Inspiration Wednesday

The girls I take photos of will probably never have to be forced to marry at 12. Or leave school to work before they can read. Let's hope these girls will escape that life too.

When my friends Jenny and Dave moved to India a couple of years ago, we were sad to see them leave NYC. But they like to live big adventures and this was no different. Jenny & I had volunteered together before she left and she quickly found a new cause to champion in India. 

Pardada Pardadi helps rural Indian girls go to school by paying them directly for their attendance. Upon graduation, they have an excellent "dowry" to start their lives along with a full education and trade training. They are trying to break the cycle of poverty and uplift young women in a place that needs both. 

Here's Jenny with 2 of the girls when they came to California - first flights, first time outside India, first supermarket!
 

I've supported this group through purchasing their gorgeous pillows (excellent gifts!) and hope you will consider adding them to your charity list. Or shopping list.

For more on Pardada Pardadi Educational Society, visit Education 4 Change

To purchase gifts made by the students, visit From Village to World

To read about life as New Yorkers in India by Jenny and Dave, visit Our Delhi Struggle

Photo credits: all courtesy of Pardada Pardadi except the supermarket courtesy of Our Delhi Struggle.

New photo portfolio launched!!!

Whew! I just launched my online baby photo portfolio on Kristin Burns Baby Photo.

I feel a real sense of completion - rare in web work - getting this up. I love looking back on the photos of so many amazing babies, children and families. It took a lot of late nights picking some of my favorite photos then editing that group of 8749679 down to a manageable size. I actually liked doing the web-designing and coding as a little switch from my photography work. I feel like it uses a different part of my brain.

Please check it out and give me any advice/praise/criticism in the comments. I know a lot of you are out there reading this - chime in!

Brothers are built-in buddies (with special offer!)

I'm lucky enough to have 2 brothers and they are just so great together, but different than they are with me. More rough and tumble. But still fiercely protective.

I notice it a lot in the families I photograph too. So today lets take a look at some of my favorites.





Love that bond!

So if you book a photo shoot by 9/30/09 for brothers, I'll throw in a bonus 10% on your print order. Cannot be combined with other offers.

9/11 babies

Five Years Later: Diane Sawyer with many of the children who lost their dads on 9/11. Some children never got the opportunity to get to know their fathers.
(Donna Svennvik/ABC) 2005

8 years later, here in New York City, we still remember. One of the most lasting legacies of the terrorist attacks was the number of babies born to mothers who lost their partner in the attacks. I read this excellent piece in the Guardian profiling one family where the mom was 7 months pregnant on 9/11/01 and now raising a 7 year old son. There are many cases where the mothers didn't even know they were pregnant on 9/11.

Even though a baby boom 9 months later was debunked by the fantastic Snopes.com, there sure were a lot of babies born that summer. The first memorial service was crowded with grieving families with gorgeous infants. Now there are some great charities set up to help those children. Jay-Z is even doing a benefit concert tonight.

Even now, a 9/11 birthday is not the most desirable. I remember last year my doctor carefully placing my due date on 9/10 (or sometimes 9/12) but never 9/11. Which of course is funny since a babies birth is just about the most perfect opposite of the pointless death and destruction the date conjures.

One of my daughter's friends turns one today (Happy birthday Hiro!!!) and I hope as he grows older the day may take on a less tragic, more hopeful, meaning.