First, I would like to thank everyone that has shared the original blog post about Heather, the link to donate and everyone that has donated money towards Heather’s heart surgery.
Thanks to everyone’s generosity, you raised over $2700 in 9 days. Because of you, Heather is now able to schedule her surgery and pay the deposit. Read More
Heather and her heart
On Saturday, January 4th I had my first shoot of 2014. Sunday afternoon I posted this image and the below text to my personal and photography page on Facebook.
“This image is from my first shoot of 2014 that I did yesterday.
This photo is not simply about a beautiful face and body. There is much more to this image than that….
This was about helping a beautiful mother of 3 boys check one more thing off of her list to do in her life….
You see, the woman in this photo is in need of another heart surgery by the end of March or face the fact that she may already be in heart failure…
I met Heather for the first time a couple months ago. She and Jen had started talking here on Facebook as Heather was trying to help Jen while she struggled with breastfeeding our daughter, Lars. Heather did this completely unsolicited. She just took an interest in helping another mother succeed at something that Jen was having issues with.
She reached out to me in December about what my rates for a shoot would be. When I talked to Jen about the shoot, she directed me to this link:
Healthy Heart for Heather
I immediately knew I wasn’t able to take her money. Her money needed to be saved for this potentially life saving surgery. Having lost my father at the age of 9 from cancer and recently losing my uncle due to heart failure, I couldn’t say no to the opportunity to actually do something meaningful for someone else with my photography. I spend so much time and energy working with some amazing talent to create beautiful images that hundreds of you like and comment on with every post. So I hope that every last one of you take the time to read this long post…
Unfortunately, she currently does not have insurance. The hospital is willing to discount the cost of the surgery, the surgeon that will be performing the surgery is paying for 23% of it out of his own pocket. But there are still thousands of dollars that she needs to raise to be able to afford this surgery…
I don’t ask a lot of my fan base. I’ve always appreciated the comments, likes and shares on every image I have shared with you. But now, I am asking you to do more (if you can) and reach into your pocket and help Heather raise enough money to be able to have this surgery…..
If not for her, at least for her three boys…”
I spent most of today thinking about writing this blog post. Heather and I talked a couple of times over the course of last night by text. She was at work and was receiving calls and messages from friends and family that help maintain the donation link. In a very short amount of time, my original posts had been shared by friends, family, fans of my work, my peers and even complete strangers. Donations were being made, Heather’s story was being shared.
I created this photo mosaic using almost every edited image I shot in 2013.
2013 was a busy year full of changes, opportunities and new clients. I didn’t write for the blog nearly as much as I planned to for 2013. I always start a new year promising I will write and post more to the blog. But somehow, life and work get do busy that all I can manage at times is the occasional photo post.
Thank you for all your support. Some great things are already in the works for 2014…including my first shoot of the year on the 4th…and the launch of my Stripped Down project in Spring 2014.
I recently shot this assignment for Austin Fusion Magazine. Thankfully the always changing weather was merciful and it was only a cool evening for shooting at this amazing venue.
Now that the article has been posted, I can share the images from the show.
A link to the article and more images after the jump.
I was asked to shoot one of my favorite bands for Austin Fusion Magazine on November 15th, Polica. Without hesitation, I jumped at the opportunity. It had been a long time since I had photographed any live music and I had yet to see the renovated and new location for Emo’s since they shut down their 6th street location years ago. Yeah….I don’t get out much….
Had a shoot yseterday at dawn and on the way back home scouted out this new location.
The banners at the top of each screen shot were recently licensed by Monster Careers for use on http://www.behindthehustle.com
I am very excited to include them in my growing list of clients.
Both images selected were chosen by one of their lead designers and are from personal shoots that I had done in the past for portfolio development.
Reminder to self: shoot more personal work!
My oldest rarely allows me the opportunity to photograph her…even when I try to sneak one.
Today was the exception…
Early in the morning of Wednesday September 18th, my second daughter, Lars, was born. After a long labor of almost 22 hours, we had to opt out of our original birth plan and bring her in to the world via a c-section. 5 hours after her birth we were moved upstairs to the maternity recovery floor. Our first room was tiny and barely fit the three of us comfortably but we made due with our surrounding since the hospital was at full capacity. Thursday we were able to move to a larger room that gave us more space and myself a better fold out couch/bed to sleep on.
Our first room had an identical rocking chair as the one pictured above. For some reason though, it didn’t really stand out to me like the one in our room currently. Maybe it was because we had the windows open today watching the rain heavy clouds roll around as the rain patted against the windows. Maybe it was because even after a rough evening and day with cluster feeding, we had a quiet and relaxed moment for the three of us.
Shawn Collie Photography | Blog 