project "HOPE"....

Many know the reason(s), well the ONE reason actually, that I started photography, many more don't.
On April 16, 2006 I lost my second baby a few days before birth. We named her Kate Elizabeth, and we buried her sweet little body by her grandma Rosan.
During our short hospital stay, on Easter morning, a nurse offered to take pictures of our short time with Kate. These few pictures changed me..it is the only thing that remains of her, here on earth with me. Her sweet smell is gone, I have a hard time remembering her face, her body can't be held, and I never got to hear her sweet little laugh. This is me with Kate...I love this picture, I love that my husband stood by me to wipe the tears.

But I did get photos, and that changed my life. My main goal when I started was to volunteer for "Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep". To be able to give back what I was given was my one goal...but now that I've gotten into photography this past year, I really want to focus on the "HOPE". I want to put a face to those who grieve, a story for those who don't know where to turn, and some peace that time does heal, and life does indeed remain happy and hopeful.
So this is the start (FINALLY) of Project HOPE...the Kate Elizabeth Randle foundation.
The first part of this is to be able to take photos of those who have lost children. I want to publish a book so that others can see the faces of hope and healing.

My recovery started when I met Marcie, who also suffered a late term still-born little boy. She was so beautiful and she survived, that was really important for me to see. It changed my perspective and gave me hope.

There are so many things that I want to do, but for now I am going to focus on families that have lost a child, and haven't had a "new" family picture taken. By new I mean, one without their child in it. I have a few awesome photographer friends on board, willing to donate their time and experience to help me get this started.

But a few months ago I had the chance to take the Franklin family pictures. They lost their daughter Chelsea almost three years ago, and they agreed to have their pictures done. They are an incredibly beautiful, amazing family, and if you saw them on the street you would never know.

I sure hope that I brought some measure of peace to them...but I know it brought a lot of peace to me, so thank you for letting me photograph your family.

Here are a few pictures of the session.






More to come about Project Hope in the coming months...

If you know a family who would want this done for them please contact me. allyson@allysonrandlphotography.com
It's completely free of charge, with 15-20 images on a high-res disc.

King Family| Utah Family Photographer

Ahh, what a lovely family. Could you die for their kids or what? Crewcut dresses and great genes....not a bad combo I'd say.
Emily (see below--she does PAPERS EDGE) has such a great style...I love the perfectly simple, classicness. (is that a word?)

(i mean, really?)

Hicken Family--BOOKED.

I am so far behind on blogging... but then I had a great idea..I won't just put the Hicken family 10 pictures up, I'll put up the cute collage that I made for their stinking cute family.
I mean really, pretty much all their favorite pictures in ONE SPOT. How convienient, I say!
(if you wanna keep current with my pics, check out FACEBOOK!)

And a few items of info:

1. I'm booked for the the Holiday season, I'd be happy to take your pictures but I won't be able to get you anything for Christmas.

2. I'm finally done building my portifolio! YIPPEEE. Price changes will occur at the beginning of next year.

PUBLISHED!

I was asked by Emily King of Papers Edge to take some pictures of her and her amazing art work for Mormonartist.net.
It's a very cool magazine about mormon artists that are doing incredible things...it's a MUST SEE.
We are in the new issue (number 7). Read the online version or download the pdf file to see her interview and my photos.
How cool is that? I HAVE PUBLISHED photos...who knew? I feel like reading "Oh,the places you'll go" by Dr. S...just to make myself smile, and laugh a bit.
Really, if someone would have told me this last year, I woulda punched them...but now I'll enjoy the tiny moment, take a deep breath, smile a bit more, and resume work on Christmas cards.

Some BIZNESS...

Well, it's crazy Christmas season, and the blogging has to slow WAAAAY down.

A few items of business...

1. I am only taking 2 more families for the holiday season.

2. I stop working/filling orders/stressing out/snapping at my children/barking at my hubby/looking at christmas sayings ALL day/eating crap(okay that's not going to stop)...on DEC. 1st. I shall resume sessions and such January 7th. (That's the day after my birthday, and my hubby's if you were wondering! :) Yes, we share the same birthday and I am 4 hours older and thus wiser. just saying.

3. I will fill Christmas card orders and prints for Christmas until NOV. 15th.

I think that about covers it. Questions, concerns (for me that is) and anything else EMAIL ME: allyson@allysonrandlephotography.com

Lots of love to you.

Enyon Kiddie

So a few things. First I'm loving the brown-eyed kids..I'll be honest I have a lot of blue-eyed clients.
Second, we had to cancel all these session because it was supposed to be the biggest rain storm of the season..oh wait. Didn't RAIN.
Third, when we did reschedule it was somehow a heat wave at 94... degrees. ON THE BEACH.
Poor kids, poor mom, poor me...but stinking cute kids, even in the heat wave.
And finally, have you ever noticed how I start most of my sentences with SO?

Long Family

I always love doing the families with older kids..mostly because they get my humor more than 2 year olds. (However, my husband would probably disagree and say I get along better with the 2 year olds..but that's another story). This family had me laughing all night, and might possibly have beat me in the sacastic game. Dang it. What a coolio family...oh yeah, and they LOVED when I told them to sit by the "CAUTION HOT" fireplace. ;)
Just a mom and her kids...

Fa'anuna Kids

Holy Holy. I don't know what else to say but they are the most beautiful kids I've ever seen. I loved that they just hung out and rode their cool longboard. I seriously think someone should get them an agent. Pronto.

Nadia + Big Sal + Little Sal

Okay, sometimes you meet these really cool families, and with the cutest kids, and the prettiest eyes, and husbands that you can tell are thinking "please let this be over, please let this be over..." and the light is great, and you can hardly believe the sun is going down. Although again I'm pretty sure the hubby is still thinking "please let me catch the end of the football game..." this was that family.
They rocked, i was loving calling them Big Sal and Little Sal.
I'll be honest, most of my clients get nick-named... good times.