Along with fears of radiation; food, water and fuel are in short supply. The death toll has passed 10,000. More than 17,440 people are missing. Hundreds of thousands of people have been made homeless.

It’s heartbreaking.

Vinita and I are back! This time as a team filled with loads of ideas for an exciting new initiative!

Do you remember last year when we took part in Helping hearts for Haiti?

We’ve decided to go bigger and better, and are therefore, launching our own initiative so that we can help raise funds for Japan, and for future projects too.

Introducing… Images to Inspire Hope

We’ve got our mojo on! We have a brand new website (www.imagestoinspirehope.org), a logo and a big plan!!

But this plan cannot succeed until we have your cooperation or help.

Our chosen charity is Japan Earthquake Tsunami Children in Emergency Fund (Save the Children). As family and children photographers, this is our way of using photography to give back.

And this is how you can help…

You and your children could win a wonderful family photo session on-location in the heart of Den Haag, Gouda or Utrecht!

• This session will be photographed by myself AND Vinita and will be held on Saturday 02 July 2011. Celebrate the start of the Summer holidays! This gives you plenty of time to shop for new outfits too, if need be ;-) If you are not available on this date, don’t worry, we can make alternative plans!
• Session is for up to 5 members of the same immediate family and will last between 1-2 hours.
• Winner will also receive all their proof images in medium resolution on CD. Print to your heart’s content!
• Valued at €675!!

How to win:

• Make a MINIMUM donation of $10 to the Japan Earthquake Tsunami Children in Emergency Fund
• For every donation of $10 you will be entered into the prize draw. Increase your chance of winning; donate $30 and you’ll receive 3 entries!
• Forward a copy of your donation confirmation email to help@imagestoinspirehope.org.
• All entries must be RECEIVED by midnight (GMT+1) on Tuesday 31 May 2011.
• Winner will be drawn at random and announced on Wednesday 01 June 2011.
• You can enter as many times as you’d like, but each entry must be the minimum $10 donation.

Other details:

• Session participants must sign a model release. This allows us to showcase our favourite images from your session on our blogs and on the Images to Inspire Hope website.
• Session must be held in Den Haag, Gouda or Utrecht.
• If the winner does not claim his/her prize by Friday 10 June 2011 or cannot claim the prize, then another winner will be drawn.
• This program is not sponsored or promoted by Save the Children and we are not receiving anything in return for this effort.

But wait! There’s more!

Please feel free to blog, tweet or share the link to this blog post and the Images to Inspire Hope website! Together we can help those in need.

Thank you SO much!!

Best wishes,
~ Natalie and Vinita

Love was definitely in the air…

The Hague provides some wonderful backdrops for portrait sessions. Love the architecture in this particular street!

We had so many favourite images from this session, it was almost impossible to choose just a small few for the sneak peek… here’s a couple more…

And the perfect end to a romantic photo session… mmm bubbles! :-)

Thank you so much for a wonderful session, and of course, for helping us help the victims of Haiti’s earthquake.

Don’t forget to check Vinita’s blog for a sneak peek of her images!!! ;-)

I have been a member of the Women’s Business Initiative International (WBII) since I first started my business, back in March 2008 (Yes, Tigs Creations turns 2 later this month!!) Each year they host an Annual Dinner on International Women’s Day, March 8.

This year’s event was held at the Bel Air Hotel in The Hague, with women and men of diverse nationalities and professional sectors all celebrating ‘Women and Opportunity’. It was an inspiring evening with a captivating keynote speech by H.E. Mrs Mary Whelan, Ambassador of Ireland to the Netherlands.

Three entrepreneurial awards were also presented on the night, one for Ambition, one for Social Innovation, and one for Networker of the Year…

When the winner of the Social Innovation Award 2010 was revealed, my jaw hit the floor! I watched the big screens with everyone else for the name, and then I read mine: Natalie Carstens, Tigs Creations Photography. What?! Really?! I was so shocked I was shaking.

I’m so proud to receive this award, which was largely due to the work I do for the Littlest Heroes Project, Helping Hearts for Haiti and zoocrew.eu

I am passionate about giving back and making a difference, let me tell you a little about these three projects…

The Littlest Heroes Project

I could not hold back the tears the first time I visited this website. The stories and the images of these brave children tugged at my heart strings and I knew instantly I wanted to be a part of this very special project. The Littlest Heroes Project provides our littlest heroes (children who suffer from any type of serious illness or life altering disability) and their family with a complimentary photo session and selection of photos. This is an extra special gift for these families that are dealing with hectic schedules as their child battles disease and sickness.

Helping Hearts for Haiti

After the devastating earthquake hit Haiti, I teamed up with another photographer and we wasted no time in joining the Helping Hearts initiative. Blog readers were invited to make a donation to the Dutch National Giro 555 in order to be entered into a raffle to win a romantic portrait session. We have a winner, so look out for the session sneak peek appearing on my blog in April! ;-)

zoocrew.eu – help us save our wildlife

I think everyone that knows me, knows I love wildlife. Who doesn’t know my favourite animal is the tiger? Come on, hands up! ;-) Together with my husband, Heiko, who is also passionate about wildlife, we launched a new website for wildlife conservation in January 2008: www.zoocrew.eu

Our aim is to raise awareness for wildlife conservation by promoting the conservation projects and breeding programmes that are supported by various zoos. We regularly update the site with zoo news and conservation updates, and frequently feature different conservation organisations ‘In the Spotlight‘.

As well as having our own personal wildlife adoptions, we’re encouraging others to adopt as well. This is a great way to give back and support these organisations. One of our recent adoptions is Maalim, a black rhino, born prematurely and abandoned by his mother he was rescued by DSWT. We loved his ‘Maalim and the Mattress‘ update :-)

We also make regular donations to Painted Dog Conservation.

