I just started shooting for Natick Neighbors Magazine. For an extra fun first shoot, I was lucky enough to photograph my friend Jessica Roy who I’ve known since the 90’s when our Dads worked together. What a small world that we both ended up living in Natick, MA!
As some who rarely turns down an adventure or a challenge, I also wrote the featured story. Here’s a bit of the article:
“Meet the Roy family: Jessica and David have 4 kids. Their house is always full of energy and photo day was no different. I photographed their portrait on Thanksgiving weekend. The kids were excited to show me their elf on a shelf who had just arrived for the season. They let me know about all the mischief that elf had been up to so far. A friendly and informative bunch, they proceeded to tell me all about the rules of elves as I setup my lighting. FYI: Don’t touch an Elf or he will loose his magic! Their oldest “J”, the leader, has a quiet authority. Second oldest “G” is very inquisitive. When it came time to take the photograph G decided to help me frame the shot while big brother J, sister E, and baby B sat agreeably with their parents. I promised G that we’d tell all his friends that he in fact helped take the pictures and so here it is in print. It’s too bad he can’t quite read yet to see that I made good on my promise, but he’ll learn that next year in kindergarten.”
The main reason I thought that Jess’s family should be featured is so she could use the opportunity to promote her charity, Tailored for Education, http://tailoredforeducation.org.
“Jess cofounded Tailored for Education (TFE) in 2011 with her then coworker and friend, Megan Kelly. They had just finished graduate school and naively thought they had extra time on their hands now that homework was gone. A mutual friend had recently traveled to Tanzania and told them that children there can’t attend school without a uniform. The average cost of the uniform is just $25. Not being able to tolerate the thought of $25 standing in the way of children attending school, they got to work. Jess and Megan did research to confirm the depth of this problem, initiated their first project with a school in Haiti, and haven’t stopped working since. Tailored for Education provides school uniforms to children around the world who cannot attend school without one. By providing uniforms they are removing children from the streets and workplaces and putting them behind desks in classrooms. Children in third world countries are intensely aware that education is their only way out of poverty. Tailored for Education currently works with 19 partners in ten countries and has provided over 50,000 uniforms since May 2011.”
Want to help them provide more uniforms? Head over to the TFE website and click on “apparel.” Buy something for yourself or as a gift and the proceeds will help the kids get the uniforms they need to attend school. Shameless promotion, I did the product photography, too!
