Wow…I’ve been so busy with the planning for the upcoming Haiti Benefit that I have gotten way behind on blogging sessions!  In the interest of catching up, here are a few favorites from each of 5 recent families that I’ve had the pleasure of photographing:)

Worth the hike?  You decide…!

Like me, many of you have wondered what in the world you could do to help with the recent tragedy in Haiti.  So many are suffering and dying all the way across the world without access to clean water, medical care, and shelter.  When Aviva of Aviva Photography approached me with an idea about joining with the new organization Photographers for Haiti and their project to unite photographers around the world to raise money, I jumped at the opportunity.  If you’ve been thinking about donating to Haiti, but haven’t been sure how, here is a great chance to help out!  And while you’re contributing to the cause, you’ll get to take home wonderful fine-art portraits of your loved ones.

SO…… Red Stone Photography is teaming up with Aviva Photography  to offer a total of 12 mini-sessions on Saturday afternoon, February 27th.  Here’s the skinny!

Who: Aviva of Aviva Photography and Alexis of Red Stone Photography, along with some fabulous volunteers to help our day go smoothly and provide you with at LEAST 10-15 edited fantastic family portraits to choose from!

When: February 27th, 2010. Each photographer has six 20-minute slots on the half-hour: first slot is at 3:30pm, last slot is at 6pm. RAIN DATE is Sunday, February 28th. If it rains both days, the photographers will work with the families individually to reschedule.

Why: In order to benefit Thirst Relief International, an organization that will help provide the suffering people in Haiti with the clean water they desperately need.

How Much: Sitting fee is $100+. (I say plus because clients will make out the sitting fee check DIRECTLY to Thirst Relief’s Haiti Water Project. This is tax-deductible and if you feel you’d like to give more, you can donate whatever you’d like to above and beyond $100 – that’s just the minimum.) Within 14 days of the shoot, your edited photos will be made available in an online gallery for order. 50% – FIFTY PERCENT – of the print proceeds will also be donated to Thirst Relief International by Alexis and Aviva! There are three collections available for you to choose from.

• Collection 1: $250 inlcludes (5) 4×6 prints, (2) 5×7 prints and (1) 8×10 print plus a 10% discount off any additional a-la-carte print purchases.
• Collection 2: $350 includes 1 copy of all (minimum 10-15) 4×6 prints, (2) 5×7 prints, (2) 8×10 prints, (2) sets of 8 wallet photos, and a 15% discount off any additional a-la-carte print purchases.
• Collection 3: $450 includes all (minimum 10-15) edited full-resolution files from your session on CD, plus a 20% discount on any additional a-la-carte print purchases.

Important information to know. If you’d like to book a session, email me. In that email, specify:

• Which photographer you’d like to schedule with (Aviva or Alexis–or if you don’t have a preference, we’ll place you by time)
• The size of your family (i.e. two parents + 2 children 8 and 12)
• A time preference if you have one (first-come, first served) – choices are 3:30, 4, 4:30, 5, 5:30, 6 (all 20 minutes long) – if you do NOT have a time preference, then say so

Then you will be required to mail or deliver a check to Aviva or Alexis (whomever’s closer is fine if you want to deliver it) made out to “Thirst Relief International Haiti Water Project”. If we do not receive your check within a reasonable amount of time after requesting the session, it will be given away. I promise to make every effort to get the check from you as soon as possible!

After booking, I will email you a copy of the release/collection order form. On this form, you will be asked to designate which collection you will be purchasing. You MUST purchase a collection. This will be the minimum order you will place. (for example, if you’d like to commit to the $250 collection on shoot day but love the photos when you see them and want them all on CD, you may upgrade – however you must commit to at LEAST the $250 minimum.)

ON SESSION DAY: You will be asked to bring the signed release form (or we’ll also have one there for you to sign) and to have selected a print collection for minimum purchase.

