Halloween and The Food Pantry

I am so excited!  I know this is a bellies and babies blog but this post isn’t exactly about that.  This year on Halloween I am having an event with Val, a local hairdresser who caters to kids–Shearz for Kids–on the Silas Deane Highway in Rocky Hill.   Starting at 11:00am until who knows when…

I will be at Shearz, it will be decorated with a really cool Halloween set and I will photograph anyone who comes in and brings a non-perishable item for the Rocky Hill Food Pantry.  You will get a copy of the photo and the food pantry will have stocked shelves!

I met with a gentleman who is incharge of the food pantry and he tells me there are some hot items that they have trouble keeping in stock.

• canned fruit (all kinds)
• canned corn is a huge favorite (they have lots of peas- not a big favorite)
• tuna
• stews (they get lots of soup but very little stew)
• sauces for pasta (they get lots of pasta but not much to put on top)
• All kinds of paper products like: toilet paper, tissues, paper towels and napkins
• toiletries such as toothpaste, tooth brushes, mouthwash and feminine products
• Also at this time of year they will accept fresh fruits and vegetables
• cereals all kinds
• rice

Bring your NON-EXPIRED  (that’s very important) non-perishable food item to Shears on Halloween.  Wear your costume (or not) and have your photo taken with a very cool possibly scary set.  You get a copy of your photo as well as candy and have lots of fun helping out other people in your town who need your help!  If you want more information or to volunteer your time or talent to this event please call me at 402-0394 I’d be happy to put you to work!!

Wow! It’s been a long time!

I realized it’s been since last September since I checked in.  So if you’ve been looking for something new here I am sorry.  A lot has happened since last September….here is a quick run down:

• I had a food drive with Shearz in Rocky Hill
• Photographed 8 babies every month
• Ordered 7,000 holiday cards
• Photographed Howie Mandel at the Night of Lite Laughter
• Photographed several weddings and one Quinceanera
• Made it thru the holiday season with 2 trips to visit my parents in Maine
• launched a new website
• started working for John Casablancas Modeling Agency

Launching the new website was the most recent task on my list.  I also started a newletter.  I have a list of goals for this year and I am getting to them a little slower than I would like.  I have to admit with the current budget crunching we all have been doing it’s very hard not to get discouraged.  The studio has been quiet and I am getting to things that I put off in the busy season.   I can’t wait for spring to get out and take lots of photos of little children with fresh spring flowers.  I’ll be running some portrait specials to help with the budget also.

If you want to check out the new website goto: www.tonifederici.com and make sure you sign up for the new newsletter!

Pray for spring to come…..Toni

Howie Mandell! WRCH Nite of Lite Laughter

Hi everyone, sadly I personally know quite a few people who have had cancer, who currently have cancer or who have died from cancer. I know that is not unusual and you probably do to. Cancer is NOT funny. BUT for the last…… I think…….. 8 years I have been grateful to be the “official” photographer for the Nite of Lite Laughter for WRCH’s annual breast cancer awareness fundraiser. It is a fun night where everyone can come and laugh and be entertained…LAUGH in the FACE of cancer!!!In past years I have photographed Victoria Jackson, Caroline Rhea, Rita Rudner, Vicki Lawrence and “Mamma”, Joan Rivers, The Smothers Brothers, Bob Newhart, and Brad Garrett! This year, I get to photograph Howie Mandell! All the money goes to the Helen and Harry Gray cancer center at Hartford Hospital. It’s a fun night and a great cause so check it out Nite of Lite Laughter I’ll be sure to post some of the photos after!

New Summer Special

 

Hello,

I am finding it difficult to keep up with the regular daily summer, kid and work stuff so blogging has sort of been neglected.  I’m going to have to find a daily (or let’s be honest at least weekly) “blog time” and get in here and blog.  I like it and I want to make it part of my routine.  I’m a realist, we’ll see…

One of the things that is keeping me really busy is babies of course and I can’t get enough of them.  Remember Colton?  He was in my very first post?  Well check him out now!

  Isn’t he gorgeous?  His mother thinks so.   So do I.

