While ALL of your submissions warmed our hearts and were a delight to read, there were two families whose stories melted us and we couldn’t help but give them both a free portrait session for Christmas.

Here’s the story of the first family to win, as told by Danielle:

Although I would REALLY like to win this awesome prize myself… I would LOVE to win for my much deserving sister-in-law and really brighten Christmas for her and her beautiful kids.

She is a very strong person and devoted mother, the kind of person who would drop everything to be there for her friends and family.

Unfortunately, she has had a really tough past couple of months, having had to come to terms with the break-up of a 13 year relationship with the father of her four children. As well as recovering from a recent traumatic home invasion/personal attack which has led to having to move the entire family 2 weeks before Christmas.

This is something that I know they would all love and treasure for years to come and a luxury that they could never afford to spend on themselves. I am hoping that these photos could be the first pages in a new and happy chapter of their lives.

We share that hope, Danielle

And now to share a brief excerpt of the second family’s story, as told by Robyn:

You know the kind of family that just seem to have lots and lots of things go wrong? Well this is that family. Originally the health problems were with the dad (I believe that is ongoing) but more recently the mom’s health has been very problematic. She’s been in and out of hospital, and they’ve had financially difficulties as well. They finally got a house recently which was a boost but they are such a sweet Christian family and I know they’d love one of your portrait sessions but wouldn’t be able to afford it.

I copied and pasted the following from a group on Facebook called “Pray for Shazz” which has more info:

Time Line
2006 – Thyroid Cancer
2006 – Thyroid Cancer second operation
2006 – radiation treament
2007 – diagnoised with Lupus
2008 – Huge Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) with permanent damage to her left leg. It will always be 30% bigger than the other leg.
2008 – Mass removed from uterus (found not to be cancer)
2009 – diagnoised with Melanoma (on leg with DVT)
2009 – Melanoma site is infected and not healing. May need a skin graft.
2009 – living in temporary accommodation… looking for a house

There have been other difficulites that are not mentioned including her husband’s health and the death of her mom from pancreatic cancer, followed by her dad moving overseas. So essentially they were grieving the loss of both parents.

There’s just so much pain and struggle and triumph in this family’s ongoing story that we couldn’t ignore it. Sharron, there’s a free portrait session waiting for your family too.

Thanks so much to everyone who told us about their families, or about other families they love! It was a pleasure to read through your emails. I’m sorry we can’t have more winners!

Happy Christmas Eve, everybody

You’ve probably already heard about the special deal type things we’re running until Christmas.

If not, this post is for you.

It’s pretty simple, really. We want to help you give those you love a lasting gift: really good, non-cheesy photos that will look great on their wall for a really long time.

So, we’re offering portrait sessions for a whopping 37.5% off. And we’re including extra print credit, which makes the discount more like 58.333%! The only catch is that we’re booked out until 2010, so all we can give you for Christmas Day is a portrait certificate. You’ll have 12 months from Christmas Day to book in your session

You need to order by midnight Monday 21 December to get your portrait certificate delivered in time for Christmas, so get crackin’!

Click here for more details, including how to order.

We’re also offering a free portrait session to one deserving family, anywhere in Australia. Follow the link above for information on how to submit your family – or someone else’s – for consideration. The further from Newcastle, the better

Details on how to put your family in the running are back in the original post (under “deal #2″), but we’d like to suggest something a little different: share the story of someone else’s family with us. Perhaps you know a family who are having a hard time and could never afford to have professional portraits taken. Perhaps they don’t even think they need great family photos to hang up in their home. Tell us about them! And who knows, maybe your selflessness will be rewarded

Finally, here are a few recent photos to give you an idea of what your family portrait might look like. Click to see the whole shoot

PS: With a big post production backlog, and lots of people wanting their photos in time for Christmas, blogging is going a bit slow at the moment. It won’t always be this way. I’ve finally accepted that I need to employ someone to look after post production for me, and it looks like I’ll have someone starting in a couple of weeks. So, it won’t be too long and there will be no more backlog … ever! Can’t wait

It’s almost Christmas, and we’re offering not one, but TWO special deal type things.

Deal #1: $75 off family portrait sessions, with $100 extra print credit

Normally, our portrait sessions are $200, with a $100 print credit. Until midnight, Sunday 20 December, we’re offering portrait certificates for $125, with a $200 print credit.

The best part (aside from the fact that it’s a special deal type thing) is you’ve got 12 months to book in your session. We’ll send you a gift certificate in time for Christmas Day, and you can take your time figuring out a time and place to have your photos done.

Interested? Click here for more details, or to place your order.

Deal #2: one free portrait session, anywhere in Australia, with a $500 print credit

This one is just for our Facebook fans. (You can become one if you’re on Facebook. Here’s our page: facebook.com/ofdphoto)

A while back, we promised free stuff to our Facebook fans if they’d help us reach 500 fans. As of today, we have 559 fans. Woo! So here is our first instalment of free stuff.

We’re offering a free family portrait session, with $500 worth of prints or canvasses, to one special family, who can live anywhere in Australia. If there’s any travel involved, we’ll cover it.

If you’d like to be that family, here’s what you need to do:

• Make sure you’re one of our fans on Facebook.
• Set your Facebook status to “all I want for Christmas is an OFD portrait session: http://bit.ly/7Q8R2H”
• Tell us what you love about your family and why you’d like to be considered for this special offer. Just send us an email at: mystory@ofdphoto.com. Please let us know if you don’t want us to share your email on our blog. Tell us where you’re from, too.

Michelle and I will assess the entries based on who we think will benefit most from having us visit with our cameras, and will announce the winner on Christmas Eve. You have until midnight, 23 December to get your entry in. And if you win after buying a portrait certificate, we’ll either refund your purchase, or give you extra print credit. So you can’t lose, really

Deal #3

There is no deal #3. See deal #1 or deal #2.

Enjoy

So, if you live in Newcastle and aren’t otherwise occupied on Sunday, feel free to drop in on our stall anytime between 10am and 4pm! There will be more than a dozen businesses there, all selling different goodies that would make great gifts for Christmas, and by supporting them, you’ll be supporting the Girl Guides

Here are the details:

Date: Sunday 25 October 2009
Time: 10am to 4pm
Place: Girl Guides Hall, Lamington Drive, Warners Bay

Oh, and just so you know, we’ll be running a special on portrait sessions, and there might also be something nice from us in the raffle

Somehow I manage to ignore it until people start selling chrysanthemums by the side of the road. By then it’s too late to give my mum much more than a phone call. Lame!

I’m sure you’re a much better son or daughter than me. The woman who brought you into this world is lucky to have you!

That said, I bet gift ideas don’t always come easily to you. Heck, you might even be struggling to come up with something good for Mother’s Day 2009. You know, the one that’s only a few sleeps away?

Here’s a thought: why don’t you give your mum a photo session?

Mums love photos. Photos can be enjoyed for years on end. And relaxed, candid photo sessions are fun!

To make it easier for you, we’re offering $150 off our regular portrait package. So, for just $50, you can give your mum a gift certificate for the following:

• relaxed “on location” portrait session (1-2 hours with yours truly)
• $100 print credit
• secure online proofing

If you’d like to give your mum this priceless gift, click here to place your order. There’s no need for you to nominate a time for the session; your mum can book in anytime within the next 12 months. If you order by 6 May 2009, we’ll post out your gift certificate in time for Mother’s Day

Here’s a super-quick sample of our work:

Plenty more here: blog.ofdphoto.com/category/photos/portraits/