The results are in from the Professional Photographers of America International Photographic Competition. This was my first time entering at this level and I’m excited and honored to have 3 images receive Blue Ribbon Merits and 1 image accepted in the prestigious “Loan Collection”. The 3 images are below. As always, thank you for your support and encouragement.
This month Laura and her girls are in the blog. Four beauties…and another one on the way!
I’m learning so much from each mother that I spotlight through our Honoring Mothers project. I’m even learning from their children. I love the dynamics between siblings. Its sweet to quietly watch as they play and laugh and also take care of each other. And it’s even nice to see them argue and struggle too…as that is part of being a sibling. I think we learn about how to interact with our peer and friends through interacting with our siblings. It’s like a “safe zone” because all is forgiven moments later.
These beautiful girls laughed, played, smiled, and even argued during our session. And they wiggled their way right into my heart. As Laura said, “they are more alike than different.”
On December 7, 2010, I gave birth to my beautiful daughters, Jillian and Leah. Jillian was born first and before Leah was born, doctors had expressed concern about Jillian. I was told that they suspected Jillian had Down Syndrome or maybe just “looked squished” because she was a twin. She was brought to the NICU for testing. Doctors stated that they thought she had Down Syndrome because of her “abnormal” features. After I was situated in the recovery room, the nurses asked if I wanted to see my daughters. I said yes but secretly hoped they would bring Leah first because I was so nervous to see Jillian. Nurses described Jillian as looking “abnormal” which terrified me. The nurses did bring Leah first but shortly after arrived with Jillian. The nurse handed her to me and I immediately fell in love. Jillian looked up at me with her big blue eyes. She was so beautiful.
Almost four years later, Jillian has grown into an adorable, funny, sweet preschooler. She attends public preschool and is in an inclusion classroom with her sister. Although sometimes it takes her a little longer, Jillian is able to do everything that a typical child can do.
Being mom to a special needs child is no different than being a parent to a typical child. In our family, Jillian is treated the same as her sisters. Is Jillian a challenge? Yes, of course, so is every three year old. I’ve learned to realize that Jillian is more like other children than different. My biggest fear when Jillian was born was what the future would hold for her. She has taught me that nothing is impossible and with her strong-willed personality there is nothing that she can’t accomplish.
When my second child, my oldest daughter, Kristen, was 3 ½, she needed brain surgery to stop her seizures. Although the brain surgery stopped her seizures, it left her developmentally delayed and physically challenged. But, she is now happy and healthy and amazes me each and every day, as do my other 3 children – Justin, Caitlyn and Shannon, each in their own way.
My life is not so different that anyone with a couple of kids. It is a balancing act – each child has schoolwork and their own activities so I am pulled in many directions, hopefully not too many at the same time. The only difference is that some of those directions are to physical therapy appointments and the fact that Kristen was in an out-of-district school for many years, sometimes giving me 3 different school calendars to keep track of. Although, this year, for the first time in 8 years, all my kids are in the same school, if only for 1 year. I’m thankful for the little things that make life easier.
I’m sure anyone with teenagers knows, these years are crazy and wonderful and I’m going to be both extremely proud and a little sad when my oldest leaves home next year to go to college. Their childhood goes by so quickly; I’m just trying to cherish each and every moment.
I am about half way through photographing the mothers in this portion of the Susan Ogar Photography Honoring Real Mother’s Project. I have met such wonderful people as I create these images. I am enjoying seeing (and feeling) the love between mothers and their children. Jessica, the mother featured in today’s blog post has been extremely supportive of the project and has inspired me to take it to another level…more on that to come.
In the meantime, here are Jessica and her two beautiful daughters–Bella and Violet….
I love summer. LOVE summer. And as a child and family photographer, I have fallen in love with photographing families in a summer garden. There are some amazing local gardens and I continue to expand my own garden studio. Look at that…I somehow became an amateur gardener along the way. …which is handy because I love summer. Did I mention that?
Susan Ogar is a Northborough, MA based family photographer serving the MetroWest and Boroughs area including Southborough, Westborough, Sudbury and Hopkinton.
The Susan Ogar Photography Mothers Project truly started when one of my sweetest clients, Melanie, suggested I read an article in the Huffington Post about mothers not getting into pictures with their kids. Mothers who felt too self-conscience about their extra baby weight or some other flaw they saw in themselves to have a photograph taken with their children. They were missing out. Their children would grow and change and it was a real loss to not have these photos…. I started to encourage my clients to get in the picture. Mothers with small children, mothers of high school seniors…all mothers.