Here is my latest summer special: 

What You Get

The program includes 4 portrait sessions and the free maternity session.  If you were to pay for these sessions with out the program the cost would be about $500.00.  After the portrait sessions are taken they are uploaded to a website called Pictage.com where you can see all of your images.  You can forward the site to all of your family and friends to see.  At the the end of the year you get a “Watch Me Grow” DVD of many of your favorite images set to music.

Reprints are an additional charge.  They are:

4×6        $4.95 each

5×7        $9.95 each

8×10      $21.95 each

Also available are custom designed birth announcements for $1.00 each.

 

If you are interested please let me know.  And if you pass this information on to a friend or 2 and they sign up for the baby program you will receive 10 free custom birth announcements or 1 5×7 or your choice from one of your portrait sessions.

I am looking forward to photographing many more babies.

 

 

New Inspiration!!!

Hi Friends,
I haven’t checked in for a awhile, I’ve been really busy. On Memorial Day I took a seminar. I hadn’t taken a photography class or seminar in more than 14 years so I wasn’t sure of what to expect. At first I was a bit bothered that it was on Memorial Dayand then concerned that it went from 4:30 to 11:00. That seemed like a really long time and way past my bedtime!

I arrived at the seminar and immediately the wheels of inspiration started turning. The seminar was about bellies and babies- it was even called that. It was lead by a master photographer from Colorado with 4 children (who has also fostered 40 children!) and she is the same age as me! She is amazing, her photography is beautiful and her marketing ideas are genius. She is super successful and she has even started a non profit infant bereavement foundation which now after years 2 years has a network of over 5000 photographers in 19 countries.

After listening to her for 5 minutes I was in awe…11:00 came in a flash and I didn’t want to leave, I could have listened to her for an entire week. I came home and read over all of my notes and one by one started forming my plans to forge a path in a solid direction. The first stop on my path is a new logo (above.) The next was forming a new baby program and also figuring out how to thank my current clients who refer their friends and family to me. This new inspiration has keep me busy as well as this time of year with it’s natural craziness. In the last month, I have a photographed new babies, graduations, weddings and our local Relay for Life as well as many family portraits. I have also attend about 20 soccer games and 12 softball games a couple of field days and end of the year picnics. Today our elementary school is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary which I was lucky enough to be asked to photograph also. SO….. I’m off on my new path and I hope to bump into you along the way.

Sailing away…

Last Sunday (yes, mother’s day) I crawled out of bed early-ish. I’d say around 7:00 am, and the house was quiet. This being mother’s day, I sort of hoped someone would be up before me, but, no such luck. We had spent the previous day in Rhode Island at our friends house, whom we had not seen in forever. They have four kids and so do we, so when I announced at 5:30 that we would be leaving there was a loud, long protest from 7 of the 8 children. I was over ruled and we ended up staying until 9:00. Needless to say, the kids had worn themselves out and needed to sleep in. Anyway, I got ready in the quiet house to go to work….yes work. I had to be down at Charter Oak Landing for a Mother’s Day Brunch Cruise at 9:30. The shoot started with 3 lovely couples renewing their wedding vows after 25, 50 & 53 years of marriage. Then on to the Lady Katharine. What a perfectly gorgeous day. The weather could not have been better. I was on board to capture the ambience and fun of the cruise for advertising. It was another chance to people watch, lots of Mom’s being treated better than usual by their children. I was a bit jealous, my family was probably home still asleep! I didn’t want to be home asleep, I would have loved to have my family along for the cruise waiting on me. I often find myself at shoots wishing I could share my experiences with my family and this was one of those times. Aside from being Mother’s Day and a beautiful day, the food was outstanding, everything you might want for breakfast including an omlet station. On top of that they were serving a wonderful lunch fare too, salmon, chicken marsala, salads and vegetables. (Okay now I am getting hungry!)

