The day was crisp and promising as we prepared to photograph our much anticipated Down syndrome portrait event. We arrived to the location eager to meet our subjects for the day. First up was little miss sunshine. She shared her contagious personality from the start and gave of herself graciously. She warmed my heart with each click of the shutter and of each of her “will light up the world” smiles. She shared her true personality and didn’t hold anything back. Truly a perfect way to start the day.

Meet Miss Audrey. I will forever hold photographing her in my heart and continue to feel her genuine hug wrapped around me.

Ok, so I have a lump in my throat and my palms are sweaty as I type this part about sharing the most beautiful letter that I received from Audrey’s mom, who was celebrating her birthday on the day of the portrait event. I don’t know that I’m worthy of her writings, but I have to admit that I’ve cried a few times reading it and LOVE that she gets it! She really gets it! So feel free to read on, she’s Ok with it, as am I. For me, humbly so of course!

Dear Jenna,

I’m Audrey’s mom, Katrina, from the Ds Appreciation Portrait Event.  There are so many things I’ve wanted to share with you and Andre since that day, I don’t even know where to begin. 

I have to tell you Jenna, that I was overwhelmed when I first went onto your website, saw your beautiful work, and read a little about you on your blog.  My sister Karen (who lives in Santa Fe) is also a self-taught, beautiful soul, photographer, so I have a deep appreciation for what a special gift you have.  What I felt as I looked at picture after picture, before I had even had a chance to read anything you had written on your blog, was exactly what you later wrote about your experience photographing the children for the Portrait Event.  It is obvious that you do touch people on a deep level; you just open a little window (knocking first, of course) and look inside to their inner beauty and uniqueness.  Jenna, I cried like a baby, and do every time I think about what you wrote on your blog when you said, “Music plays in my head, we begin our conversation in our secret language . . .”  You have no idea – well, maybe you do, ’cause you’re you – but that is the kind of gift of great composers like Mozart and Beethoven, only you see and create, where they heard and composed.  Not to sound “woo-woo” or anything, but it just grabbed my heart to know that about you, and I so totally wanted to have the opportunity to have Audrey behind your lens.   As her mother, I feel so much love for her that I’d give anything to be able to capture in an image what you can, so I could show others what I see through my eyes.  So when you emailed that we were going to get to be in the photo shoot, I had to stand up and walk around and then sit back down, if you know what I mean!!
 
I felt like a star-struck fan when I met you and Andre, and the funniest thing just popped out of my mouth; I said to Andre that it isn’t often that you have the opportunity to meet someone who sees and appreciates the uniqueness and beauty of your child, and actually wants to spend time with them.  Watching the two of you work also made me cry.  It was beautiful.  I’m only halfway kidding you when I say that I’ll just bet if I had a little bit more of a discerning eye, I would probably be able to see the aura that radiates from you both.  Maybe it’s just your inner happiness, your joy for life – “your zeal” . . . but I’ll just bet that when I get to see an angel, I’ll see that same light shining from inside them.
 
AND THEN, after I had tried several times to sit down and comment on your blog, I got the link to the “Behind the Scenes” clip.  Oh boy, there I went again.  Crying like a baby.  But it wasn’t just me; my husband Michael watched it and tears rolled down his cheek as well.  That was validating for me.  I emailed it to all of my family and closest friends.  But honestly, while I received back nice comments from most, I knew and could tell that the emotion the images and the music evoked come more from a place of “knowing,” deep inside, what the life of a parent of a special child like ours is like.  Not only knowing their child’s unique beauty, but the other side as well – all of the difficulties, prejudices, lack of understanding and compassion from people who lack information, and a desire to know.  ARD meetings instead of ballet class, therapies instead of sleep overs, and a hundred other emotions.  Having that experience in my back pocket makes my appreciation of your vision all the more so.  I cannot wait to see all of the images you captured, because I want them all around my house.  But I have to tell you, the image that is imprinted in my brain and on my heart came from the video clip where the light was behind Audrey as she was bending forward and the breeze was blowing her hair and the light was shining behind her.  It was so beautiful!  Even my son commented on it, and he’s not one to dish out compliments, that boy!
 
One of your friends probably said it best when she said that you are such a gift to the disability community.  Like, yeah, and THEN some!!  Thank you, Jenna and Andre, so very, very much for sharing your love and your gifts with us parents.  This opportunity was a huge blessing and the best birthday present I’ve ever had!!!
 
Bless you both and your precious family,
Love,
Katrina Adams

Thank you Katrina for sharing such a beautiful email with me. It touched my heart in more ways than you know. It validated so much for me and gave me more fuel to work for my goal of sharing the beauty of children with Down syndrome with the world. I am forever grateful for your time and participation, but most of all for you sharing your beautiful daughter with us!

awe, we couldn’t help ourselves. after returning from a wonderful morning with the Neff family, we just had to share this sweet sneak peek of the adorable Laiken. i wanted to keep her all for myself, but mom and dad weren’t having it. more to come in a few weeks.

just a little teaser from our wedding with the hilarious Quigley’s from down under. (Sorry Charla & Chris I just had to say it.) More to come soon.

As parents of a child with Down syndrome (Ds) it captivated us to look into familiar eyes, for our Ds Appreciation Portrait Event, doing our best to capture the true beauty of each person for who they are.  After we finished our long but thrilling day, we rushed home to review the photographs.  Warmth filled our hearts to see how amazing these special Gifts truly are.  It allowed us to reflect on how much one extra chromosome has changed our lives, entirely…for the better!  

