We had the best time last Friday with Chris and Marin and Jake Locker, working to create some new photos to promote the Husky Nation Project. The connections established and the friendships forged in that afternoon promise to be powerful and far-reaching. I just returned from my art group and we will be creating some items for Marin that were discussed during the shoot. I also talked to one of my friends today who has a way for Chris to experience driving, which is one of his dreams, but due to complications from his treatments is not possible within the usual scope of driving an automobile. I show a photo here today that captures the personalities of my subjects and it makes me laugh to see Chris so smug after making Jake laugh. Chris, the comedian, seated near Marin, the regal beauty, and separated by one of the nicest young men I have ever met---like I said, it made for one fun day.

This coming Monday is the screening of the documentary, "Portraits of Hope" at the SIFF. We are proud and thrilled that it will be making its Seattle debut. If you are not able to attend, we are hoping that it will be part of the Port Townsend film festival in the fall and that we will have an event here at the studio that will be more convenient for many of you

I am sharing
two new families today from the NTSAD family conference. The first is a beautiful little girl named Riley who has just recently been in the hospital. I am so happy to say that she will be going home soon after a stay that was really tough. Riley's parents had scheduled for one day, but we had to wait until the next as she was struggling at the conference time. I felt so sad, as I could tell they were struggling with how to handle the situation while away from home. Sarah did the main work with this family and did a wonderful job.

The second little charmer tonight is the enchanting Racheli. This little one caught my eye when they arrived, as I had received an email from her dad when we first came on the scene as a new foundation and I remembered her from her website. She was so lovingly surrounded

by three handsome brothers and parents who adore her. It was my pleasure to sit near her dad at every possible time as he seemed to have the words to keep me strong and focused while working in a situation that often tugged at my heart.

On Friday we will be joined here in the courtyard in Ballard by the interim director of the NTSAD foundation. I am so excited to sit and share some time with this lovely woman and get more insights into how we can better serve the Tay Sachs families. I again thank the Conner's Way Foundation for their support of our work in Massachusettes and for allowing me to have such a life altering experience.

This past weekend I worked at three special weddings and attended the memorial service for lovely Deena. Since her service we have received very nice donations in her honor. We are having a meeting tomorrow to plan how best to move forward in our work with parents. After seeing the photo of Deena and her girls in the front of her church, I knew even more fully that this expansion of our scope is the right thing to do. Please know that we are available and that we can accept referrals from any of you. Please be mindful that we do not make 'cold' calls to families and that they are boundaries to the work. When referring us to a family, please be sure that they know about our work and that they want to have photos taken, and that they know we work with children from birth to 18 that have life-threatening illness, and also with parents who are nearing the end of life and have children between birth and 18.


We are so proud also of the work Sandra Coan completed this week for a new family. I feel she has captured many treasures that will sustain them in times of sorrow.

Kurt Smith has completed a shoot with a little boy and his family who live north of Seattle. I am excited to see what magic Kurt as worked with his camera. Kurt and I will most likely be the last two film shooters in all of Seattle. I see lovely work from our digital photos, but I still love the look of good black-and-white prints from film. Not being digital, film also takes away the desire to go in and try to fix things. Personally, I prefer a more natural look, so I will stick with film for now and hope that my dear friends at Moon photo and Wallingford photo will be happy printing my film for many years to come.

I am heading off to the cabin again. I know that the beauty of the island will bring such peaceful thoughts. I send wishes of peace to our dear bracelet maker Denise as she has just passed the date of Blake's birthday for the first time since his passing. I close as always with so many families on my mind and in love and peace, Lynette

I spent some amazing quiet time on the beach at our cabin on Tuesday and built a tiny shrine in honor of my friend Deena and her daughters. Deena peacefully slipped away on Saturday and I thought I'd make a tiny memorial to her on my favorite rock town on Hartstene. Just some lovely colored rocks and some shells and wildflowers seemed perfect. As I was gathering, I heard the sound of a fish surfacing to feed, and stood and watched that sight for a few minutes, just trying to enjoy the fact that life and nature move in such beautiful ways. While I was examining the lovely flowers of a wild lupine, the loudest sound I heard on that beach was the noise of the bees harvesting from that plant, which was growing from a vertical wall of clay and pebbles. This beach brings me peace and, hopefully, acceptance.

I arrived home to the most lovely email from my friend Vicki's husband Jay, telling a story about the sand in an hourglass, and I know that all is reminding me that as long as memories survive, the person and his or her magic is with us. So the sorrow starts to be balanced with the ongoing presence of each person in my life.

