Print Products Albums and Portfolio Cases by Finao | Hawaii Family Photographer
Introducing...
gorgeous new print products!
We are so excited to offer some new gorgeous print products from Finao. Their beautiful custom print products and amazing customer service and attention to detail is unsurpassed. I was introduced to their products at the Hi on Life Photography Conference hosted by my photographer friend, wedding photographer Jenna Leigh of Jenna Leigh Photography. Finao was one of the vendors at the conference and I was so impressed with the quality of their products that our studio decided to carry their products, specifically the Bamboo Portrait Box and the Portfolio Book, both of which are custom ordered and tailored to our clients desires.
Bamboo Portrait Box
Your custom Bamboo Portfolio Box contains your favorite 20 images from your session. Each will be selected by you at your Image Reveal.. The bamboo box is made from eco-friendly and sustainable natural bamboo and has an acrylic see-through lid. Images are printed in deep matte for a silky finish and have a deep v-groove frame mount which means they are beautifully displayed inside the box and are also ready to be framed. Each box features a gorgeous ribbon lift-out so you can easily remove the mats, and rustic gold hinges and a swing clasp to keep your box closed. Available in 2 sizes, 8x10" and 11x14.
Images from Finao's website. Images of our own samples coming soon.
Portfolio Book
Your custom Portfolio Book will contain your favorite 30 images from your session. Each will be selected by you at your Image Reveal.. Portfolio Books have slip-in matted pages which hold your 30 prints. Available in a variety of leathers, non-leathers, and a guestbook style page option. Available in 2 sizes, 8x10" and 11x14.
Our goal is to assist you in selecting your favorite images to print and showcase on your walls and adorn your home for generations to enjoy.
Book your family photo session today!
Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep | Affiliated Photographer
Photographers....please consider
volunteering as a Affiliated Photographer
NILMDTS is a non-profit organization, Please consider
making a donation to NILMDTS
I recently became a volunteer Affiliated Photographer with Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. After several years of an emotional roller coaster during my own fertility journey and far too many loses to mention, I have a huge heart for parents who have experienced the loss of a child.
I've always been drawn to babies and I love people, so its no wonder I became a birth photographer. And if I didn't suck at math I would have gone to nursing school to be a labor and delivery nurse, I just love babies and mamas and everything surrounding birth. I think its absolutely fascinating and I cant get enough of it.
When I introduce myself as a birth photographer, I often have to explain (to almost everybody!) what that means and WHY on earth I would want to photograph a birth. So, naturally, as an Affiliated Photographer for Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, likewise I have to explain to people why I photograph babies who are dying and/or have already passed away.
As a documentary photographer I document the world as I see it through my lens. Whether thats a mama holding her son as he takes his first breath or a father holding his daughter as she takes takes her last.
The first session I did with NILMDTS I had all sort of emotions swirling around. I didn't know what to expect or what to do or say or how to act. I stood there frozen, looking at two lifeless 23 week old twin boys who were just born too early to survive. My heart wanted to explode into a million pieces, but I held my composure, captured the images and went straight to my car to ball my eyes out. My brain just couldn't comprehend how to process the information it just received. I unfortunately personally know loss all too well, but those emotions and horrible memories had been cried out years ago, had been dealt with and have been stored WAY back into my memory bank as painful, distant memories.
The babies were so, so, so very tiny. but so, so, so very perfect in every way. Fully formed with toenails, eyelashes, etc. Stretched out from head to toe, they were the size of my hand, the size of my iPhone 6s+,. Literally the smallest little humans I had ever laid eyes on. They were so handsome, identical twin boys. I laid them next to one another and photographed them holding hands, something they probably inadvertently did in the womb and would have done had they lived past a few briefs moments.
There was just NO compartment in my brain to compartmentalize what photographing two 23 week old stillborn babies would look like.
The next day I told the area coordinator "I cant do this, its too hard". and he reminded me that
"Its not about me, its about the parents,
and documenting their child's legacy here on earth,
however long or short that may be."
Due to the privacy of the family, I cannot share images of the session, but in its place, look at these tiny, tiny, tiny litlte feet from "Baby A".
Photographers....please consider
volunteering as a Affiliated Photographer
Watch this video for more information about becoming a NILMDTS Affiliated Photographer
NILMDTS is a non-profit organization, Please consider
making a donation to NILMDTS
The following are excerpts from the NILMDTS website:
What is NILMDTS?
