With the Month of October being recognized as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, The Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation holds its Annual Fund Drive for six weeks starting in mid-September and ending in October.
President Ronald Reagan enacted Proclamation 5890 in October of 1988 to recognize that each year, approximately a million pregnancies in the United States alone end in miscarriage, stillbirth, or the death of a newborn child. Reagan stated, "A national observance offers us the opportunity to increase our understanding of the great tragedy involved in the deaths of unborn or newborn babies. It also enables us to consider how, as individuals and communities, we can meet the needs of bereaved parents and family members… " To read the full Proclamation signed by Reagan, CLICK HERE.
If you are in a place to make even a small contribution to NILMDTS, please know that doing so will continue to allow the organization to provide improved resources, training, communication, and other tools necessary in support of our amazing contingent of professional photographers who provide the gift of free remembrance portraiture to families in need.
Our next project we are working on is an online, interactive webinar version of our Formal NILMDTS Training taught by Co-Founder Sandy Puc' allowing anyone in any country with access to a computer to complete the course online. Donations help make programs like this a reality!
Your donations help the organization in many ways -
By supporting the continued education of our volunteer photographers
By allowing us to further our outreach to hospitals and hospices across the world
By offsetting the costs associated with outreach efforts including Formal NILMDTS Traingin Seminars
By supporting the Family Forum which creates a productive and supportive haven for healing
By supporting the Photographers' Forum which provides a helpful environment for our member photographers to express their feelings and receive advice on the various issues that they face in this noble work
By supporting the day to day operations of our Headquarters Offices
Writing by Josh Barry on Thursday, 2 of October , 2008 at 12:38 pm
Yup Josh Barry Photography got off of the floor of the boxing ring and is stumbling around the ring throwing wild punches at the multitude of things to do on my to-do list. Much like a drunken sailor after a night of binge drinking Josh Barry Photography is numb from the amount of work that fell behind during the computer's near TKO last week. Thankfully the guys at The Computer Shop on Linglestown road in Harrisburg, Pa gave my Computer a 'pep talk' in between rounds. Now the computer seems to have a new life. Only its' operator, Josh Barry, seems to need a chainsaw and a dump truck to unblock the log-jam and get back in the fight.
Translation:
I have my computer back and am now chipping away at my to-do list one by one. Thanks for you patience everyone.
Writing by Josh Barry on Tuesday, 30 of September , 2008 at 6:21 pm
NO IM NOT GOING OUT OF BUSINESS!!!!
Actually my computer is the one that is down for the count. My computer has now been at the computer hospital for almost a week now. I was completely blindsided. One minute I am workflowing wedding photos and the next minute my computer is coughing, hacking, and weezing due to a nasty case of spyware/virus that has totally disabled the machine.
Even yours truly can't figure out the problem. That is why it is being worked on by pros. I was supposed to had it back by today but they still are finding problems with it they have yet to overcome.
TO ANYONE THAT HAS ORDERED REPRINTS OR HAS E-MAILED ME, OR IS CURRENTLY CORESPONDING WITH ME ABOUT ANYTHING:
I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. As soon as I have my brain…uh…I mean my computer back I will be able to finish speaking with you and/or processing your order or event photos.
If it weren't for the iPod I am using to type this on I wouldn't have a way to make this blog post. Thank goodness for this little device. =)
Please, if anyone has any questions or needs to speak with me please call me at 888-517-6374 or locally at 717-541-0681. I am able to check e-mail on this iPod but I may not reply back to you due to how rediculously tiny everything is as far a typing a response. But I will contact you once my computer has come back from the 'hospital'
Writing by Josh Barry on Wednesday, 17 of September , 2008 at 2:18 am
Last weekend I was met by Jake with the rest of his family down in Olney Maryland at B'nai Shalom. Jake was about as easy as they get. Wait a sec…
Come to think of it I think there is a sickness down in Olney at B'nai Shalom because EVERYONE I have photographed so far was too wasy. Hmmmmm….maybe there is something in the water.
Anyway, these were taken the Thursday before the reception. The party was on saturday at the Crowne Plaza in Rockville, MD.
Mark Burch from Everything Entertainment was the DJ. This is the third time I have worked along side of him. This time he had an MC on the MIC most of the time. Either way you look at it Mark and the MC did another phenominal job. I look forward to adding them to my recommended vendors list.
Since the party fell on my youngest daughter's FIRST birthday I snuck in a portrait of her I just created yesterday for her birthday.
Writing by Josh Barry on Friday, 12 of September , 2008 at 10:29 am
Recently I had the pleasure of being interviewed on Vtalk radio. Listen to the show and hear about different aspects of my business and the entertaining story of how I got into photography as found on my bio page on my website. Also I reveal of few tricks of how I create some of my most popular portraits.
Writing by Josh Barry on Thursday, 4 of September , 2008 at 7:00 pm
…to the men and women in our armed forces. They risk their lives every day. They leave their families behind to do what is necessary to keep our enemies back on their heels.
I used to travel a lot and found myself in airports frequently for about a year straight. I would always see men and women coming home from overseas dressed in their uniform. I always felt like people in their airport should be going up to them and thanking them for their efforts, their risks and their sacrifices. I wanted to walk up to each and every one of them and shake their hand. I felt they deserved recognition rather than demoralizing banter from non supportive individuals who aren't truly appreciative of their efforts.
I thought about what I COULD do to show appreciation. Send stuff in care packages? Adopt a soldier? All good ideas. However, I remember being away from home and really taking comfort in the photos I had to help remind me of home. I think these men and women deserve the same thing. Something professional and perfect. Something better than the chain studios who only treat you like cattle with checkbook.
