Summer Extended Family Outdoor

For the 2nd year in a row, I am donating an outdoor session to support Max Challenge of East Brunswick’s Day of Giving program. This year, Max Challenge of East Brunswick has chosen the East Brunswick Daisy Recreation Program to be their charity of choice. The Daisy Recreation Program is the first and oldest program for people with special needs in East Brunswick.

Agnes decided to use the prize toward an extended family outdoor session when her Mom and sister were visiting during July 4th holiday.

Agnes is the winner of my prize. She wanted to support the fundraiser as it serves a wonderful local cause – the Daisy program for special needs kids in our community.

Also, like many people today, She has many casual photos of family in her phone or computer to show and share off the device, but she finds it difficult to go through the process to achieve actual beautiful printed photos of the family that can be physically displayed in the home and cherished over the years. “Not everyone is included in my own snapshots, the lighting or quality is often less than perfect etc. Therefore, when I saw the photography prize, I immediately knew it would be something I would like to win very much. Working with Karen and seeing the results just prove to me again how incredibly lucky winning that prize was!”, said Agnes.

Agnes’s family

They celebrated her Mom’s 71st birthday during the reunion, and it was her nephew’s first time visiting in NJ. They loved also going to the July 4th parade together in Milltown. “It was fun!”

Prior to the session I had done location scouting at several different places and we decided to conduct the session at Davidson’s Mill Pond Park, a local hidden gem for family outdoor sessions. We hit a heat wave. The session was rescheduled once because of that. The rescheduled session day was still hot. “It was hot, but the time (6 p.m.) and a light breeze made it pleasant. The park is just beautiful and we were glad that Karen helped us choose the location. We liked the laid-back and accommodating vibe that Karen brought to the photo session”, recalled Agnes.

Mike and Agnes met as graduate students at Rutgers. They are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary this year.

Joe is looking forward to attending high school this year. Nika loves music and art. She enjoyed the photo session because she also likes to take pictures. She was very interested in what Karen was doing. She also helped a lot with choosing the pictures for editing.

Agnes shares thoughts about the crew’s outfit choices: “We didn’t want to look very formal and wanted to use comfortable clothes from their regular wardrobes. But to have a more pulled-together look in terms of color and overall look, as Karen suggested, we settled on some common colors: blue, tan, and white (with some grey possible). Many people in the group were visiting, and I wanted to make it possible for all of us to be able to find something quickly that would work for each person. Just a couple of items were purchased for the photo sessions at places like Kohl’s and TJMaxx (Nica’s white shirt, my blouse).”

Agnes’s Mom Marianne lives in the Michigan. She loves going to New Jersey or Minnesota and spending time with her grandchildren.

Marianne with grandchildren Joe, Nika, and Luca.

Marianne with daughters Agnes and Lily.

Lily and Luca are from Minnesota.

Luca is 3 years old. He is the youngest member of the family and loves his big cousins from NJ.

The session came out beautifully. Here are some tips from Agnes: “Follow Karen’s advice as to location, poses, color scheme, etc. Allow for individuality and favorite items of clothing within your overall color scheme to make sure everyone feels comfortable. Relax and enjoy the session!”Thanks again for supporting a great cause!