The organization was founded by Sandy Puc and Cheryl Haggard in April 2005 and called it Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep (NILMDTS) after the children’s bedtime prayer.
NILMDTS offers the gift of healing, hope, and honor to parents experiencing the death of a baby through the overwhelming power of remembrance portraits. Professional-level photographers volunteer their time to capture the only moments parents spend with their babies and gift the beautiful heirloom portraits free of charge. These priceless images serve as an important step in the healing recovery for bereaved families. NILMDTS remembrance photography validates the existence and presence of these precious babies by honoring their legacy.
NILMDTS recruits, trains, and mobilizes professional quality photographers around the world. Through NILMDTS, medical personnel are given a meaningful option to offer bereaved parents by creating remembrance portraiture for their babies.
Why was NILMDTS created?
Maddux Achilles Haggard was born on February 4, 2005, with a condition called myotubular myopathy, which prevented him from breathing, swallowing, or moving on his own. The following six days, his parents Mike and Cheryl Haggard sat by his side with questions that had no answers.
Cheryl tried to create memories of their time together using her own camera. In reviewing the pictures she captured, Cheryl said, “I saw our tear stained cheeks, our red swollen eyes, our forced smiles, and the fear in our faces as we looked into the camera.”
On the sixth day of Maddux’s young life, his parents made the excruciating decision to remove him from life support. Before they removed life support, Cheryl knew she wanted professional images of Maddux that she could hang on her wall alongside the portraits of her other children.
“Maddux deserved that space on our wall. I could not comfortably hang the pictures I had taken. The color images bring back the reality of that day. I wanted heirloom portraits as a way to remember and honor our son,” said Cheryl.
It was then, Mike called photographer Sandy Puc' to take black and white portraits of them cradling their son.
Cheryl said, “That night was the worst night of my life, but when I look at the images, I am not reminded of my worst night. I’m reminded of the beauty and blessings he brought.”
Those tender photographs documenting Maddux’s eternal connection with his parents inspired Cheryl Haggard and Sandy Puc' to create Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep in 2005 as a nonprofit organization. NILMDTS exists to give bereaved families the gift of professional heirloom portraits to bring healing and comfort.
Styled Wedding Hilton Hawaiian Village Oahu | Hawaii Wedding Film
A collaboration between Jireh Artistry, Mimi Calligraphy and local Hawaii wedding vendors Vida Chic, Vanessa Hicks Photography and She Bakes It.
I joined the Rising Tide Society last year in the hopes of connecting with other creatives outside of the photogrpahy/film world. Little did I know at the time that it would result in the meeting and collaborating with some of the most amazing creatives and entrepreneurs out across the world. The Rising tide society is:
"a community of creatives from all backgrounds and industries uniting for one reason. A movement dedicated to the people it serves, Rising Tide Society focuses on building community locally and transforming not only the creative industry, but also the world."
Susan of Jireh Artistry connected with us and wanted to collaborate on a styled wedding shoot in Hawaii so we jumped at the chance to work with her. Her vision was Romantic-Hawaiian-Wedding. Done and done. We love styled shoots because they are an awesome way to film for fun and meet, work with and showcase local vendors talent, and in this case talent from California, as Susan is building her team here in Hawaii.
Our models were Stephanie and Paul Baker, a real-life married couple. Not only were they absolutely drop-dead gorgeous, both of them....but they both have hearts of gold and were the sweetest to work with. Stephanie is no stranger to the camera, as her day job is a mermaid...yep, a mermaid, and a swimsuit model. Paul is active duty Air Force stationed here in Hawaii. As newlyweds, their chemistry together was undeniable!!! I feel extremely blessed to have met them, and now call them friends.
My dear friend Vanessa of Vanessa Hicks Photography and I got together with some super talented Hawaii wedding professionals for this styled shoot collaboration at Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu, Hawaii. The list of awesome vendors are:
Decor & Floral: Vida Chic Weddings & Events, vidachic.com
HMU: Susan, Owner of Jireh Artistry, jirehartistry.com
Photography: Vanessa Hicks Photography, vanessahicksphotography.com
Models: Stephanie and Paul Baker, Mermaid Serenity and Paul
Calligraphy: Mimi Calligraphy, instagram.com/mimivcalligraphy/
Cake: Janae Barcus, She Bakes It shebakesit.com Gown: Lulus, lulus.com
Music: The Rest of My Life by Shane Becker, licensed by Soundstripe
We had the most amazing day at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki. It was probably 90 degrees the day of the shoot, but none of us cared because we were having so much fun. It was awesome to meet Susan and see her do her magic with hair and makeup.
