Tammi Nowack Photography Photoblog

If you regularly check into my blog then you know that 3 months ago (an eternity and a blink in time all at once) our family was dealt a devastating blow when we found out that my brother’s son, my sweet nephew Johnny was diagnosed with a deadly and inoperable brain tumor.  Those first couple of weeks after the diagnosis were a whirlwind as Rob & Amanda gathered their five children and immediately set out for St. Jude’s in Memphis where Johnny took part of a 6-week clinical trial treatment program.  The rest of the family rallied around them and we all began to make our way to Tennessee as well — those days seem like they were a lifetime ago.  They are painful for me to even remember.

[deep breath]

REWIND:  I grew up in Michigan, and we regularly attended a local Baptist church.  Church friends had a daughter Shari, who I remember was married when I was in elementary school and then moved away with her husband.  When I try to pull to mind memories of Shari and her husband Dave and their little baby in the hallways of that church my recollections are fuzzy at best.

But…BUT, as my family and I arrived in Memphis I learned that my dad was trying to get in touch with Dave & Shari because they lived in the Memphis area.  And we had a family emergency. And hotel lodgings for 12-14 people was beginning to get pricey. And Rob and Amanda have 4 other kids that are confined to a hospital all day and are BORED. And was there any way that they could help us out for a day or two?  Can you help us find things to do with the kids? Could we crash on someone’s couch for a few nights?

The Richmonds did more than let us crash on their couch – this family from the past that they hadn’t seen in over 15 years.  They completely embraced Rob and Amanda and the rest of our family in their arms and made a horrific experience so much more bearable.  Through their church, they secured a fully furnished house that sheltered family and friends on a daily basis for well over a month.  They organized church members to bring over meals.  The girls cleaned the house on a weekly basis. The boys mowed the lawn. They stocked the fridge. They got guest passes for the entire family to Lifetime Fitness. They opened their home to everyone for dinner and to use their pool during the wicked-hot summer heat.  They brought the Wii from their house and left it for the kids.  The Richmond “kids” played with Rob and Amanda’s kids.  They loved on Johnny.  Johnny, who soaked in the normalcy of a regular house in a regular summer.  Who swam in the pool like a regular kid, who had sleepovers at the house in a regular bed and could forget –for just a minute– that this wasn’t a regular summer.

They completely enveloped a hurting family and blanketed them with love.

They would be totally embarrassed if they knew that I was going to say all of this.  They would shrug it off and say that they were glad to help where they could. Because that’s the kind of people that they are.  They are true Christ-likeness and LOVE embodied. And you don’t come across that every day and I think it’s worth mentioning.

My husband is an English teacher and a big fan of Henry Thoreau, and as I was writing this blog, one of his poems came to my mind:

And each may other help, and service do,
Drawing Love’s bands more tight,
Service he ne’er shall rue
While one and one make two,
And two are one;

In such case only doth man fully prove
Fully as man can do,
What power there is in Love
His inmost soul to move
Resistlessly.

Thank you Richmond family, for drawing love’s bands so tightly around my brother, my sister-in-law, Johnny….our entire family.

——————

On to the pictures, yes?  Last time I was in Memphis we decided that these guys could use an updated family photo or two, so we headed out late in the afternoon.  We lost light fast and it was starting to rain so we literally had about 10 minutes but it was enough to grab a few.

Unfortunately, one of Dave & Shari’s kids, Andrew – was unable to come at the last minute due to a….*ahem*….pressing date with his girlfriend, was it?  I hope you don’t mind Andrew, I just added a few of your Facebook photos into this blog post so you wouldn’t feel left out.

The beautiful Amanda (sorry boys, she’s taken)

Alan

Gorgeous Allyson (who earns some extra cool points from me because she plays volleyball)

Oh yes, and here’s Andrew.

Shari with her girls. 

They like to have fun.

Dave & Shari

Family shot!

Oh wait, let’s get Andrew in there to make it a REAL family shot.

Yes, that’s better.

This is a FUN family – there is a LOT of laughter in this house.  After we left Memphis, my husband turned to me and said, “I don’t know what those Richmond’s do, but they do something right because they have GREAT kids and a GREAT family dynamic”

and they do.

Much love to all of you.

You told me you couldn’t see
a better day coming,
so I gave you my eyes.

~Braided Creek

If you’d like to keep up to date on Johnny’s story, you can check out his Facebook page here.

…..To a computer screen near you: The Richmond family….who I can’t say enough good things about. Stay tuned to find out why….

Hannah was my very last session before leaving Albany (*sob).  We met out at Chehaw on a surprisingly cool-ish morning.  Cool-ish for Albany.  Meaning it was only 94 degrees at 9am as opposed to 110.

Hannah is a cross country runner and a drama queen. As in, she likes drama-related things and the arts. Enjoy your preview AND your senior year Hannah!

In keeping with my latest trend…I’ll start out with my favorite image from the session.

The day before I left Albany, I was welcomed out to some longtime favorite clients of mine to photograph Sumner’s senior portraits.  You may remember some of this scenery from when I did Sumner’s older sister Sarah’s portraits last year, but these photos were taken Sumner-style and she did a great job to make the same locale all her own.

I think I might make it a “thing” to start my blog posts out with one of my favorite images (i have 1-3 favorites of my own from every session).  For Sumner’s session, I had 2 favorites….here’s the first one.

I loved this dress!

Here’s a fun story about Sumner: She’s a supastar soccer player, and has decided that for her senior year she might make a pretty radtastical football kicker. Since the GISA rules state that girls can try out for any athletic team that is not offered for their gender, she’s been busting her butt all summer working on her field goal skillz so she can join the DWS football team in the fall.  The football scene in the south is hardcore and old school so I think she’s pretty awesome for challenging traditions and local ideas of how things “should” be.

The girl’s got moxie, I tell ya.  And I like that.

Fierce!

And this is my other favorite.

Adorable Peyton and her sweet parents are some of my favorite baby clients! When I did Peyton’s 3 month session, I was super impressed with what a chilled out, relaxed little babe she was and this session was no different.  She sat, and looked around, and did her little “tripod sit”, and tolerated clothing changes, and being in the grass and dirt with the maturity and grace of at LEAST a 9 month old.   Extra kudos to the whole family who awoke at the CRACK of dawn for a photo session.  These guys got my second to last session, just 2 days before we moved from Albany, so the only spot I had left was an 8AM slot on a Saturday. *applause*

Thanks for everything guys – enjoy Peyton’s preview!

I think this next one would look stellar as a big ‘ole canvas.

This is one of my favorites.

Have a great weekend everyone!