Free Sessions Offered for Down Syndrome Awaress Day, Autism Awareness Day
You may have seen my recent post about offering Special Needs Photography in the St. Louis area. Like I mentioned in that post, intentionally bringing this element into our photography business is a big deal for both Zac and I and there are many reasons why we’ve waited until this point to launch this part of our business. (Launch is a little dramatic but I don’t know what else to call it, so we’ll go with that.) This goes way beyond expanding our client base or finding variety in our work.
It is something that we’re committed to on a very personal level. Of all the things I can and will do with this business over the course of my career – this is one of the things, if not thee thing, that means the most to me.
It is, yes, about advocacy and awareness and support – but it’s about doing it in a different way.
I’ve no intention of standing on the proverbial mountain top and proclaiming the rights and abilities of children with any number of special needs. I could, sure, I can spin a pretty good sentence after all : )
But I’d rather show it.
I’d rather photograph the moments, the interactions, the love and the memories and weave them into everything else I show on this blog. Because that’s exactly how I feel it should be. Because this is what I do, so it’s what I can do.
And above all…we should all be dedicated to something, should believe in something, and then do what we can do.
I’ve thought a lot about how I want to make our special needs services a part of our overall business and one thing that is important to me is that the services be exactly the same. Tailored and different. But the same. Does that make sense?
Part of that means only mentioning a client’s special needs when it is relevant and serves a purpose. (And obviously, when I’ve been given permission to do so.) I’ve no intention of photographing a family and then posting a blog title “The Smith’s Family: Third kid on the right has Autism.” That isn’t going to fly here. But part of my goal is to raise awareness, so I’m hoping I’ve found a way to meet both sides of my goal.
We’re joining the effort to do something extra and celebrating the following two days:
March 21st is World Down Syndrome Awareness Day and April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day.
We’re sure to do something extra with our own personal time, but we wanted to do something extra here too. So… we’re offering 1 free session to a family/child affected by Down Syndrome and 1 free session to a family/child affected by Autism.
I only ask that we be able to blog the finished photos and a few words from your family on the appropriate awareness day.
If you’d like to be considered for one of the free sessions, please contact me at maggie@maggiemedemaphoto.com and tell us about your family! Note that the sessions will need to be shot at least a few days prior to the mentioned awareness days so that we have them ready to go on those days. The offer is open to anyone in the greater St. Louis Metro East area.
Please submit emails for consideration by March 7th for the Down Syndrome Awareness Day and by March 19 for the Autism Awareness Day. We’ll select 1 family for each awareness day and they will receive a full 1.5 hour session along a DVD of finished photos at no cost. Better wow us with those emails too…because there are basically no requirements or guidelines here. We just plan to pick the families that wow us the best. Show us what you’ve got baby!