Behind the scenes pics from Vanessa Hicks Photography
The uber talented Susan of Jireh Atristry. Her and her team are based out of California, but are available for destination weddings in Hawaii and worldwide.
The Vida Chic team, Janea from She Bakes It and Chava, owner or Vida Chic Weddings and Events. Chava and I share an office downtown with three other gorgeous women entrepreneurs and its always a pleasure to work with her on projects. She and Janae did an amazing job at styling this shoot!
And a few behind the scenes iPhone pics
Two photographers, Jennifer Ryals Photography and Christina Sturgis Photography from our Hawaii Military Spouse Photography group came along to shoot beside Vanessa. Here they are ALL trying to get the shot at the same time at the same place.
We book a select few weddings to film each year, connect with us to see if we have your date available.
Best Friends Session | Hawaii Photographer
My daughter Raina and her bestie Kirra are inseperable. Their friendship reminds me of those I had with my besties Stephanie, Lori, Heather and Gina at that age. Back in our day there were no cell phones, so we either had to talk on the landline (that was literally stuck to the wall) or make plans for sleepover and ride bikes to one another house. Oh the "good" old days LOL.
The girls decided to do a bestie session. They spent countless hours shopping for the perfect dresses (which ended up being the same exact dress just in different colors), they thought long and hard about what location to shoot at and they made hair and makeup appointments so they would look there best.
Well, the day finally came and it was the worlds most crazy day at Ala Moana so hair and makekup took forever, and we then headed to the ONLY spot on Oahu that day that wasn't raining, which was Waimanalo Recreational Park. Of course we had a major wardrobe malfunction that had to be fixed in the nasty beach bathroom. As I waited in the car watching the camera gear, I felt the temperature drop and I could smell the raining coming. Wardrobes somewhat in tact, we knew we had little time to shoot so we headed to the foresty area where the sun is typically streaming through the trees. Not this day. It was so windy. I had to girls play and goof around and frolick through the woods but it wasn't 10-15 minutes into the session, wouldn't you know it, the rain found us as we were heading from the forest area to the beach. I snapped 4-5 frames before it down poured on us and we had to run back to the car.
At the end of the day we captured some adorable images for the girls, some headshots for their modeling portfolio, and some super cute bestie moments.
Want to capture the fun memories you have your bestie? Let's get in touch!
Dina Maternity Session | Hawaii Maternity Photographer
“The light inside of you is relentless and wants to shine and everything it touches in its path is graced.”
To say this gorgeous mama is glowing is an understatement. I mean, the sun literally shined on her and her belly wherever we went on this photoshoot.
Our gorgeous team member Dina is expecting her second baby boy and we couldn't resist but steal her away for an afternoon of photos. I mean, look at the beautiful bump! I met some of my photographer girlfriends, Jacky, Rebecca, Alexa and Gloria. downtown Honolulu and we explored downtown Honolulu with Dina and her bump until the sun went down.
I could have photographed the bump all day!
Got a bump?
We would to capture your baby bump glow in a maternity session. Contact us for more info.
Hawaii Headshots | Children's Couture Downtown Honolulu
Photography Shootouts are one of my favorite things to do with my photographer friends. The City Streets Childrens Couture shootout was hosted and styled by my two dear friends Kat Parker Photography and Sharleen Mey Photography.
My favorite thing about shootouts is there is no pressure to be perfect, and its a relaxed time to try new techniques, swap lenses with a friend, test out different poses, lighting and composition. Since the girls were young and playful, we had so much fun putting them in fun poses in not so obvious place like inside a window sill, on top of a bike rack, or hugging a lamp post for instance.
There was a large group of us at this shootout so we paired off into groups of 4-5 and took each model for 30-45 to whatever location downtown inspired us. And man, there is no shortage of cool spots to photograph downtown Honolulu, Our models Ava, Summer and Kenzie were super sweet and adorable, and so much fun to work with. A special thank you to their parents for allowing us to photograph their beautiful children.