The project has grown and evolved in amazing ways over the past two years. If you have been following the blog, you know that my high school friend Heather was my inspiration for the second part of this project—focusing on Mothers whose children have special needs.
This past week I photographed 3 remarkable mothers with children who have special needs…Each with their own story. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and getting to know each one. I look forward to posting about them in the coming weeks. As I was driving to a session yesterday in the late afternoon sun, it struck me that I feel as if the project is beginning to come full circle. I also photographed other clients throughout the week (not for the project)…those mothers had their own stories as well. One was a generational session which included a young daughter, mother and grandmother. Another was a beautiful mother of 3 who wanted me to photograph her children in front of a special tree in their yard. She went on to explain that she and her family had planted this tree in honor of their baby who died 1 day before she was delivered. As she spoke, my eyes instantly filled with tears.
The journey we take as mothers is unscripted and unpredictable. The road is often rough and we may stumble along the way. There are so many shining moments that we all celebrate. There are also many quiet, solemn moments that remain unspoken. It made me think about how every mother (every person) has so much going on inside that the world around them doesn’t know about. I was touched that she shared this intimate, personal tragedy with me. I saw her as a beautiful and capable mother of three sweet kids…which she is. The idea that she struggles through the pain of the loss of a child overwhelms me.
And as I write this, Melanie, the mother who unknowingly started me on the journey two years ago sits beside her daughter’s bed at NYU Hospital while wires and monitors follow her brain activity for seizures. Her beautiful, spirited young daughter is suddenly struggling with a form of epilepsy. It’s not fair. It kills me to imagine how tired, worried, and scared this mother is. She is also full of love. And I believe she thankfully has a network to support her and her family.
Today I’m more energized than ever to share the stories of mothers through words and images. Please support the mothers around you as they support their children. Thank you.
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I am thrilled with the response to my Honoring Real Mothers Project! Just one month ago I posted that I was looking to photograph a small group of mothers with their special needs children (and all of their children.) Please take a look at that post:
http://justsodesigns.blogspot.com/2014/04/honoring-mothers.html
Here is a small piece, “As mothers, we all love our children, encourage our children, and fight for our children. How we go about that day-to-day might look very different. Some are encouraging their little ones to be brave enough to make a new friend, try out the goalie position in soccer, or read out loud in class. Others are navigating the world of special services and health care. We all strive to provide the best and most meaningful life possible. And to show them the love that is in our hearts.”
Thank you to everyone who contacted me! I’m happy to announce that I have booked several sessions and am finalizing the dates and details with the others. I have so enjoyed speaking with each of the mothers and getting to know a little more about their children. Above is a special duo who will be part of the project. This time around we will get portraits of this beautiful mom, Liora, with both of her amazing children.
It is with an unbearably heavy heart that mention the loss of a special boy. Nicolas has gone to be with the angels. His mother, my childhood friend, is the inspiration for this project. I was to take their portraits later this month. Nicolas lost his brave battle with Batten Disease early Friday morning–which was also his 11th birthday. To learn more about Nicolas and Batten Disease, please visit Our Promise to Nicolas.
When I heard about Nicolas’ passing on 2 days ago, I thought maybe I should cancel the project. Then, after a little thought, I’ve decided that I’m more motivated than ever to share the stories (and images) of all moms!
As part of the year-long project, I will include a fundraiser in honor of Nicolas and research and awareness for Batten Disease. If you would like to schedule Real Mothers Portrait Session (which can include your whole family), a portion of the session fee will be donated.
Please find a special way to honor the mothers in your life today.
Happy Mother’s Day.
Over the past several years, I have been inspired by an amazing group of women. It is a group we all know–one way or the other. Many of us are in this group ourselves. If we aren’t, we certainly know many who are…Mothers.
Last year I was inspired by an article I ready about mothers getting “into the picture” with their kids. Too many among us are self-conscious and miss the opportunity to get precious photographs with our children while they are still young. I spent the year encouraging mothers to get right in there in front of my lens with their little ones. It’s been a wonderful experience. Moms, Give Your Child a Treasure. You.
During the Winter Olympics, Proctor & Gamble created and Ad that is an amazing tribute to mothers of athletes. I’m sure many of you have seen it. It was about picking your child up, literally and figuratively and sometimes being the only one to keep them going.
