I wanted--once again--to bring everyone's attention to the organization I vounteer for, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. This US organization supplies volunteer photographers to families experiencing an infant death, and has been featured in the Vancouver Sun and Macleans magazine this fall. I have written a brief article for Urban Baby and Toddler, a BC publication, for their winter issue. As well, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep will be profiled on Newsworld TV the evening of Dec 8.

I want everyone to speak of this wonderful organization, if you could, with one friend, and ask that your friend do the same with one of their friends. There are so very many BC parents experiencing infant loss, and I long for the day when each and every one of them will know about, and utilize if they wish, NILMDTS services. Professional photographers, volunteer all, provide sensitive in-hospital sessions and then provide a CD of images free of charge. As always, folks can find out more at: www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org.

I shot three new babies for Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep this week, and one maternity for this lovely woman featured below, T, and her sweet loving husband, M. They lost their son, Jos, last Thursday, and I know they miss him more than words can ever express.

Evangeline Grace

On the subject of Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep and parents who will be having a rough time this Thanksgiving, I wanted so much to share these images captured just last week of tiny, adorable Evangeline Grace for her grieving parents, S and R. She arrived much, much too early, at 20 weeks, suffering from Trisomy 18. There is so, so much love evident in these photographs. Her sorrowing parents just sent me this email:

I meant to e-mail you and let you know that we received the dvd. The photos are absolutely beautiful! It was such a relief to receive them because the photos we took with our own camera in the hospital are very dark and it is very difficult to make out Evangeline in them. When we saw the photos you took it brought such relief to me that I will be able to see her forever now. The NILMDTS organization and you are such a godsend. I don't think most people realize how important it is to capture these special "angel babies' on film for the parents to be able to look upon them and spend special moments thinking about their babies. We are forever grateful to you and the NILMDTS organization for making our situation just a little bit easier. My husband I are were commenting earlier how it takes a really special and caring person to do what you do and to be so kind with a warm heart and warm words; we can never thank you enough. You are a true inspiration. ...We would love to share with others the photos of Evangeline.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts,

S and R

Please, as always, feel free to leave a comment below about this or any other blog entry.

Welcome, welcome Noah Jonathan!

Noah's parents waited a very long time to welcome him into the world. Noah was diagnosed with a condition called Trisomy 13 way back in early October. His folks weren't sure whether his mom would be able to maintain her pregnancy, or not, or whether, in fact, they'd be able to meet little Noah when he arrived. His mom had quite a bit of false labour over the last week or so, and then on Friday she decided it was getting a little worse, and she called her husband to come home from work. They raced to the hospital to discover she was already 8 cm dilated, and little Noah popped out a couple quick hours later. Although his mom hadn't gone quite to term, he was still a hefty 6 lbs 8 oz. Everyone was over the moon to meet such a thriving baby boy, and thrilled that he's so well word has it the family is able to go home with Noah today.

The grannies and grampas were at the hospital to say hello and fall heads over heels in love with their new grandchild.

It was an honour and a true pleasure to be with Noah Jonathan as he said hello to this new world, and I'm so pleased to have been able to capture his sweet first moments.

If you want to see more, there is a slideshow on my portrait site on the page called NILMDTS. I photographed Noah for this great organization, based in Colorado. Please do let people know about them. For those in need, we volunteer photographers are all around the lower Mainland, and in fact dotted through all of Canada, and you can find a list of us on their site at

I also photographed Noah's mom's maternity, so if you're keen to see a few snaps from that shoot, scroll down to December 2007.

In the Early Whispering Hours

In the early hours of Christmas night, when snow fell softly across the city, Angel was born to her loving, longing and brave mama. Although the studio is closed for the holidays, I felt it was important to be there with Angel's mother as Angel joined and left their family.

I made photographs of beautiful little Angel for the organization Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, a non-profit foundation dedicated to creating infant bereavement photography. I was honoured to be with Angel's family at this difficult time in their lives. Angel was so wanted, and well loved, and will be sorely missed.

I have taken the following text from the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep website, where the sentiments are expressed more eloquently than I could possibly tender them:

Pregnancy and birth are miraculous journeys. This amazing time of life is full of mystery, anticipation, joy, hope, and wonder. Feeling the powerful energy of birth and new life, watching as a new family is born unto each other. These things humble and amaze. These are the things that we celebrate when a baby is born.