Where – this is being determined as I type this – we hope to nail down a great location for this mini-session day and want it to be as unobtrusive as possible. Therefore we are being careful in our selection. Rest assured it will be well-planned and organized!

Is your hubby deployed? It’s a mini-session! Why not take photos of you or the kids or BOTH as a surprise for him? You only want photos of your kids? Perfect! We can do that.

Want to make a donation to this cause even though you aren’t in Okinawa (**WAVING at past clients and friends and blog stalkers! YES I mean YOU!**) or even though you don’t want do do photos at this time? I’d be delighted to include you in this fundraiser! Please contact me if that’s the case.

I can’t wait for a day of FUN with all of you, and I know that if we fill all 12 slots we’ll make a minimum of $2700 for Thirst Relief international.  That right there is what it’s all about.  Questions? Email me or leave them in the comments!  Thanks everyone.

Spring is here in Okinawa!  Carmen and I met at this gorgeous field of sunflowers on a sunny morning for some maternity pictures.    Some of you may know Carmen as the illustrator of the local children’s book Takako and the Great Typhoon. For anyone who might be interested, the books can be found at the Kids Cottage on Camp Lester and the Army Gift Shop on Torii Station…if you don’t have one yet you’ll love it!  But back to the photos–I couldn not have wished for a more perfect morning or a more beautiful mom-to be…sigh…

Maternity shoots are one of my favorite things to do…it’s hard to take a bad photo of a beautiful glowing pregnant woman who is brimming with the anticipation of what’s to come. (note to especting moms:  I recommend having maternity sessions BEFORE week 36)  This session featured Laquetta, who is about to have her first son:)  We started in her home, and then took a walk to the park by the seawall and barely beat the rain!  The connection between her and her husband was unmistakable, and what a gorgeous mama-to be!

What a fun family!!! The Mizelles met me for beach/park session and specified that they didn’t want any stiff poses and liked untraditional and emotional photos.  Yay!!!  They were such a wonderfully close and funny group, it was a joy to photograph them:)

I still feel joyful when I look at these.   Thank you for trusting me guys:)

I recently went on a trip to Anchorage, Alaska and was lucky enough to get to photograph one of my old friends who now lives in Wasilla.  Heather and her daughter Faith bundled up and we headed out in the snow for some beautiful portraits in the winter wonderland around her house.  These colors make my eyes happy:)

Heather’s sister, Jeneen stopped by for a few shots with her lovely daughter as well!

Here’s a few more of Heather and her sweet one year old girl:)

And finally, just beautiful Heather and the snow!

We had very little time to get in a session before Jamie and Mike and little Caden moved to the states, but luckily we managed to catch a beautiful evening to create some family portraits to remember Okinawa by!  Caden was hesitant at first, but he really warmed up to the camera after I started singing and dancing:)

Had to get a few family shots with the dog…and what a poser he was!!!

Love father/son moments:)  A few more…

It’s Senior time again!  I met up with Corbin and his mom near their awesome house by the ocean and we walked around the neighborhood looking for Okinawa-y (that’s a word, right?) spots to take Corbin’s senior photos.  We found some great little out of the way spots and this perfect grafitti wall was right down the road!

I tried to get different sides of Corbin’s personality throughout our evening…and we ended up with quite a variety–Here’s just a few…

It was so great to meet you Corbin and Melda…good luck in everything the future holds!

I met Jim and Leonie in the AMC terminal in Yokota waiting to space A back home after a long trip to Australia this summer.  Somehow we all got all of our kiddos back on a flight, and I was really excited to see them again when they called me to schedule a session.  What a fantastic group of kids!  Everyone works together and helps out, and they are so good to each other:) 

Did I forget to mention they’re all gorgeous AND fashionable?  They selected a very nice coordinated set of outfits in pleasing colors…timeless:)

Here are some individual portraits of each of the kids…

Leonie brought a parachute, so we took a few shots with some super bright color!

What a fun family…it was such a pleasure working with you guys!!!  Good luck in your next space A adventure:)