  Siblings.

Here on this earth for several hours.  Here for several days or even months.

They also have similarities.

They are all fighters {the babies. the families. the doctors.}

The Love that surrounds these babies is so intense,

Mommas, Daddys, Grandmothers, Grandparents, Siblings, Aunts, Uncles, all of them loving this sweet baby in their own special way

The immense amount of sorrow & grief.

No matter what we do, say or don’t say we can’t change the situation these families are in.  That part never changes.  They will not leave the hospital with their little baby this time.

This is the hardest part, to be in that moment with them & feel their pain & wish there was something you could do to help.  What I’ve learned to do, is to close my eyes for a few moments & pray.  Pray that God wraps his arms around them & provides comfort.

I know that it is my job to capture some of those last moments that will help them remember how much they loved this sweet little person.  I am thankful for the gift God has given me & look to him for direction on what to say, how to talk to the parents & how to offer them my sympathy.

I encourage all of my Professional Photographer friends to take another moment & think about donating your time to NILMDTS & offering this amazing service to families in need.  If you aren’t a photographer you can still help by spreading the word about NILMDTS & the services that are offered completely free to families in need.

And, if you are a parent…. Hold on tight to your little ones, tonight.

Appreciate their silliness.

Love their soft little hands.

Remember that every moment truly is a gift.

Stephanie Natale

Matt & Jacey had a wonderful wedding day in & around Madison.  They were married @ Matt’s parents home in the backyard & it was simply stunning.  From there we traveled around the city to various locations that Jacey had all planned out & we were able to get some amazing shots.  I will note here that J & M opted to see each other prior to the wedding so we were able to get all of the family shots done prior to the wedding which made for a longer & more relaxed time afterwards to be able to stop @ all of these fun places.  I always like to give my Bride & Groom the options & weigh the Pro & Cons.  But really, when it comes down to it I absolutely LOVE it when the B & G meet ahead of time.

Jacey’s AMAZING gown, was custom made & I loved every tiny detail of it!  Check it out: http://www.availcouture.com

Pretty sure they could not be ANY cuter.

Jacey & Matt = so so cute.

Jacey + Matt + Bridal Party = good. times.

“What was that?  Did you hear that music?  Must be a keg party… Lets go…”

We were welcomed with open arms…

We had to stop by the place that the bride & groom first met, for old times sake.

State St.

The reception was @ the Madison Club.  The light is absolutely RAD.  I love love love love love the Madison Club.

An amazing shot, one of the last of the night.  Shot by my wonderful assistant, Michelle.

Vendors:

Wedding Gown:  Avail Couture

Reception:  The Madison Club of Madison

{stephanie n.}

I absolutely LOVE when I get the before & after action with mamas & their babies.   Maternity sessions are one of my favorite things to shoot.  I always tell my clients I just love capturing the look on their face as they enjoy this life-changing moment.  How soon after you give birth, you forget the feeling of  all the kicks, flutters & even that belly button sticking out.  Maternity sessions are becoming more & more popular, I’ve shot 5 in the last 6 weeks & I think they are such an amazing keepsake of that exact moment in your life.  I love it, every part of it.

Doesn’t she look like Kate Hudson?  You go girl, you were adorable!

From there to here:  Meet mr. Chase

{stephanie n.}

So part #2 of my new blog is integrating a weekly post {my goal is monday} of random information, links, sources of motivation and/or resources that hopefully will benefit my readers.  Being as though {ideally} I’ll have variety of people viewing this blog, my hope is to break it down like this:

portrait {peeps}

{{resources, articles & information geared towards the modern mommy, family & seniors.}}

Building Blocks for Learning located here in Janesville.  I think they are a great resource for families in the area.  I became acquainted with Kay & Jeanne several years ago when I started buying Thomas the Train items there for Gabriel & loved their selection of toys, books & learning tools for children.

If you haven’t been in to check out their store yet & you live in Janesville, shame on you.  They are located right across the street from the Post Office & next to Walgreens on Milton Ave.   They carry a lot of fantastic educational toys as well as a variety of Melissa & Doug, Thomas the Train, Playmobile & they also offer classes in their activity room.

{Remember to support your local small businesses!}

wedding {peeps}

{{unique ideas, planning websites, vendors & exciting news in the bridal industry for my wedding clients}}

If you are looking for custom Wedding Invitations {that ROCK}, check out The Paper Deli in Middleton Wisconsin.  They are originally from Janesville & recently opened up their retail store on Old Sauk Rd.  They do amazing work:  invitations, programs, thank-you’s & more.

Brian Breezer is the owner & he is great to work with & very creative.

They even carry these (what more could you possibly want):

photo {peeps}

{{resources, motivation & random tidbits for those in the photo industry}}

One thing that I’ve learned over the past few years in this industry is that working with & learning from other photographers is a huge part of the business.  I’ve loved meeting many different photographers from around the country @ different workshops, conventions & seminars.  I think that it is so important to recognize that we all have something to learn & we all have something we can offer.

Recently I was a part of a fantastic program {Foundations of Posing} given by Pierre & Anna from Pierre’s Portrait Art in Madison.  Both Pierre & his wife Anna offered a lot of great knowledge & shared information with a small group of photographers.  We were able to work with each other on a variety of exercises & shoot @ a beautiful location.   We even had an adorable couple who were celebrating 5 years of marriage but were very willing to put on a suit & a wedding dress in order to play “bride & groom” for a bunch of crazy photographers.