But there is another aspect of pregnancy and birth. There is an unexpected place in this journey where some families may find themselves. When a baby dies, a world is turned upside down. There is confusion, sadness, fear, and uncertainty that cannot be explained. There is sorrow where there should have been joy. During this time, it might be impossible for families to know what they might need in order to heal in the future.

This is the place where the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Foundation gently provides a helping hand and a healing heart. For families overcome by grief and pain, the idea of photographing their baby may not immediately occur to them. Offering gentle and beautiful photography services in a compassionate and sensitive manner is the heart of this organization. The soft, gentle heirloom photographs of these beautiful babies are an important part of the healing process. They allow families to honor and cherish their babies, and share the spirits of their lives.

A sad time for M and J

A couple I'll call M and J contacted me recently through the auspices of Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, for whom I shoot remembrance photography, in hopes that I'd be able to photography their newborn when he sallies forth into the world sometime in the next month. Little N has been diagnosed with the chromosomal abnormality Trisomy 13. I quote from the website livingwithtrisomy13.org:

Also called Trisomy 13 Syndrome, having a third (extra) number 13 chromosome, occurs about 1 in 5,000 live births. Trisomy 13 children have multiple abnormalities. Some include heart defects, brain defects, cleft lip, cleft palate. The most severe are visual abnormalities, omphalocele, proboscis and holoprosencephaly. Because of the many abnormalities, we believe all of these children are survivors if they reach their mothers arms. They are true miracles of life. Many only survive outside their mothers womb a few short minutes, hours or days. While others can go home and survive months. Sadly, many of the children with Trisomy13 (Patau Syndrome) do not reach their first birthday.

At 29 weeks along, M and J know they are having a son. They have an older boy, D, who is just the sweetest little guy ever. When they visited my studio on a frigid evening recently for a few maternity photographs, even though it was bedtime little D managed to be nothing but engaging for the whole hour and a half. Quite an accomplishment, I'd say, and I'm so pleased he's able to be involved with his tiny brother's life. Even if he's too young to remember all this, he'll have these photographs.

All during the session, M was feeling, and seeing big strong kicks. Little N is definitely a fighter.

I wish M and J days of peace ahead. I am honoured to be in their lives.

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

Early last week, I photographed a sad and poignant session for the important organization where I volunteer. I know I've mentioned Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep on the blog before, but I think it's worth mentioning again, especially because the word about us has not spread very widely in these parts.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep provides local volunteer photographers who will come to the hospital to do infant bereavement photography for families who are losing, or have lost, their babies. Most photographers offer not only the shoot gratis, but a slideshow set to music on DVD and a second DVD of high-resolution images. Last week I photographed a baby born early to a wonderfully warm and brave couple. Above is one of the beautiful photographs commemorating their young son.

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

Started by co-founders Sandy "Sam" Puck and Cheryl Haggard, the US non-profit organization Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep provides photography for infant bereavement sessions. We photographers volunteer our services in order that parents might remember their new little sweethearts through fine art photography long into the future.

If you know of families needing the services of a NILMDTS photographer, or of a hospital where you'd like to see the program start up, please pass along the web site link, where local photographers are listed, or if the need is for someone in Burnaby or Vancouver, have them leave a message for me at 604-435-9581.

From the NILMDTS website:

"Pregnancy and Birth is a miraculous journey. This amazing time of life is full of mystery, anticipation, joy, hope, and wonder. Feeling the powerful energy of birth and new life, watching as a new family is born unto each other. These things humble and amaze. These are the things that we celebrate when a baby is born

But there is another aspect of pregnancy and birth. There is an unexpected place in this journey where some families may find themselves. When a baby dies, a world is turned upside down. There is confusion, sadness, fear, and uncertainty that cannot be explained. There is sorrow where there should have been joy. During this time, it might be impossible for families to know what they might need in order to heal in the future.

This is the place where NOW I LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP gently provides a helping hand and a healing heart. NOW offers a vital service to our community. For families overcome by grief and pain, the idea of photographing their baby may not immediately occur to them. Offering gentle and beautiful photography in a compassionate and sensitive manner is the heart of this organization. The soft, gentle heirloom photographs of these beautiful babies are an important part of the healing process. They allow families to honor and cherish their babies, and share the spirits of their lives."