We have been so privileged to go on this exhilarating roller coaster ride of emotions and self reflections to end-up in a new world almost everyday. What an adventure she has taken us on so far!!! We know that it’s only the beginning and we can’t wait to see how else she will help us evolve in this short life that we live. Only a few are chosen to be a part of this special adventure. We are the LUCKY ones!

We have never seen as much beauty in life and the pureness of a moment until our daughter “rocked our world”.  She has opened our eyes and hearts to a whole new existence that is filled with more joy and love which can never be expressed in words or actions to its fullness. FickleZeal was born because of Lana and all her glory. To be honest my favorite subjects are people with Down syndrome. It’s photographing their incredible beauty and going on the journey of awe and wonder with them. Each shoot is new and each person is unique. More than that each one of them brings out an inner part of me that I didn’t know existed. They awaken a better me!

Andre decided to get some video clips with our point and shoot camera just “cause”. And that just “cause” has turned into this lovely behind the scenes tribute to our day and every lovely person we photographed.

Thank you all for coming out and allowing us to capture your beauty! Photographing you gave us such joy and excitement. You are all dear to us!

In honor of World Down Syndrome Day (Mar 21), we wanted to spend time capturing the beauty of people with an additional 21st chromosome.  So last weekend we were so excited and LUCKY to spend our day with 12 remarkably unique, gracious and lovely people, our daughter included.  I can’t express the joy we had getting to know and photograph each person that came out.

We’ve often said that even though people with Ds may be categorized together because they were born with an extra copy of chromosome 21 in their DNA structure, it does not define them… and this was more than evident throughout our day of shooting.

Here are our FAVS from the day:

Meet Miss A, energetic and spunky!  Perfect start of the day.

Meet Mr Josh, caring, strong, and filled with personality.

Meet Miss E, on the go & free spirited.

Meet Miss M, too cool for words.

Meet Mr M, giving & mischievous.  great combo!

Meet Miss E, pure sweetness.

Meet Miss C, knows what she wants!

Meet Mr H, cuteness overflows him.  It was crazy how much he reminded us of our Lil’ Dez.

Meet Miss K, shy but SO lovable.

Meet Miss J, talk about wit and charm.

Meet Mr M, such a flirt and conversationalist.

Meet our Little Miss Lana, all that and a bag-o-chips!

October is National (America) Down Syndrome Awareness Month.  We look forward to hosting another portrait event then, so if anyone is interested please let us know by commenting below.

Last week I had the pleasure of hanging out at Pebbles Preschool again.  It was so much fun to go back and spend time with so many of the same children that I photographed when I started my business.  I remember the first time being so nervous and giddy at the same time.  When photographing children I don’t just want the “cheese” smile, but I want the soulful smile that speaks to anyone viewing their images.  To get this I allow each child time to warm up to me and my camera.  I say silly jokes, put stickers on my forehead, play pick-a-boo from behind my camera… whatever it takes I want my shutter to capture the real “them”.  My first year I received so much great feedback that it solidified my desire to photograph children.  Their sincere innocence and  wonder melts my heart each time.

It was great that so many of them even remembered me, which made me turn to a puddle of sap, since it’s been over a year since I photographed them last.  For me this isn’t ordinary school pictures, this is a mini portrait session with each of the over 100 students that I have easily grown to love.  Check out just some of the many adorable faces that I photographed.

I’ve watched terrible zombie movies that had me crying from laughter, as I saw zombies stumble around and mutter unrecognizable words and sounds.  I thought where did they come up with this stuff?

Waking stiffly each morning after only a few hours of interrupted sleep I stumble around getting the kids ready for their day with dark circles under my eyes and my body at an awful kilter.  Attempting to get it together, I often hand Nate a cute my little pony bowl with a little purple spoon and Lana a large Star Wars bowl with Nate’s favorite silver spoon.  I confuse dates, read numbers backwards, and call Nate-Kenny, Lana-Nate, and Dez-Lana, Nate, or even Andre.  Usually one of the kids call me out with cute comments and even cuter giggles.

Thinking back I remember witnessing these characteristics and much of this behavior with my mom… and Andres’ mom.  That’s when it dawned on me that those silly movies must have been inspired by moms like me.  Real life walking zombies.  Not gross gory people with the instinct to kill, but moms in a catatonic state willing to sacrifice ego and self pride for the greater good of our family.

So, with this thought I embrace the zombie within in me and this temporary stage as I dance the days away with Michael Jackson’s Thriller blaring in my head.

Now to the photos.  Here’s my little, 3 month old, man that with his 4 nightly feedings and 3 to 5 startles is causing me to be in this catatonic state.  Oh… but don’t worry he so worth it!!!

I was working on a clients images and Dez was being absolutely adorable and I couldn’t resist seizing the moment.  I used the beautiful natural light coming from my office window and his soft white blanket which created a perfect natural reflector.  Shot with my Canon 5D Mark II and 24-70 2.8L

On Friday I was happy to enter the Robbins home to photograph their sweet little newborn Genevieve.  Little did I know that she and her big brother would steal a piece of my heart.  Their sweetness was irresistible and unforgettable.

I was so excited to walk into the Robbins home to this smiling face.

and we played… and played

until Genevieve was ready with her sweetness

being 5 weeks old she was alert and didn’t want to go to sleep so we played in her moms sock drawer… then she relaxed… just enough!

Thank you Robbins family for welcoming me into your home to capture your beautiful family.   I had a great time and look forward to shooting you all again soon.