If you are a service member and would like a photo session with your family please keep reading. Whether you are single and would like a photo session with your parents or you have a family of your own and want the session to be with your children and your husband or wife. As long as one of you in the immediate family (son, daughter, father, mother, husband, or wife) is an ACTIVE service member this offer applies to you.
You have earned a free in-studio or on-location ($200 value) family photo session. Also included with your free session is a free no strings attached $100 reprint credit for you to use towards any reprints.
Call 717-541-0681 to book your session. I am not sure I can create family portraits for every family that calls due to filling up on my bookings. I may decide to end it once I get too many requests that I cannot handle. So please book sooner than later to ensure you have something special and unique to take back overseas with you on your next deployment.
I am based out of Harrisburg, Pa and will go on location to most of my surrounding areas. If you are reading this and you are in Maryland (which is an area I cover) I welcome you to come up to my studio for your family session. Call 888-517-6374 if you are out of state.
*****Offer limited to active personnel only. Must have valid military ID present on day of session. Session only good for service members and their immediate family. Soldier must be present and in the photos. Session will be done in a family style only, sorry no substitutions. Cannot be combined with any other offer. No hidden fees or charges. This is the real deal.*****
P.S. I would also like it if you would take a photo or two with me in it =)
Writing by Josh Barry on Friday, 29 of August , 2008 at 1:44 pm
Since I like making slideshows I went through and pulled out some portraits from Bar and Bat Mitzvahs over recent history just to give a quick showcase of some of my work. Enjoy and please comment below.
I am currently hoping to catch up by the end of next week since my downtime due to my strained back muscles. Exercising is going to be key for me from now on. My daughter and I are going to the pool and the gym 3 times a week now so hopefully that helps. =) thanks for all your kind words.
Writing by Josh Barry on Tuesday, 26 of August , 2008 at 5:56 pm
Here is an album that I recently got done designing. This belongs to the Lipka Family based out of Olney Maryland.
I posted a few photographs way back after I photographed the BImah Portraits and the reception. Here is their finished product. I tried some different things I have never tried before and I really like the way it turned out. Very challenging, but in the end it was well worth the extra time it took to create this for the Lipka's.
So in case anyone was wondering yes I cover all the way down into Olney as well so don't hesitate to call if you are down in Olney and looking for a photographer for your son or daughter's Bar or Bat Mitzvah. 888-517-6374
Writing by Josh Barry on Tuesday, 29 of July , 2008 at 2:28 pm
What do you get when you mix lots of sun and forgetting to put sunscreen on your back?
LOTS OF COLD SHOWERS!!!!!!!!
Other than that major mistake my family and I had a great time! The first couple of days were rough because I injured the muscles in my back the week before but after doing some exercises to strengthen the muscles I was back to about 90%. Good enough to do some activities like going to the beach, 4 wheeling, jet-skis and a charter boat fishing trip.
The weather was a little rainy but when it rained it only rained for less than an hour which was good. LOTS OF PUDDLES TO DRIVE THROUGH!! Yippee!!!! ASk anyone who knows me. If I see a puddle while driving you'll usually hear VROOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM SWOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!! AFter the rain there were planty of puddles to go around especially in the 4 wheel drive access area behind the beach up in Corova.
I highly recommend going up to the 4 wheel drive access area because you can take your SUV or truck right on the beach and park where ever you like and just get out and set up your beach stuff. Beats walking and carrying everything to the beach from the parking areas. But be careful, if you get stuck it'll cost you $125 to get towed out. There is a guy who drives up and down the beach all day looking for people who are stuck. I bet he makes 1500 to 2000 smackaroonies a day doing that because right in front of us there were about 4 or 5 people who got stuck.
Make sure you have a good 4 wheel drive vehicle and if you do get stuck don't use plastic shovels to dig yourself out like I saw this one group of people doing.
We also went crabbing on the sound between the outer banks and the mainland. I was quickly reminded why I like snow crab and king crag much better. Eating those small blue crab are a lot of work for very little meat. Amanda and I abandoned our cooked and uneaten crab and went straight to the nearest crabhouse for an all you can eat snow-crab leg extravaganza. Plate after plate they would bring them out to do. Hot and full of good crab meat. Yum!!!
Below are some photographs that were taken while on vacation. Enjoy!!!
UPDATE FOR MY CLIENTS:
I am hitting the ground running and have loads of editing to do so I am tackling everything with full force.
Lipka, Ehrlich, Brody, Katz, Vanderau, Heiserman, Turkheimer, Kandel Smoliga. If any of those names match yours than that means you are all at the front of my mind and am feverishly YET CAREFULLY working on your portraits so don't anyone worry that good ole Josh got amnesia due to too much sun. The sun may burn my back but not my brain =). That was the beer's job LOL.
Thanks for reading and if anyone has any questions please call me. 888-517-6374 or e-mail me at Josh@JoshBarry.Com
Writing by Josh Barry on Tuesday, 8 of July , 2008 at 12:18 am
Remember Corley and Gina Heiserman?
Well little Lindsey made it here with no problems a couple of weeks ago and has come back for her newborn session.
I'd like to take this moment and point out how great Corley is when it came to handling his new daughter. What I mean is he got pooped on and peed on and he didn't break a sweat. Well Gina didn't break a sweat either but luckily she wasn't the one with newborn poop on her shirt.
Other than that the session went fantastic and I can't wait to post more images after I am done mastering all of them first.
I am just starting my blog as of 2008. It's going to be a great year. I've got an amazing new website and some even more amazing portraits and images to put up there. I am so relieved to have gotten rid of my old site. I hope you bookmark my page and come back to view my updates as they happen regularly. I will keep up with my blog as much as I can. I plan on updating this everyday. 2008 is on!!!