And can we just talk about these dresses for a second? Ummmm, two words...tulle...and...lace. Yes and Yes!
And a few behind the scenes of the photographers doing their thang!
Hawaii Birth Collective Launch Party and Art Exhibit, April 7, 2017
Its no secret that I adore documenting births! Witnessing a birth is such an honor and truly one of the most magical things to be a part of. I consider it an honor to be in the sacred space of my clients. I love watching couples become families and watching their baby take their first breath and welcome them to the world outside the womb. I even love getting that 3am call because of the rush of excitement I feel about being a part of such a special event. My "job" (if you can even call it that LOL) is incredibly rewarding.
My dear friend Amber, of Amber DeCicco Photography, feels the same way. We met in 2016 and began working together that fall. Through co-working, we realized we both shared the same passion about documenting births. Many of our conversations centered around how much we loved documenting births, longing to photograph and film more of them, joking that we should just show up at a hospital and ask who was in labor, and ask if they'd let us photograph their birth! Here we are at Surfers at one of the very first meetings we had about the collective....its where it all began!
Through our working together, we eventually came up with a plan to form a birth collective together. It was formed originally as a way for us to work together as a team of birth documenters, and a way to give our birth families the assurance of knowing who their backup photographer/filmmaker was, but it evolved into something even greater.
Our hope for our collective is to bring together some of our favorite birth workers on the island to provide an excellent resource for expecting families. A community of Hawaii birth professionals embracing the beauty of birth through photography, connection, resources, inspiration and community support. We are in the beginning stages of the collective, but are so excited to see where it goes. Check out our website www.hawaiibirthcollective.com to get to know the amazing birth professionals we love working with!
We're excited to celebrate with our supporters and would love for you to come out and enjoy an evening with like-minded individuals, so.....
WE'VE SCHEDULED A LAUNCH PARTY FOR OUR
HAWAII BIRTH COLLECTIVE!
We'll have birth photography displayed, pupus, beer and wine and a giveaway! So grab a friend and come on out!
The exhibit and party will be in Chinatown, within walking distance to all the First Friday art exhibits so you can wander from gallery to gallery after you come and say Hello :) We are so excited to share the beauty of birth with you, and sincerely hope you can make it out! Here are the details:
HAWAI'I BIRTH COLLECTIVE
LAUNCH PARTY + FIRST FRIDAY ART EXHIBIT
APRIL 7, 5–9 PM
1110 Nu’uanu Ave, Honolulu
Art . Pupus . Wine . Giveaways
RSVP to the exhibit here
Check out our website for more information: www.hawaiibirthcollective.com
Chef Affron will be providing pupus: www.affronssoulfood.com
and our sponsor, Real Office Centers, will be providing the alcohol.
Here we are busy little bee's curating the show, a little sneak peak of some of the amazing birth photography we will feature at the exhibit.
The Sweet Rain Media Team
The Sweet Rain Media Team - Noelle, Dina, Lisa, Amber
Being an business owner can be lonely. For years, I thought I could "wear all the hats" and juggle it all. WRONG! Over the years I have learned its WAY more fun with friends and together we can move mountains.
Being an introvert did not serve me well in the first few years of business. I thought I could do it all alone, I could be both a creative and business minded person all rolled up in one and make it all happen on my own. Wrong again. It wasn't until about three years into my business I realized that having a great team around you is key to success.
These girls have been by my side, behind the scenes, helping make all magic happen and keeping me sane.
Whether they are second shooting for me, assisting on a shoot, doing admin stuff, editing, or acting as my backup if we have multiple events on the same day....they are a vital part of the success of SRM and this business would be where it is today without them.
Not only are they amazingly talented in their own right, they are genuinely awesome people. Click on their names below to see for yourself how extremely talented each of them are, they are business owners and, well, just super awesome ladies!
Noelle
Amber
Lisa
Dina
On any given project, whether photography or video related, you will meet two or more of us. We love hanging out together, and well, we are all pretty awesome in our own right...its just how we roll.
A team is not a group of people that work together, a team is a group of people who trust each other. And I trust these ladies whole heartedly!!
And we are better together than I could
EVER be on my own.
I've heard it said that you should find a group of people who inspire you and spend lots of time with them. It helps you grow. It helps you get out your head and out of your own way!
"Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much"
Helen Keller