Anais & Family

I met Mara almost 5 years ago through a mutual friend. Through out these 5 years, I have always tried to stay in contact Mara and her husband Mach. Well, we lost contact through out the last 3 years until I found Mara on Facebook a couple of months ago. The last time that we had actually gotten together was for our mutual friend's daughter's bowling party and Mara's baby Anais was barely a year old.

It was great to go through her Facebook albums and see that her daughter Anais was already 3 years old. She also had a boy, Johnny, and Mara was pregnant with baby #3.
While going through her albums, I stumbled upon a few pics that showed Anais at a Hospital receiving Chemo. My heart crumbled to pieces when I realized that Anais had been diagnosed with Leukemia. Tears came to my eyes and I wanted desperately to reach out to Mara but what does one parent say to another parent with a sick child? I continued to look at the rest of the pictures and just prayed. She was so young, a full life a head of her and yet here she is fighting a battle that she didn't see coming.

At the ending of March, Mara reached out to me. She wanted to know if I would be willing to take pictures of Anais. She told me how Anais would be undergoing another round of vigorous chemo treatments in mid-April and since Anais had been in really good spirits lately, she wanted to take the opportunity for some photos outside. I immediately wrote back and said that I would be honored to photograph Anais.

We decided to hold the shoot in Prospect Park on Easter Sunday. J accompanied me on the shoot, his second time working as my assistant....LOL. It was a beautiful morning and when I met Anais, I was completely in awe with how much energy she had. She rode her tricycle the whole way down towards the pond. She was laughing and playing, she had a blast. I tell you, her energy was contagious. Despite the harsh sunlight (the trees in the park were still bare and so there wasn't much shade being offered by the pond) I was able to not only photography Anais at play with Little Johnny, but I took some maternity shots of Mara as well as family shots.

It was truly a humbling experience for me. To see such a beautiful soul filled with so much energy I just knew that Anais was a fighter. She isn't giving up her battle and I know she will live a long a healthy life. Anais, thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to meet you. I admire your strength and positive energy. Thank you Mara and Mach for making my Easter Sunday an unforgettable one.

Here are my favorite shots of the day!























I invite you all to visit Anais's website where you can read journal entries on her cancer journey, please take a look and pass on the site to anyone that may be interested in her story.

Big Hugs,
Judie

Photo Fun with Lauren

The last time Lauren and I got together was in the fall for a quick lunch at Toscas, a delicious Italian Bistro in the Bronx. We both have been super busy and just haven't had the time to get together and catch up until last Saturday. We headed over to Nathan Blaney's studio so that I could take some photos of her for her new website. This trip to Nathan's made it extra fun for me since he was totally giving me the opportunity to use his photo studio and his collection of lenses :-) So let's just say it was a play date of sorts...lol.

Nathan, it was a pleasure to finally meet you!! Thank you so much for all your advice and continued support. Hi Kathy!! Girl, that crumb cake was ridiculously delish!!

Lauren, I had a wonderful time finally catching up with you. I miss you already!! Love you girl!

And now, here is the end result of our play date!

















Check out Lauren's latest website here!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Judie