Anyway, the cruise was from 11:00 to 2:00 so I had plenty of time to watch and enjoy all the people on board. About a half an hour before the end of the cruise the bartender asked me if I wanted to see an eagle’s nest he had spotted a few days earlier. It was huge! But very far away. I grabbed my portrait lens and got as many shots as I could hoping one would be clear. Now I really wished my family could be there with me. After we passed the nest I grabbed my camera and found a little dark corner to reveiw my images of the nest. I zoomed in as close as possible and there she was, the Mom eagle! Guess what she was doing? Working on Mother’s Day!!! Feeding her baby eagles!
I love my job and the best part is that even if my family can’t be with me I can always show them the photographs.

And the WRCH winner is……

Congratulations to Joanna Griswold of Wethersfield. She is the WRCH Mother’s Day Contest Grand Prize winner. I am really excited to meet her and we’ll begin working together very soon because she is due to have her baby mid summer. If you entered the WRCH contest and you want information about a Bellies to Babies package or portrait sessions with out the entire big package please contact me at info@tonifederici.com or call my cell phone at 860.402.0394. Also, anybody who adds their favorite baby or pregnancy related link to my blog will receive a $25.00 credit to Toni Federici Photography. This credit can be used for anything (you do not have to be pregnant or even have a baby!)

So Happy Mother’s Day to all you Mom’s and Mom’s to be and Congratulations again Joanna.

Toni

Win a Bellies & Babies package on WRCH!

Hello,

WRCH is the BEST…….If you know someone who is interested in a Bellies & Babies package this might be your opportunity to win one. This week my wonderful friends at WRCH are having a contest for Mother’s Day and they are giving away A Bellies & Babies package as their Grand Prize! So if you are interested all you have to do is click here and sign up…. you might win.

Spreading the word…any ideas? Baby stores or boutiques?

So now that I have this great idea I want everyone to know about it! When I’m out and about I see tons of pregnant ladies, my mind begins to wander…….. thinking about photographing- in front of a softly lit window, beautiful round tummies, Dad admiring his gorgeous wife, hands cradling their little newborn baby. Then I snap out of it! I’ll probably scare the poor woman, I never want to scare anybody with my enthusiasm for all this baby mania that I have, so I don’t say a word. I know….they can’t read my mind so what should I do?

What would you do if someone said something to you about taking photographs of your pregnant belly? Would you just assume that this person was weird and walk away as quicky a possible?

So my next thought, stores! Boutiques! Pregnant ladies shop, they need stuff, baby stuff. If I had a display at a baby store would I have more credibility? So what do you think? Do you have a favorite store? Do you own a store and want display photos? I even thought about doing what the pizza places do–you know, the fish bowl where you throw in your business card and win a pizza each week. A fish bowl with names of Moms who want to win a free photo session? It could work, right?

Any other suggestions? I’ll try anything once…..well almost anything 🙂

What is Bellies & Babies?

So here is the scoop on Bellies and Babies….

I don’t know why but, my best ideas seem to come to me when I am in the shower. It seems that it might be because I am not distracted by TV, dogs, children, my husband or all the things in my home that visually scream at me to take care of them like watering the droopy plants, picking up the dirty socks, emptying the dishwasher…you get it.

So my brain was going and I was thinking about spring coming and new babies. I thought of one of my clients Heidi who was due pretty soon to have her 3rd baby and how I would love to see the baby grow. I thought about the belly shots and how it would be great to have from the belly photos all the way to one year in a really cool updated story book album. I jumped out of the shower and put on my robe and called Heidi. I spilled my idea out to her and she said “Yes! I’m-in-let’s-do-it!” We didn’t quite get to do the belly shots but I got the email that little Colton was born. And couldn’t wait. He was tiny and gorgeous. Now every month I get to go and photograph those milestones every month. Isn’t he perfect?

I aspire to create a whole new division to my photography business that focuses on new babies and growing families. I am hoping this will be an experience that parents will look forward to each month and can feel relaxed and comfortable participating in. I also hope in the years to come they share their experience with their child and family by looking back at all of the beautiful photos we took and be proud to pass on the baby’s book as a treasured heirloom someday. And of course I hope they share their book and thier experience with others who they think may enjoy this experience.

Are you in and ready to do it?