Watching this ad, reminded me of a childhood friend of mine whose son has special needs. She literally picks him up so that he can experience the world around him. Her son is just 4 months older than my own. It all seems unreal to me. All of a sudden, it hit me that as mothers, we do everything we can for our children—whether they are Olympians or children with special needs. At that moment, with some added inspiration from an amazing Connecticut photographer, Lynn Damon, I realized that I wanted to pay tribute to mothers of all types through my photography.
As mothers, we all love our children, encourage our children, and fight for our children. How we go about that day-to-day, might look very different. Some are encouraging their little ones to be brave enough to make a new friend, try out the goalie position in soccer or to read out load in class. Others are navigating the world of special services and health care. We all strive to provide our children the best and most meaningful life possible. And to show them the love that is in our hearts.
I often create photography projects and goals for myself to keep improving my craft…and building on what I love….Capturing Moments in Life. My goal is to photograph 5 to 10 mothers who have a child (or children) with special needs in the spring and summer of 2014. I’d like to feature them with all of their children, if possible. I hope to capture their unconditional love for each other. Some of these children may have visible special needs while others may not to be obvious in a photograph. Part of this project is to provide these images to the families and also to encourage all mothers to “get in the picture” with their children. Another part is to create a fundraiser for children with special needs. Mother’s Day 2014 will be the kick-off of the project.
Please contact me if you know of a mother who would like to be involved. info@susanogarphotography.com
Also, please visit Our Promise to Nicholas to learn more about one family’s story and struggle with a rare neurodegenerative disease called Batten Disease. Nicholas and his family are a true inspiration and will be featured in the Honoring Real Mothers Project.
More to come…
“We built this city, we built this city on rock’n’roll”…Starship performed the song, and the local music video channel, V66 out of Framingham, created a local video to go to the song. The video, circa 1985, displayed scenes all over Boston including the CITGO sign outside of Fenway Park….. Hundreds of times as a preteen, I thought to myself, “we built this city on rock and roll…”
As an adult today, I don’t think we built Boston on rock ‘n’ roll—not exactly. We built this city on love….love for music, love for freedom, love for education, love for tradition…and just plain love for each other.
Boston is my city. Many of us lay claim to this great city—and the more the merrier as far as I’m concerned. After living in the Boston area for 40 (yes 40) years and in Boston proper for 10 years, this is my city.
Tonight, as I think of the city’s spotlight event, our marathon, our beautiful Boston Marathon, being tarnished by violence, it makes me unbearably sad—and mad. We built this city. No one has the right to tear it down. It’s not always easy to live in Boston. It’s expensive. The parking is difficult. The accent is harsh. The driving is crazy. The weather is a challenge. Once you accept these things, you are in. And once you become a Bostonian, you are family. It’s a big, huge, dysfunctional family. I am so proud to be part of it.
The marathon is our passage to spring. We clean up our yards after months (and months) of snow and then we settle in to watch the runners—up close in person—or through Jack William’s eye’s on TV. When we are there, we cheer for the runners…not just the leaders, but for all the runners. Even as a child, I understood that this was one race that was not just about the winners. It’s a complex concept for a kid. The magnitude of the runners running for causes such as Dana Farber and Liver Cancer is so much more important than who actually wins. All the runner are winners and they all inspire me. I used to yell from the sidelines of Comm Ave in my Boston College years to each passing runner, “You amaze me. You beat the hills. You’ve got this girl…” to random strangers. I would have tears of pride in my eyes. I know…it sounds sappy, but it’s the honest truth. And then I’d see the Hoyts. I have no words for their story. It tells itself. They are Boston.
I’m not sure how the investigation will all pan out, but I certainly hope the guilty are brought to justice. The 3 people who lost their lives on Monday represent all of us Bostonians. It could be any of us. I was that student watching the marathon on a beautiful April day, my son is that boy who plays hockey and baseball and was ready for the new little league season to start. My friends were running and their spouses and children were watching and cheering them on. It could have been any one of us. I brought my two babies right to the finish line on Boylston a few years back—still in their stroller. It could have been us. It could have been any one of us….We are Martin. We are Lu. We are Krystle. And we are Boston.
Don’t mess with my town. I live here and I love here. My parents lived and loved here before me. It’s a real town—made of real people. I love Boston. We are Boston!