I am happy to report that little Katelyn in Louisana is doing better and it would be lovely for you to send an early birthday card of support and encouragement. Her address again is: Katelyn C. 103 Bruce St. Dequincy LA 70633. She is safely at home and they would love to have cards to read to her.

Today I share two new families from the NTSAD conference. The first little girl is Dakota, who is such a star, as she is a juvenile onset Tay Sachs child and the only living receipient of a cord blood transplant. The transplant was given to slow or stop the progression of the disease. This transplant was done at Duke University and was tried on three other children. Dakota is truly a delight--her smile and vivacious personality lead to many friendships. Her parents are busy creating a new foundation, called The Cure Tay Sachs Foundation. She was photographed by Sarah Mattingly and I am honored to share her work today.




The next wonderful child from the NTSAD conference is Krystie, who is the lovely
daughter of two proud dads. She was a very recent diagnosis and she is just so darned cute. I have heard from Conner's mom that they are opting to try the same type of transplant that Dakota is living with. These dads are such gracious men and their attention to detail with this little darling is just so heartwarming. I was honored to get to hold Krystie one evening and it was such fun to have her melt into my arms.

I spoke early this morning at Sunrise Rotary, which meets near Children's Hospital. It was a wonderful opportunity to share the work of the foundation with such an attentive and supportive group. I know it is sometimes hard for people to take time to really absorb what we are doing, and I am very thankful that people are willing to listen and give thought to the realities of disease and loss in young children and parents.

We are very excited that tomorrow the new Husky quarterback, Jake Locker, will visit us here in Ballard and we will take some new promo shots with Marin and Christopher and (hopefully) Alexis Grace. We are so thankful to Jake for agreeing to take time from his busy schedule to promote the sales of the Husky Nation CD and to our amazing assistant Allison for getting this set up and, last but not least, to Sandi Lappano, who instigated this match-up.

I am showing
another photo of dear Finnley and her parents from a wedding I shot this weekend. We continue to receive donations in honor of her first birthday and we are so thankful to her and her parents. Plus, Finnley's dad will join us tomorrow for the Husky Nation shoot as we hope to start working to make films for a few new families, and Marin and Chris would be so fun for Greg, as he hasn't had the pleasure of filming any of our teenagers.

I close with a shot of my girls and me from Mother's Day in California. Like all parents, I'm amazed to be able to share treasured moments that capture the heart of my family. Thanks to my husband Doug for taking such a fun shot. I close as always, in love and peace, Lynette

It was a very productive evening here at Soul Ballard. We hosted yet another work party to create the albums and were joined by wonderful friends and supporters. The talented artists who attended created over 40 albums and have many more in various stages of completion. The albums will soon be for sale also on our website. I will let you know when they are available as they are truly lovely.

I am so sorry to say that my shoot with my friend who has inflammatory breast cancer had to be canceled as time had run out. I got the news right before the work party last night and have to admit that I wasn't very productive with the albums. We have a lovely gift of photos from my last shoot with Deana and her girls that we will mail out today. I am so glad to have had time with them when I did, but so very sorrowful that I do not get to see her again.

Again, the documentary film on the work of Soulumination will show on the 4th of June at the Egyptian. The showings begin at 7 with ours somewhere in a lineup of 5. It's very exciting and we now have lovely posters featuring Victor, so if you have places that would hang them please give a call and stop in to pick some up. The Soul line is 206-297-0885. That line is the one to use if you want to refer a family or get further information on volunteer opportunities.

We welcommed a young man to my studio yesterday for Soulumination photos and I have to say that I was smitten from the first moment. Chris reminded me of an interesting version of Will Rogers, with his constant commentary on life and politics and the amazing visions he has had since his battle against a brain tumor. At 18, this wonderful person is full of wit and love and I am so happy to say that he has agreed to sign releases so we can share his story. I wish I owned many acres so that we could set him free in an all-terrain vehicle, as he is so wanting to drive anything--a bike, car, moped, skateboard, minibike--but it's not possible. Chris's dad and I spent the entire shoot laughing, as Chris' insights are so poignant and at the same time so innocent. What a treat it was for me to work with this family. I had worked with Chris' sister when I was doing a little teaching in the photo classroom at Blanchet. She is now a research scientist working in cancer studies. We hope to do some photos of Chris with his sisters when they are in town. Plus Chris has agreed to attend our photo session to promote the Husky Nation CD. We are honored and proud to say that the new Husky QB, Jake Locker, has agreed to join in this project.

