Revealing Their Inner Beauty; Tips on Photographing Special Kids
Lynne Eodice, February, 2005
SKPA (Special Kids Photography of America) is a non-profit organization that
was born from Heidi Lewis’ frustration in trying to get a professional
portrait taken of her one-year-old son, Taylor, who has a connective tissue
disorder.
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A
photo of Scout and her mother, Lisa Curtis, in an embrace that
also serves to hold the child still long enough to snap the shutter.
This image is also on the cover of Photographing Children with
Special Needs.
Photo by Sally Harding
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Lewis is not alone. According to her mother, Karen Dórame, who co-founded
SKPA with Lewis, “It’s hard to believe, but SKPA often hears that
parents are turned away by photographers when they hear that the child has special
needs. These kids are frequently left out of important family pictures, such
as weddings or graduation celebrations. It’s very important to include
these kids,” she emphasizes.
“One of the SKPA board members is just such a mother who became frustrated
in attempting to obtain a professional photograph of her little boy who has
Down Syndrome. So what did Laura Popiel do? She went out and took a few classes
and is now a first-class photographer whose services are in demand all over
the world,” says Dórame.
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Nicholas
(right), with his cousin Benjamin. Nicholas is the son of photographer
Laura Popiel, who now photographs special-needs children around
the world.
Photo by Laura Popiel
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The Role of SKPA
SKPA provides training and support to photographers who take pictures of children,
as a certain percentage of them will have special needs. They also offer referrals
of photographers around the country who have experience photographing children
with disabilities, sponsor photographic exhibits for malls and airports in major
cities, and promote greater inclusion of these children in mainstream society.
Professional photographers can become accredited with SKPA to work with the
organization, to use SKPA’s logo in marketing, and to have their names
included in SKPA’s Website referral list. Photographers must also submit
pictures of four special-needs children for review. Several of SKPA’s
accredited photographers are parents of special children, Dórame points
out, “because they decided that they wanted to take great pictures not
only for themselves, but for others as well.” Many of these studios offer
additional services, such as wedding photography, but others have devoted themselves
solely to photographing disabled children. “We have no competition,”
she adds. “No other organization that we know of is doing this.”
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Nicholas
enjoying the pumpkin patch.
Photo by Laura Popiel
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Dórame, who is also SKPA’s director, has a background in public
relations and was once employed by a public health department’s Office
of Policy, Research and Planning. One of her duties was shooting pictures for
the department’s newsletter. “I learned a lot about photojournalism,
which is a very popular style with studios today,” she says.
Her mother was an award-winning photographer in salon competitions. “I
grew up getting stuck in her tripod holes,” Dórame laughs. “She
taught me about f-stops, film speeds and other tips.”
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Ethan
and his friend Jack take a break from selling lemonade. Jack (right)
shaved his head to match Ethan’s, who lost his hair through
cancer therapy.
Photo by Wendy Imbornoni
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The early days of SKPA involved a lot of research on Dórame’s
part. She started taking pictures of special-needs children at church, and the
health department allowed her to shoot pictures of children at their therapy
centers as long as the parents signed a release. She learned what skills were
needed in this specialized area of photography. This led to her working with
schools that had students with disabilities.
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