An idea is born - Photos for Foster Kids - August 2013

Rocky Salskov, Jennifer Loomis and Amber Louis jump for a fun photo at the conclusion of two days of photographing foster kids for Northwest Adoption Exchange.

A Photo Can Make a Difference

Before I knew we could get pregnant, I was toying with the idea of adopting a child, an older child. It seemed like a good way to go for me, for us. I had heard some great stories, and of course some more difficult ones. But I focused on the great stories.

As I clicked through images on site after site of foster kids available for adoption, one thing struck me. Most of the images were not very good, and I couldn't get a feel for the kids' personality at all. There was little sparkle. The photos of dogs and cats for adoption at animal shelters were better and this bothered me. So I sent an email at 9:12 PM on a dark December night seeing if they would want a probono session. I received an email back from a woman who said she would bring it up. And that began our planning for the first shoot for Northwest Adoption Exchange at my studio in Seattle.

email to Northwest Adoption Exchange

The reason this happened is in large part due to the commitment of Amber Louis. She navigated the complex bureaucracy of the world of foster care and the state. This is something I knew nothing about. But she was committed to making this happen. And not only do I know we made a difference, but I also met a wonderful young and inspiring women.

Amber made sure to find kids who might be older, and about to graduate out of the foster care system. She connected up the care workers and arranged transportation. She made it happen.

We shot it at my studio in Seattle. I asked another photographer to help out, because he is a friend and I knew loved to do things like this. We had fun. We photographed about 10 children in multiple settings. Photographing these kids is about drawing them out and making it fun. We got some donations for food, drinks and balloons. And gradually they became alive. To protect the identity of the children, we aren't using any photos here. But our hope is that someone will see these photos and some of the kids will find forever families. The photos are now live on Northwest Adoption Exchange's site. See if you can figure out which ones we did. https://www.nwae.org/PhotoIndex-WARE-dbC.php?tn=3