Thank you WBII, and Congratulations to Arjanneke and Tina!

Many thanks to Suzy Ogé and Lisa Rouissi at the WBII for hosting a fabulous event on Monday. Thank you SO much for the award. Congratulations also to Arjanneke Teeuw, founder of Healthy People, who won the Ambition Award. (Thank you for sharing your story, and yum – your chilled juice is delicious, I’m adding it to my Albert Heijn shopping list!) And last but not least, congratulations to Tina Evans, Managing Director of Blue Lynx Group who won the Networker of the Year Award.

For highlights of the event (and photos) go visit the ‘International Women’s Day Dinner 2010 Highlights‘ article over on the WBII website.

For Haiti, we’re hoping for another Kobe miracle. It’s been 15 years since the Kobe earthquake, in which Vinita’s family were part of. We’d like to share with you a video entitled “Dear 15-year-old. You’re the reason we worked so hard to rebuild our city.” This short video symbolises hope. It’s a commercial clip from an electric company addressing the youth – 15 year olds in particular – with the message that the city has been rebuilt for them. Vinita has seen this happen with her own eyes. This is why our appeal for Haiti is so dear to our hearts.

Seen on Lisa Takeuchi Cullen’s blog post: Kobe, 15 years after the quake

We are so very grateful to you all for supporting Helping Hearts for Haiti.

And the winner is…

Many congratulations to Ms Suzy Ogé and her sweetheart for winning the romantic photo session with Vinita and I! :-)

Thank you again for your kind generosity and support.

Have a great week everyone – and Suzy, we’ll see you soon!

I’m teaming up with my dear friend, Vinita Salomé of Vinita Salomé Photography, and together, we’ve joined the Helping Hearts initiative to try to do something to help. But, we need you, too! Please help us help the victims of Haiti’s earthquake.

Here’s how:

You and your sweetheart could win a romantic photo session on-location in the heart of Den Haag, Gouda or Utrecht!

• This session will be photographed by myself AND Vinita and will be held in the late-afternoon/evening of Saturday 17th April 2010. This gives you plenty of time to shop and find a babysitter, if need be ;-)
• Session is for up to 2 adults and will last between 1-2 hours.
• Winner will also receive 25 fully processed, high resolution images on CD. Print to your heart’s content!

How to win:

• Make a MINIMUM donation of €25 to Giro555. Please do this online via e-cumlaude so that you receive a receipt for your donation.
• If you pay by iDeal, be sure to check the box for “Stuur de betaalbevestiging naar mijn e-mailadres” and enter your email address to ensure you receive a receipt for your payment. Then, forward a copy of your receipt to haiti@tigscreations.com.
• All entries must be RECEIVED by midnight (GMT+1) on 31st January 2010.
• Winner will be drawn at random and announced on Monday 1st February 2010.
• You can enter as many times as you’d like, but each entry must be the minimum €25 donation.

Other details:

• Session participants must sign a model release.
• Session must be held in Den Haag, Gouda or Utrecht on 17 April 2010.
• If the winner does not claim his/her prize by Wednesday 3rd February 2010 or cannot claim the prize, then another winner will be drawn.
• This program is not sponsored or promoted by Giro555.nl and we are not receiving anything in return for this effort.

Are you a photographer and want to help?

This fabulous initiative is thanks to two inspiring photographers, Michele of Pinkletoes Photography and Lyndsay of Life in Motion Photography. If you are a photographer and would like to hold your own Helping Hearts event to help Haiti, please contact Helping Hearts ASAP so they can send you everything you need to get started!

But wait! There’s more!

PLEASE blog, Tweet or share the link to this blog post on Facebook! You can also follow Helping Hearts on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook. Together we can help those in need.

We arranged to have an outdoor session in the park but it started raining just before their session and when they arrived to meet me there was no sign that the rain would stop any time soon. Since we weren’t far from Scheveningen, I suggested that we go to the Sea Life Centre at the beach; it would be fun for the girls and we’d escape the rain too! So off we went…

There are going to be lots of sneak peeks in this post, I really found it soooo very difficult to just choose a few photos to share!

Little fish, big fish, sharks and stingrays. It was so much fun to watch Britt explore with her big sister, Claire.

Britt and Claire found some “bubble” windows to look through…

…and here’s my view of Britt from the other side :-)

When we came out of the Sea Life Centre, the rain had stopped and the sun was peeking through the clouds. It was perfect for some portraits on the beach.

Britt and Claire had fun collecting shells and filling their pockets with them.

Here’s Mom with her two beautiful daughters; and a funny face from Britt!

These beautiful girls made me smile the whole day, I really love this one of them together :-)

Ok, last one in the sneak peek. Here’s Britt, drawing in the sand.

Thank you so much for a wonderful Littlest Heroes Project session! Hope you enjoyed your sneak peek!! Hope Dad did too, shame he couldn’t be there to join you on the day. There will be many more beautiful portraits in your gallery, it’s coming very soon!

Have a good weekend everyone! Thanks for stopping by :-)

The Littlest Heroes Project is an effort to open the eyes of the world to a part of it that so many ignore or pretend (or don’t even realise) exists. The idea is to capture some special memories for families that are dealing with hectic schedules due to their child’s battle with disease and sickness; things like getting photos taken is sometimes a huge challenge and is one of the last things these families are thinking about.

Reading the stories and seeing photos of these very special children really touched my heart and I knew immediately it was something I wanted to be a part of and I applied to join their team of photographers. I’m so proud to be a part of this Project. It’s such an amazing gift to be able to give these families.

If you have a child, or know a child, who suffers from any type of serious illness or life altering disability, please do get in touch or visit the Littlest Heroes Project website at: www.littlestheroesproject.org. I would love to capture some very special moments of your littlest hero, for you to treasure always.