Our Soul photographer, Tara Clark, stopped by yesterday with the disc from her shoot and a lovely collage of the photos that she had printed out for the family. Tara did one amazing job and has agreed to record the first birthday celebration for Soul child Alexis Grace. Those of you who have donated recently have received a thank-you note with a shot of Alexis gracing the cover.

We have gotten some news that Soul child Katelyn whom Jeremy worked with in Texas, is in a very precarious state of health. Please keep her in your hearts as she struggles with her Krabbe condition. I am posting another shot of her with her family today so that you can see her face as you send them support.

Today's child from the NTSAD conference is the lovely Molly Grace. Molly and her family were just a delight to work with as everyone obviously wanted to record this little beauty in all her glory. I received the kindest email from her mom yesterday and she really lifted my spirits

. Molly's mom makes the most lovely hair accessories for little girls and sells them to benefit NTSAD. It was so nice to see Molly all decked out in a nautical dress and to know her daddy had been in the Navy, I picture her in his arms and with her stunning mom.

I hope to head to our cabin for a few sunny days. I know time down there brings peace and comfort and a feeling of blessed solitude. In love and peace, Lynette

It was wonderful to be with both of my girls for Mother's Day in SLO, California. The countryside around McKenzie's college town is truly beautiful. Both of our daughters are about to graduate from college, Mac this summer and Lew this winter. Doug and I are so excited, since we both ended our college careers shy of a degree, so these degrees are something to celebrate.

We have a date for viewing the film at Seattle International Film Festival. It will show with four other local documentaries at the Egyptian theater on Monday, June 4. It will start at 7:00 with our film showing sometime after that. I am so hoping that many of you will join us and support Jon and crew for their amazing effort with this film. It would be wonderful if you let me know you will be attending, so I can watch for you and give you a hug afterwards.

Today I will share two new angel babies, both from the Tay Sachs conference. The first is a little guy who was photographed by Sarah Mattingly. This cutie came to the conference as one of the most recently diagnosed. He had a most caring entourage, and it was delightful to see their amazing care and pride in this little guy. Sarah's shots capture his face so beautifully. I had one late night when I was fortunate enough to get to talk to Charles' mom about her journey and the recent diagnosis. You just have to admire these people. You can see that Charles has older sibs who love him very much, was wishing his sister lived near so we could hire her to work with the foundation!

The second dear one is

Caitlin and

she was accompanied by adoring parents and a fun older brother who had a smile that melted you and an impish delight in the whole experience. He would make me smile with his grin and his new tea set that seemed so appropriate in Boston. As with all the families at the conference, I felt such an overwhelming feeling that this child
was being loved and cared for in the most complete and unconditional way.

My wonderful friend and talented photographer, Jeremy Leffel, is just back from a special trip to Texas. He worked with a new angel baby and I am thrilled with the results. This little girl is nearing her second birthday and it's nothing short of a miracle that she is still with us and that her family is planning her second birthday. I just read on her Caringbridge site that they would welcome encouraging birthday wishes. Her actual birthday is early July, but I know if you send a card now it would mean so much as it would be fun to spread out the celebration over the next months. The family will read your card to this beautiful child, who is suffering from Krabbe disease. Her address is Katelyn C. 103 Bruce Street, DeQuincy, LA 70633, just offering a little privacy not showing the last name, but our postal service is great so they will deliver as long as you have the address correct. Here is the darling girl
and I hope you will send her a card.

Keep positive thoughts flowing toward our friend Jessica and her mom as they are still in Children's with Jess fighting off some more complications. They both believe in positive energy and prayer, so lets send that simple request their way as Susan asked for just that kind of support today.

I am trying to keep myself calm as I wait for a phone call to schedule a shoot for yet another young mom friend of mine who is dying from cancer. We need to move the shoot forward as things are not going well, and I will need to juggle times to see this amazing woman before it's too late to capture her sparkling essence. My heart is with this family as well as with another young man who is coming to my studio tomorrow. These souls that come into my life are so dear and so incredibly special that I am honored to be part of their lives.

We are having another work party here tomorrow evening to complete enough albums for the year, hopefully. I am so thankful to family and friends for their help. Now back to the 'work' of my business, really back to the fun of making magic with a simple Nikon and some black and white film!

