A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of photographing some of my assistant Chelsea's family. Her mom and stepdad Jerry have adopted several special needs children throughout the years. As many may know, it can be very difficult for special needs families to come in for family portraits. We wanted to help Chelsea's family and provide them with beautiful portraits they could display in their home. 

When planning the session, we arranged a time that would be comfortable for the family that would hopefully lead to the least amount of melt downs or overstimulation. The day of session, we provided lots of snacks and drinks to help keep the kiddos content in between different shots and poses.

Throughout the session, with the lights and posing, unfortunately it easily caused overstimulation and a few meltdowns. 

We were prepared for these obstacles and gave the girls as much breaks as needed along with playing favorite video clips, songs, and crazy dancing to distract and get a quick smile even if only for a quick second. The Oldest daughter Shannon was born at 22 weeks old and could fit into the palm of your hand at birth. Shannon has overcome many obstacles in her life and is still thriving now at the age of 19. Shannon is autistic, has cerebral palsy, and is legally blind. Due to hormonal imbalances, Shannon greatly suffers from acne. However, you could never tell from her pictures! Her sister Chelsea is the makeup artist in the studio and made Shannon absolutely beautiful and picture ready. With the help of professional makeup, this allowed for easy touch ups and smoothing in photo shop, providing Shannon with a clean and clear appearance in her photos. When Shannon first saw her photos, she gasped and said, "I look so beautiful!".

This touches our hearts dearly at Puddles and Pearls knowing our goal was complete. 

Their other daughter Kimmy also is special needs. Kimmy has a very rare chromosome disorder. Kimmy was only given the age expectancy of about 10 years old. Although Kimmy has overcome and continues to battle many obstacles, she is still thriving at the age of 17. Kimmy had the hardest time during her photoshoot, but once again, you could never tell through her photos. Through much bribing, snacks, dancing, and lots of different music we were able to catch a few great smiles. Although there were many tears involved Kimmy did an amazing job and gave us beautiful portraits to work with. We were able to take multiple shots and composite a gorgeous family photo that the Frisby's are now able to display proudly in their home. 

This photo session was a lot of fun. Although there were many obstacles and tears our goal was to provide a beautiful family portrait that they family desired. The Frisby's requested a family portrait they could display were everyone is looking at the camera and smiling. We are proud to say that we were able to provide and succeed with this request. We know how difficult it can be to get portraits done with special needs kiddos. We understand there is a lot more involved than sitting and snapping a quick picture and sending you on your way. We would be honored to help your family capture that perfect photo. We don't care how long it may take, or how many poses we may have to try. Our mission at Puddles and Pearls is to capture beautiful memories that our clients can treasure for a lifetime. We will listen to your needs and do the best we can to make your family and kiddos as comfortable as possible while at the studio. 

If you know any family who has been unable to have family portraits with their special needs kiddos, we ask that you please send them our way. We would love to capture beautiful portraits for their family to cherish!