Lil' Heroes - Firefighters!

August 24 and 25th will be Lil' Heroes - The Firefighters edition.
This is such a cute set and always produces great images. Last year, we had twins, a boy and a girl. Let me tell you, she was just as excited to pull on the turnouts and hold the ax as her brother was.

This year has been really busy for all our volunteer firefighters in the area. Mention this blog, and the name of your favorite firefighter and get $10 off your session fee.

Africa Trip - Post 4

Ann and Talia removing molds for water filter

Water filter day. We were picked up in the morning by Ann and Todd Zeim to go out to their workshop. They are an amazing and interesting couple, the kind you could hang out with for hours and never run out of things to talk about. They started their work eight years ago in Tanzania, but have just recently moved from Dar Es Salaam to Morogoro. We were greeted by  Jacob and Esau - their two lovely dogs. Then the two affectionate cats. I know, strange that I write about the pets that people have there, but it was nice to feel that part of home. Pet ownership allows some missionaries some "American normal".  Then the crew of Tanzanian workers that build the filters.  I cannot remember all their names, but a few spoke English and talked to us quite a bit. Paul was a young man that helped us with our Swahili, and took pictures with us and of us sifting sand for the filter construction. We started out cleaning the cement from the molds after they lifted the cement filters out of them. Talia took a wrench and helped take them apart. Then we scrubbed them down till we got the okay that they were good. Another  "amazing race" experience. Very fun though.

Talia was feeling sick from her doxycycline again, so she went inside with Simon and entered data into an Excel spreadsheet for Ann. I painted filters, and took photos. Ana, the cook, was making ugali so we took more photos. Time to eat, and we had the ugali, beans, and greens - even better than the same we had at the restaurant the night before. After lunch we sat through the seminar that every filter recipient must attend to get a filter. To get a filter, they must be invested in it somewhat. They must be willing to take the time to learn about water safety, how germs are spread, and that diarrhea is not " normal" for anyone. They must pay about $15 for the filter and installation and training of how to use it. $15 dollars is a lot for most families, but over the years, Ann and Todd learned that without really wanting a filter bad enough to save a little for it, the filters would go unused after a short time. There is just something about being invested that makes you take pride in what you have. Not just a Tanzanian thing - it is a people thing. People from all over came to the workshop, and some bought and some didn't, but everyone left more educated on how to stay healthier, and techniques to use to make their water safer even if they did not get the product SON INTERNATIONAL provides. Everyone also left knowing that there are people in America that think enough of them to donate to SON so they can provide clean water. And everyone left having heard that they do it to show the love of Jesus. The participants are not required to be Christian, are nor asked to jump through any religious hoops. That impressed me.

We got home about 6:30 and decided to go out for pizza, something familiar for us. Dena invited her friend Kristin and her Masai friend, Tisho, and we had a great time. Tisho was not in his traditional cattle tending tribal clothing, just t shirt and jeans like any other University student. Some of his family owned the restaurant BLACK WHITE where we enjoyed wearing our jeans about as much as our pasta and pizza. It was a nice laid back place, friendly to westerners, but still local enough not to be a tourist spot by any means - perfect. Kristen is from Iowa and works with the Lutheran church in Morogoro. She had been a guide/translator for a medical mission team from Arkansas and Oklahoma the week we met her. Other duties and stories were told around working with children in a Sunday School type situation. I love hearing how people end up where they end up. The night ended with us exhausted, but wanting to hear more from Tisho and Kristen. We got to spend some more time with Kristen later on, but that is another post...

A Special Location Session

Such Tiny Hands

Sunday, I was invited to photograph at Arkansas Children's Hospital. I have photographed there twice before with my own beautiful neices and treasure those photos. But this time was for Brielle - not really my neice, but my neice - in - law's neice.  Brielle is finally two months old, but was born about 4 months early. She is still less than 4 pounds, but growing and gaining rapidly now.

Africa Trip, Post 3



Fresh Bananas from the yard.

When we returned from the market, *Seth was ready to cut some green bananas from the tree in Dena's yard. We took a picture of him cutting them down. *Seth was happy to be photographed. Turns out, he is a photographer too. He photographs weddings and parties, especially the coming out 15 year old parties and pre wedding send off parties that are a BIG deal. He says the families all pool their money together for the party, and they last from early Saturday till late Sunday.  We talked a long time while he peeled and boiled the green bananas to mix with boiled potatoes. What he cooked was very good, and I think it helped settle Talia's stomach some. I think it was the best meal we had there. When I return in three years, going to visit *Seth on his mountain top and eat boiled green bananas is at the top of my list...but more about that mountain top in another post.

Cooking green bananas.

Shadrack and Sospeter, carvers, came to show us their wares at Dena's home. I have to say, I truly appreciated this kind of shopping Dena had set up for us. The market experience where everyone was trying to get my attention to get me to buy THEIR goods was exhausting. I bought several things for everyone back home. Shadrack spoke very good English and knew a lot of American nuances and culture. He gave me a  hug - which is not done there, how odd that is to me. He came back the next day to bring me a bracelet, and a few more things I had Dena call him and tell him I wanted. I think he is a good business man, charismatic to the Americans and jokes around. Yes, I bought a lot from him because of it. I can appreciate the "experience" of the sell. I wear the bracelets almost every day. I like to use them to remind me of the good people I was blessed to meet, and I felt a connection to Shadrack and his ambition to learn another language, and cultural nuances to help his business.

The Carvers and their wares.