In love and peace, Lynette

I have been away for a few days and while gone had an overnight with my parents in Sequim. Doug and I will be in California with McKenzie over Mother's Day, so I wanted to have some time with my mom before I left. My parents have been most generous and supportive of Soulumination and have again given a wonderful donation. I am so thankful to have the support of family and friends as we move forward in this work.

Today I share with you another child from the NTSAD conference. This handsome little guy is named George, and he and his parents live in New York City. George was a dreamy guy who was a joy to photograph. After his session, I was in the room where parents could leave their children with a wonderful nursing staff, and there was George, content and smiling in the arms of a lovely volunteer. Both of George's parents had such a complete and obvious bond with their son that Sarah and I both were dazzled as we watched a seizure come on and his dad so expertly step in and touch his son in a way that caused it to subside. Enjoy this wonderful face.

I chatted with Jon Ward, the filmmaker of Portraits of Hope, and in a day or two we should have a confirmed date for the showing at SIFF. I will let you know the time and theater that will show it here in Seattle, and from there will keep you updated as to future showings.

All of the newsletters that our board member Lori Sawyer created have now been mailed with the loving support of our own Soul skateboarder Jess and her mom. Can't resist sharing another Jessica photo in thanks for the hours of work they put in doing this mailing for us.

I attended the first birthday of dear Finnley, who has now raised us some very nice dollars with her parents' loving support. The donations given in honor of her first year truly touch my heart. I share her lovely face as she is one dynamic little donor!


Still going to hound you all to use Good Search for all your internet searches, couldn't be an easier way to help us out and if we can get a network of supporters using this search with Soulumination as the preferred nonprofit benefitting from your searches it will be one less stress in the funding issue. It costs nothing and makes a difference, so please spread the word. Please go to www.goodsearch.com or click to download the GoodSearch toolbar to get started now -http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbars.aspx.

I close as always in love and peace, Lynette

May Day is one of the most joyful days in my year, and this May Day was no exception as it was our youngest's 21st birthday. Llewelyn is currently in Europe, heading toward Greece from Italy, and will be home in the next few weeks. We will be so excited to hug that dear one and welcome her home. I can't help but post a recent photo as she is just a lovely light in our family and has always taken to the work of Soulumination with such sweet, gentle caring.

Today's child from the NTSAD conference is my dear friend Elise. You can read more about Elise on our gallery, as this is the third time I have had t

he pleasure of being with Elise and her family. Elise was featured on the Today show and her dad was on Miami Ink, getting a tattoo of one of the Soul photos. Elise has a dear little sister who kept us laughing at the conference. Her maternal grandparents are also a very important part of Elise's life, and I so appreciate their support and friendship. Mom, Laurie, is willing to help with Soulumination, so when the right opportunity comes up we will be weaving her into our volunteer network. Two of Elise's caregivers were in attendance and they are amazing women. Enjoy the angelic beauty of dear Elise. As each NTSAD child is shared on this blog I think so fondly of Conner and his foundation, which made this journey possible.


We are still on cloud nine over the documentary film win at the Toronto festival and will be sharing the date of the showing at the Seattle Film Festival as soon as we hear. On Friday evening I will get to see it again myself along with our Soulumination star, Victor, and his parents. Victor is featured in the film and will be gracing the poster that will accompany the film. Again I send my huge thanks to Jon Ward and his amazing crew.

I got word that Julie Becker's sister is sending a donation in honor of Julie that will be specifically for the work with adults. I am so thankful--having this support lets me feel close to dear Julie in every part of this expansion. I had the pleasure of tea with Julie's best friends on Tuesday, and her loss is so evident in both of these beautiful people. They shared the magic of the time they spent with her as she moved to her new form.

Today I also introduce the work of our new foundation photographer, Christina Mallet. She recently worked with a new family and I am so delighted with the results. The oldest son in this family, Nicholas, is currently battling cancer, and his mom and brother have also had similar cancer challenges. I am most enamoured with the style of this young man and I think this, combined with Christina's approach, made for charming photos. I thank my dear friend Monique for introducing us to this family.


of choice. For the past week I have been using it, and it's really as effective as any other search site and could make a nice difference to the work of Soulumination.

I am so thankful for the support of our donors, for having such a wonderful staff helping here at headquarters, and for all the social workers, nurses, relatives and friends that lead us to the amazing children and adults we are so blessed to photograph. I close as always, in love and peace, Lynette