I love how this shot of one of the volunteers turned out. He is standing between two of the modular townhomes being built on a formerly vacant lot on East Fayette Street. These 9 homes are almost complete and will be ready for the families to move in by October 17th.

This is a fisheye shot of the whole row of houses from the back alley:

Here is a Habitat staff  member exhibiting the positive attitude that everyone seems to have on these sites:

This hardworking volunteer is still managing to look glam in a hardhat and toolbelt:

Volunteers from Verizon doing some painting:

Here’s a happy volunteer from a local high school at an almost-completed home in Brooklyn:

Here are two happy new homeowners taking a break from painting.  All homeowners contribute at least 350 hours of time to the construction of their homes – Habitat calls these “sweat equity” hours.

Here is another house from the same block that is a bit earlier in the construction stage.  It’s amazing how Habitat can take these shells and turn them into wonderful homes.

Towanda and Tyrone just moved into their new home and were nice enough to let us stop by. Tyrone actually proposed to Towanda at the celebration where the keys were handed over to them, so we were joking that these would be their engagement photos. You can read their story here.

Sweetie-pie in the new house:

Check out the Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake website if you’d be interested in volunteering or donating.  No skills required!

Silo Point was an amazing location for this event.  It is a new condo community and has a huge lobby and cool outdoor space, not to mention a stunning view of the harbor.  I brought my camera to just take a few pics and was wishing I had brought some other lenses with me!  No wide shots of the space, but I think you can still get a feel for the atmosphere.  Hopefully I can shoot some engagement portraits there sometime.

Here is the sign out front.  You can see part of the rustic original silo behind it:

I couldn’t decide which of the following two pics of The Motorettes lead singer to include, so here are both!

Here is the table I mentioned.  We were covering it with pieces of colored stickers which is easy to do, but still makes a dramatic statement.

Playing with my 50mm lens at 1.4.

Sweet looking cake!

There is a killer sky lounge on the 19th floor.  It has two levels and is very swanky….would be a perfect place for a smaller private event.

More sky lounge shots:

You may have seen my earlier posts on these amazing families:

C, J, Baby J, and his angel little brother (newborn, 8 weeks, 4 months)

Baby Jack (maternity & 4 months, 8 months)

I actually just saw Jack, James & Vicki again this past weekend. They invited me over for a lovely lunch outside on the deck and I also took the opportunity to get a few shots of the big boy. He just turned one recently and is on the verge of walking any day now. I’m just so amazed by this miracle baby!

Look out behind you Jack!

This was a false alarm face. He actually didn’t cry even once the whole time I was there…he’s just not digging the comb apparently.

Look at that smile!  He loves clapping…too cute…

Goofball Jack with Mom and Dad.

I am so proud of the students for pulling all this work together to sell, especially considering that they had a major setback the Tuesday before Artscape.  There was a fire at Dunbar Middle School in the room where many of the kids in AWAH’s summer job program had been working for three weeks on creating art to sell.  This is a program for students in which they create marketable art to raise money for their community, while also being taught workplace protocols and job skills.  They lost a lot of work in the fire, but pulled together to recreate some of it in time for Artscape.

I visited my friend, Janet, who was working at the beer truck behind Mount Royal Tavern. We used to work at MICA together and she is a fabulous artist. She has one arm in a sling, so this job was a bit of a challenge for her this year.  I suggested that she turn the beer tap off with her forehead, but I don’t think she went for that idea.

Here is Janet’s friend unknowingly posing for me:

I bought a print from artist, Catia Chen, who had a booth at Artscape.  I can’t really afford original paintings, so I like when I can get an affordable print of the original. This one just spoke to me…I see myself in it I guess. I actually ordered two other prints from her online store later that week and am excited to receive them and get those bad boys framed.

I had the pleasure of speaking with many potential volunteer photographers this past Friday night at Sandy Puc’s Bellies & Babies seminar. Sandy (also known as “Sam”) has a crazy successful portrait business in Colorado and is also one of the founders of NILMDTS. The seminar was about marketing and photography tips for us small business owners, but she did get in some heartfelt words about the organization towards the end. There was a NILMDTS trade show table that I helped with before and after the seminar and during the breaks. I think all the new volunteers start off very nervously and don’t know what to expect, so I’m glad to be able to share my experiences and talk about how rewarding it can be.

Sorry, no pics with this post but I’ll get something up soon!

As promised in my earlier post, here are a couple more of Baby J:

More Baby Jack!

Proud daddy:

Here are a couple shots from an Art with a Heart art class I assisted with recently. I hadn’t seen these kids in a couple years so it was crazy to see how much they’ve grown. I was at this group home every Monday night for about two years before I was switched to another house that needed a teacher.

This is the sweetest kid. He’s writing a memoir now!

Just for fun….here are my niece and nephew as giants:

Today I got to hang out with baby Jack and his family for a yummy crab cake lunch and a photo session. If you haven’t read my past blog entries or haven’t heard me mention him a hundred times, read about him here. Technically, I invited myself over because I couldn’t wait to see him again, but it was James and Vicki’s idea to do lunch as well. They are so sweet and make me feel so welcome…check out an awesome comment Vicki left on my blog here. Jack is about 8 months old now and doing fantastic! Here are a few pics…

Open mouth, insert foot:

Haha…he looks like he’s explaining something:

He’s still a bit off-balance trying to sit up, but as you can tell, he doesn’t seem to mind:

This cracks me up…he seems to be texting someone on his “cell” and is oblivious to his nakedness and the fact that I’m photographing him:

Stinkin’ cute!

It’s hard to see, but her bracelet is engraved with the word “faith.”

In case you haven’t heard of this organization, it is a network of volunteer photographers who shoot portraits for parents experiencing an infant loss. I think sometimes people don’t understand how the photographers can handle such an emotional situation…this video helps explain how important this can be for the families and why it is so rewarding for the volunteers.

Check out the DSC website…this is such an awesome non-profit. For a reasonable membership fee, you can learn to sail, meet new people, and have the opportunity to use their boats pretty much anytime once you get skipper certified. I’m not certified yet and honestly don’t feel too rushed to do that…I’m content just being a member of the crew.

Here are our docks on a foggy morning in late August:

These are the 10′ Access Dinghies that we use for the Access-Ability program. You can reach the lines that control the sails and the steering from the cockpit, which can seat two people. They’re virtually uncapsizable.

This is my friend, Peter, who works for DSC and runs all of their outreach programs. He rocks.