We went and had a soda at the store next door an enjoyed it under the umbrella. I think the shop keeper lady made the men sitting there move for us. An old man with a cane came by and asked us for a soda, which we bought for him. He drank it, came and said thank you many times and did the sign of the cross. He had walked from town and probably had another two hours to go up the mountain before home. That soda was his dinner for the night. I was glad we could do that for him. It can be tricky balancing a simple act of buying a man a soda, without reinforcing the belief that white residents there should do that for everyone all the time.

Ana cooking ugali.

It is hard for me to tell age in Tanzanian people. Most of the men I met were much older than they looked to me, a man of 45 looked 30 to me easily. But I think the women age quicker. They marry young usually, have children young, work so hard carrying water, caring for babies, cooking everything from scratch, tending to the garden and maybe a few farm animals, doing all the housework manually, and many times have jobs too. I have a hard time keeping my home clean with washing machine, dryer, running water, vacuum, and all the other luxuries we have readily available to us here. We eat out many times when we think we are just too tired to cook. SPOILED is what we are, and that is okay, I just appreciate it more now.

*Some names have been changed to protect the privacy of the wonderful people that welcomed me into their culture.

New for Seniors of 2013

We have decided to take a fresh new approach to Seniors this year.
So we have started every senior this year with a preconsultation before we even make the photo session appointment. I need to know what the senior and parent is really looking for in their session. If it is a certian place - that place is going to look better or worse at different times of day or year. We talk about clothing and what photographs best, what to bring, what accessories they will want to remember to bring. We talk about what is important to them - what they do, sports, family, motorcycles, music, ect. It gives me a chance to think about the session and prepare so I can deliver images that will meet expectations. So many times in the past, I have ended up scheduling a second mini session because when the senior got to his/her session, and we actually got to talking, it was not the right time of day, or conditions to set up a shot they really wanted.
We also discuss what products are available, what comes in the Senior Portrait Collections, pricing and payment plans. We have bonuses available at different purchasing points, and we go over what specials are available. We also talk about eligibility to be in the drawing for a $1000 scholarship given by Hardgrave Photography.
With all this done, we can set up the photo session appointment for the the time that is going to work best for the senior's schedule. When it is time for the session itself, all the paperwork and planning are already taken care of, and we can jump right into creating amazing images.

Check out our Youtube Channel to see more of  our senior work, then give us a call to set up a preconsult.  479-885-3835.

Africa Trip, Post 2

There is a group of women at our church that make prayer shawls, and when they found out we were going to see Dena, they got busy crocheting and praying, to give us the opportunity to deliver theses as gifts to the wonderful missionaries that have chosen to serve in Tanzania, along side Dena. They also gave me one that I drug through the airports, kept close by me on the plane, and slept with every night. It was a wonderful comfort. So our first day of life with adjusted time zones, we went to Shawna's home first and met her and Emily, the teacher of the missionary children. They loved their shawls.
Next was a tour of the Pioneer Bible Translators office where we met Lynne who works in the office, mans also maintains the library of English books and movies the missionaries can check out. Shawna showed us around and we got to peek  in on the translation teams working away in the six languages they are working on right now. Currently they are working on Hebrews. Coming back from the school to get the car, we saw baboons playing . Then onto a video tour of downtown Morogoro for Rita (Dena's mom). We saw lots of school children in proper uniforms walking home. In all the schools, they must have proper uniforms to go to school.

We stopped at Pira's, an import grocery store where American foods can be found. We spoke with the shop owner and he was saying that to own a store like Kroger is his dream, with rows and rows of products - his store had two rows. He carried  lot of the brand name foods we have here though. A box of cake  mix was about $7, and a bottle of Absolute Vodka was only about $20. We bought neither, but saltine crackers were on our list. Talia's malarial prevention treatment of doxycycline was making her queasy. I think there has to be better treatments that I will look into next time. We stopped at a carvers right outside the import store and got two little girraffs.

Then onto the market. Spices piled up, rice, beans, fruits, onions, potatoes, pineapples, everything in little stalls. It reminded me of the old flea market stalls, like on the way to Hot Springs. Vendors came up to us asking for us to buy from their stalls. Kids also worked to get us into their family's shopt, but not as young as I have seen in other places. Dena maneuvered us through the allies and shops to find all the things we went there for. We asked a couple of vendors if we could photograph their space, they were reluctant, but agreed as long as they were not included in the photo.  We kept the camera out and just shot what was allowed. It is a little odd being a photographer, but yet wanting to make sure you are not culturally offensive, nor leaving behind a bad association that will damage the missionary work and relationships that are being built. The photographer side of me wanted to capture those exotic faces and expressions. I wanted to be able to portray in photos everything my eyes were seeing. But, as I learned over and over again, it really was not about ME and my wants. Don't get me wrong, it was a great lesson that we all need from time to time, and  This was not a tourist at the zoo trip. These are real people that need and deserve respect of their wishes. I am pretty sure if someone that looked really different, acted odd, and pointed a camera at me, even when I asked them not to, I would feel pretty violated. I had plenty of opportunities later to photograph people who did want to be photographed.

But more about that later.

Popcicle Palooza at Hardgrave Photography

Summertime means sweet popcicles melting to cool off sweet kids.
This Children's Promo has special collection prices starting at $99.
Clothing reccommended for this promo would be jean shorts and plain white or other solid color tank tops for boys, or jean shorts and a simple t-shirt or bathing suit for girls.
Give us a call at 479-885-3835 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting FREE 479-885-3835 end_of_the_skype_highlighting to reserve your session time for the special session price of only $15. Availability is limited.