Pierre gives back to this industry in many ways & it is photographers like this that allow all of us to grow & learn in our business, improve & then in turn give back to other photographers in the future.  Check out his website & his amazing work!  He also offers a free forum for Wisconsin Photographers (WPPF). Thanks again Pierre & see you Thursday!

Here are a few of the images I took that day:

If there is a topic, question or idea you’d like to see discussed here next week, leave me a comment & I’ll see what I can do

{stephanie n.}

So this little guy comes with quite the story.  I was originally hired to photograph his birth.  Mom was preparing for a home/water birth.  Her EDD was New Years Eve of ‘09 and we were waiting patiently for him to arrive.  Grayson Lennox, though had a different plan.  He surely was born @ home, but momma’s whole labor & birth was only 20 minutes, no time for any photo sessions.

10 days after he was born he came to my studio for his newborn session with his big brother, beautiful mommy &  his daddy who made it home for his birth from Afganistan.

It was a pleasure meeting you mr. G the rockstar.

{stephanie}

Part of why I love what I do so much is building relationships with my clients throughout the years.  I met the Robinson family back in 2007 when I started photographing their sweet baby girl Ruby.  I’ve enjoyed working with them every since.  Last year, due to a job change they were transfered to Denmark right when B was pregnant with the twins.  I was very honored when they asked me to travel to MI to photograph their family while they were home visiting.  It was the first time meeting the twins & it was lovely to see Ruby again.  I look forward to seeing you all again soon in August!

Here is one of my favorite images from Ruby’s very first session in 2007:

I think daddy was a bit surprised when Ruby decided she was going to be silly…

Ruby now @ a little over 3 years old {full of beauty, sass & spunk}

Meet Ms. Janna

and Ms. Gwyn

I don’t think they could be any more adorable.

Those three little girls will keep their mommy & daddy very busy over the next few years

Enjoy & see you soon

{stephanie}

Amy & Andy had a wonderful winter wedding day in Wisconsin.

{I’m somewhat partial myself to winter wedding’s because my husband & I got married on New Years Eve.}

I love these three next shots.  They don’t really even need a description.

Amy’s veil {Mantilla} was worn by her mother Sue.

I hope this is what you imagined Amy when we talked about this shot.  I *love* it.

Amy & Andy had a Hot Choc station & the wedding favors were customized mugs – adorable!

Meet Ms. Elyssa.  She informed me that she was THEE best dancer in the city of Janesville & that I should be taking her picture & I must agree, she did a great job & had a lot of fun doing so!  {hope you like these E}

Amy & Andy – you were a BLAST to get to know & photograph over the past year & I wish you the best of luck with your new venture “down south”

Wedding Day Vendors:

Hair:  Robin’s Nest Salon {Milton}

Makeup:  Marie Nicholson {Mary Kay}

Church:  St. Joseph’s Church {Edgerton}

Reception:  Pontiac Convention Center

Catering:  Catering by Michael

Music:  Jukebox Bandstand (Terry Wendt)

Pretty sweet.

The truth is that things have been so crazy busy since early fall (thank-you to my amazing clients) & there hasn’t been a lot of extra time to dedicate to my BLOG. I know, I know it doesn’t take long to put some thoughts together along with a few session favorites. But every time I would stop to think of how I wanted to ‘start’ my new BLOG, which title to use, which session and/or wedding to start with, I would get completely overwhelmed.

Call it ADD, call it being a woman, or perhaps call it just plain old over-thinking, but either way I never came up with what I thought was the ‘perfect beginning’.

So here we are in 2010 & I just decided to forgo the “perfect beginning”. Hence the not so clever title: “Insert Title Here”. I wasn’t going to think anymore about the title, images, sessions & text. I was just going to let the words flow from my mouth to the BLOG & have a starting point.

While we’re on that topic of words, I felt that it was imperative to state in my opening BLOG post a few things about my skills as a writer or lack thereof:

Facts:
*I will misspell words, for sure
*I like to abbrev, so get used to that
*I also tend to write as I would speak & therefore my grammar is less than steller, period.
*I love using random words, saying random things & sometimes I may just not make perfect sense

So if you are still with me (& most likely you aren’t an English Prof) I hope you enjoy this BLOG . I have some exciting weekly posts, contests & giveaways that I’m excited to roll out in the next few weeks & months.

In the meantime over the next few days I’m going to be posting some of my favorite images of sessions I’ve had over the last few months as well as some interesting things happening with Natale Photography.

For those of you who don’t know a lot about me, I’ll leave you with a few pieces of random information about myself & a few images of my two amazing children who give me so much of the motivation & inspiration to do what I love to do, everyday.

Randomness:
*Despite being called Natalie @ least 2-3 times a week, my name IS Stephanie
*My last name means “Christmas” in Italian (Buon Natale – Merry Christmas)
*My birthday is on Halloween, no that is not a joke.
*McDonalds coffee IS better than Starbucks (& cheaper, duh)
*If you would have asked me 15 years ago what I was going to
be when “I grow up” I would have said a Lawyer, hmmf not a Photographer.
Funny how life just seems to slap you in the face with a Kodak Brownie
*I love the smell of a brand new Cabbage Patch Doll (fresh out of the package)

Happy Valentine’s Day Weekend & stay tuned…

{stephanie}

gabe & lucy

gabe {5 years old}

lucy {2 1/2}