Fighting for Autism and IBI Treatment

Many of you know that my youngest little guy has autism. While we have been very lucky since his diagnosis to have quite a bit of help, the one thing that could be the biggest form of help for Branden has suddenly been put on hold.....all after we've been on the waiting list for IBI treatment for almost 2 years. The worst parts about it are:

1- there is a small window of opportunity for this treatment to have the most benefits for children with autism and that is between the ages of 3 & 5... Branden will be 5 this coming December
2- we were just brought in THREE WEEKS AGO to the office to talk about how we were finally near the top of the list and that we should be very excited

The excitement all came to a halt 3 days ago when we and many others in the area on the wait list got a letter stating that due to lack of funding, the program was being put on hold with no mention of a possible date when it may begin again.

I have decided to not take this laying down and pursue this as hard and as much as I can and am going straight to the papers and to the government that is failing our children.

We did an interview with the local Tribune Newspaper yesterday which you can view here http://www.wellandtribune.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1140062, and
we are heading to Toronto with our local politician Peter Kormos to speak at Queen's Park about this unacceptable situation.

Please keep Branden and all the other children in the situation in your prayers and hope that we can come to a speedy solution to this. These children need this help they are being denied of!

The following links can provide more information about the situation at hand, about autism and about IBI treatment. Please feel free to email me with any questions at shayward1@cogeco.ca

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1124375

http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/PRBpubs/prb0593-e.htm#funding

Thank you.

Christmas/Greeting Cards

These were a huge hit last year so I wanted to get on them early this year so everyone who wants them has plenty of time to get their orders in in time for the holidays.

I have 3 different templates this year, fully customizable with your picture(s) and text.

If I've shot for you in the past and your photos are no longer on my online ordering system, you can just send me a quick email (shayward1@cogeco.ca) to let me know you're interested in ordering these 4X8 cards (complete with envelopes), and I'll get your photos back online for you to place your order.

If I've shot for you recently, again, just send me a quick email telling me you're interested and I'll post the templates within your proofs so you can place your order.

Anyone who has a session done from today on out, until the beginning of December will have the option of ordering these cards with their regular orders.

Here's the 3 different layouts to choose from this year:

Sample 1 Sample 2
Sample 3
Keep in mind that I also offer greeting cards/invitations for all kinds of other occasions as well. Birthdays, anniversaries, wedding thank you's etc.....

Here's my little man's invite I created for him last year:

Prices of the greeting cards are as follows:

10 - 35.00

25 - 50.00

40 - 65.00

60 - 80.00

100 - 95.00

These cards take about 2-3 weeks to come in so please keep that in mind. The cut off date for Christmas Card 2008 ordering is December 1st.

Baby Jack

I shot a wedding last year for Katrina and Andrew who looked like this 9 or so months ago:

And then there were three :)

Baby Jack is a sweet, sweet baby

Congrats Katrina and Andrew on such a beautiful addition to your little family!

Ken & Lori

I received an email last week from a fellow photographer that mentioned that Ken was looking for someone to capture the moment when he proposed to his girlfriend during their visit to Niagara Falls. I jumped at the chance to do it and was somehow free at that time (that doesn't happen very often lately), so I emailed Ken and we set it all up.
It was very important to Ken to have me capture the moments leading up to, during and after he popped the question. It wasn't exactly an easy task to shoot while trying to make myself invisible but it all worked out beautifully and the best part is...she said YES!!!

Vanessa & Kyle

Vanessa & Kyle asked me to photograph their wedding in 2009 and when we met to sit down and talk about their big day, they shared with me the following video that shows how Kyle popped the big question to Vanessa
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=5234077885&ref=share
(hoping that works for everyone)
How cute is that?
Anyway, we captured some engagement photos the other day and they're as cute in person as they are on video and I'm really looking forward to sharing in their big day next year:

Jaimie & Mike

These two are getting married in just a few months and we headed out to Merritt Island to capture some engagement pics...here's some of what we got:



While shooting the following shot, we had an unexpected, but welcome guest, join us!

Patti & Family

The weather this summer has played havoc with many of my outdoor (and sometimes indoor) shoots and last Saturday was no exception. It was time for Patti and family to have their family shots taken and just as we started to shoot the first few, the rain started. We took cover for a little while amongst the rain, thunder and lightning and as soon as it stopped raining, we ran back out and got a few more before it started AGAIN. The rain finally let up for good after a few more minutes and we were able to get some great shots of this awesome family: