Win a new CAR!

Didi Danielle Photography is participating in the International Charity Model Search to select North America’s Cutest Family and to raise funds for the non-profit Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation. (NILMDTS.org)

Last year’s competition featured 2,000 model’s images and raised $164,775 for the NILMDTS organization. Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep (NILMDTS), is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization committed to assisting parents and families going through the difficult time when they experience an early infant loss. Unfortunately there are times when babies will not be going home from the hospital, and this is when NILMDTS connects families with volunteer photographers providing them with a reproducible CD of the images of their baby at no cost to the family. For further information on NILMDTS, visit their website at www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org.

Finalists will be determined by online votes. Each vote is $1 (no limit on the amount of votes you can cast), and all proceeds from votes benefit Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep (NILMDTS.org).

Are your loved ones North America’s Cutest Family? I want to give you the opportunity to prove it! Many exciting prizes will be awarded, and the grand prize winner receives a new car!

People who want to enter their families in the contest may do so by calling Didi Danielle Photography at 503.747.2518. Family sessions booked before March 15th will receive the Model Search Special….

Model Search Special:
$100 entrance fee includes:
- a 90-minute family model session
- a complimentary $50 print credit
- password-protected online gallery of proofs for easy viewing, sharing, ordering
- one image submitted to the International Charity Model Search gallery

Call 503.747.2518 or email didi@dididaniellephoto.com now to enter your family in this exciting contest.

*Contest open to residents of the US and Canada. For more information, visit http://sandypucmodels.com/.

NILMDTS News

NILMDTS Volunteers & Families

receive international recognition in the current issue of:

Newsweek Article online NOW and on stands today(2/2/09).

After months of interviews and amazing contributions by so many photographers and families, Newsweek has now published online the article focusing on stillbirth and NILMDTS. It hits newsstands on Monday (2/2/09). Click on the screen image below to read the MAIN story titled, "A Vast and Sudden Sadness".

In addition to the MAIN story in the magazine, the web version has a beautiful SIDEBAR about NILMDTS beginnings. Click on the screen image below to read, "Family Portraits".


In addition to the English version of Newsweek, the Polish and Arabic editions have also requested clearance to print these NILMDTS images in their versions of the magazine.

NILMDTS Annual Fund Drive

With the Month of October being recognized as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, The Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation holds its Annual Fund Drive for six weeks starting in mid-September and ending in October.

President Ronald Reagan enacted Proclamation 5890 in October of 1988 to recognize that each year, approximately a million pregnancies in the United States alone end in miscarriage, stillbirth, or the death of a newborn child. Reagan stated, "A national observance offers us the opportunity to increase our understanding of the great tragedy involved in the deaths of unborn or newborn babies. It also enables us to consider how, as individuals and communities, we can meet the needs of bereaved parents and family members... " To read the full Proclamation signed by Reagan, CLICK HERE.

If you are in a place to make even a small contribution to NILMDTS, please know that doing so will continue to allow the organization to provide improved resources, training, communication, and other tools necessary in support of our amazing contingent of professional photographers who provide the gift of free remembrance portraiture to families in need.

Our next project we are working on is an online, interactive webinar version of our Formal NILMDTS Training taught by Co-Founder Sandy Puc' allowing anyone in any country with access to a computer to complete the course online. Donations help make programs like this a reality!




Your Donations Support the Organization in Many Ways -
* By supporting the continued education of our volunteer photographers
* By allowing us to further our outreach to hospitals and hospices across the world
* By offsetting the costs associated with outreach efforts including Formal NILMDTS Training Seminars
* By supporting the Family Forum which creates a productive and supportive haven for healing * By supporting the Photographers' Forum which provides a helpful environment for our member photographers to express their feelings and receive advice on the various issues that they face in this noble work
* By supporting the day to day operations of our Headquarters Offices

More on NILMDTS...

NILMDTS mentioned in a book

Co-Founder of Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep foundation Cheryl Haggard received an email from a friend a few days ago, telling her about the book she was reading:

"I was reading last night and they talked about Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep in the book. I was so proud of you when I read it, I started to cry:) happy tears...a baby is born with hydrocephaly and is fading and they give the family a business card of one of the photographers to call and they talk about the wonderful gift of memories the organization gives. It was great. In the back of the book they give the website and encourage readers to visit it."

Pretty cool, huh?

NILMDTS in the news

July 18, 2008
A warm and touching story about the Hedges family and their NILMDTS photographer, Courtney Lambert.
WHAS 11 - Louisville Kentucky


July 18, 2008
CBS 6 features NILMDTS Certified Trainer Loy Payne and photographers Christy Goodger and Carrie LaFollette. Christy and Carrie's wonderful work with Jody Martin and her baby boy, Memphis Dane Martin.
News On 6 - Oklahoma


July 10, 2008
A very moving video featuring a Colorado military family and the loss of their daughter Aubrey while her father was in Iraq. NILMDTS was called to capture images to share with her father upon his return to the states.
CW2 - Denver


July 6, 2008
A wonderful video featuring NILMDTS photographer Aimee Bickers and her work with Morgan Lutche's twins, Brady and Tucker.
The News and Observer - The Triangle NC


July 6, 2008
A short piece done by Oklahoma City's News9 on NILMDTS
News9.com - Oklahoma City

..and finally

This photograph was taken by fellow NILMDTS Affiliated Photographer, Tommy Han, Sunday in Parker Colorado. The tornado actually touched down, but fortunately, nobody was injured. Amazing photo!

Yesterday's Training Seminar

Yesterday I attended a NILMDTS training seminar in Portland, with renowned professional photographer Kirk Kief. The first hour or two was quite emotional. Kleenex made a fortune off us! It was relieving that we could develop professionally, and still be in a safe place appropriate to be emotional. When we're on the job, we can't and we wont become emotional, but when we were surrounded by each other, and not by clients, it was okay.

First, we watched the Today show segment on NILMDTS, as the hairs all over my body stood straight up. Then, stood up a big, brawny man who incidently is the youth pastor of this church the seminar was being held in. He told us that Elle (the woman I shadowed) took portraits of his daughter not even a year ago. He fell apart, this strong, muscular man, he fell apart right in front of us as he spoke about what a blessing these photos are to him and his wife. Although their daughter didn't live longer than a day, those portraits are proof that she existed. Without the services of NILMDTS, families would go home without their baby, and memories would eventually fade. But this man can share their child with the rest of their families and friends, and generations to follow. She will always be remembered. She is a part of their family.

It's hard to imagine that i've only shadowed one session, I haven't yet done one solo. But still, this has become a mission for me, and important part of my life. I always wondered if there would ever be a charity that would really pull on the strings of my heart, and this is the one. People often say, "I don't know how you could do this", and I think to myself, "How could I not do this?". It is an honor being invited into a time when a family is in the greatest pain they will ever feel, and as a photographer, we can commemorate those memories with grace, with peace, and with love.





The Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep foundation has existed for only three years, but is now in 12 countries, with nearly 4,000 photographers worldwide. If you want to learn more, please go to http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/ or email me at dididaniellephoto@comcast.net. You can see the segment profiling NILMDTS on The Today Show on YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=MlKhrCORF8w