CEDAR HILLS, Utah — Karen Dorame has made a business of teaching others to photograph special needs children so that they look their best.
The Mormon grandmother decided to do something after her daughter ran into difficulty when she tried to get a portrait of her 1-year-old baby son, a child with a rare connective tissue disorder that presented some problems for him..
The photographer's reaction, and his mother's distress, led to the creation of a non-profit organization that trains photographers to take good pictures of special needs children.
"She didn't want to take the time with us that was needed," Heidi Lewis said. "It was traumatic because we had really made a lot of progress during that year and we wanted to celebrate that progress with a picture.
"I was OK with it but as is the case with most parents of disabled children, I spent a lot of time at clinics and I was talking with other moms. One mother said, 'You think that's bad? I was refused when I tried to get pictures of my daughter because she had a shunt and a shaved head.'"
The mother, who didn't know how long her daughter would live, left in tears.
Lewis said the other mothers related similar stories of trying to get professional photos of their children.
"They were being told (to) bring them back when they're normal," Lewis said.
Dorame,had a full-time job with the Orange County health department in California at the time but she started investigating ways to help. She had basic research skills, was doing some outreach therapy work and had attended classes on writing grants.
"It seemed like a natural," said Dorame, who now lives in Washington City, Utah. When she retired, she started Special Kids Photography of America, incorporated her idea and now criss-crosses the country teaching all-day workshops for photographers who want to learn the techniques of shooting pictures of children with challenges.
__IMAGE2__She is also sharing her ideas in Curitiba, Brazil, and planning to create a CD to take her place on the road as needed.
"We do not employ photographers," she said. "We train them."
Some of those photographers have gone on to produce cover art for Autism Magazine, billboards in Chicago and catalog ads for Toys R Us.
Ted York, an accredited Mormon photographer who lives in Alpine, Utah, says he met Dorame at a professional photography convention and was impressed with the ideas she presented.
"It verified a couple of things I'd already been doing," he said. "I would recommend this kind of thinking. The book alone ("Photographing Children with Special Needs," published in 2000 by Amherst Media) is worth having. It's a great reference."
__IMAGE3__Dorame suggests getting well-acquainted with the child or children before the photo shoot, looking for ways to connect and for things to avoid doing.
For instance, some autistic children don't like to be touched.
Some don't like the camera, so a camera baffle that hides the lens comes in handy.
Others benefit greatly from being told a "social story" first so they know exactly what will happen. Sometimes, just the position of the pose can make a huge difference.
"We try to develop a connection," Dorame said. "We try to get a feeling going."
She also recommends taking plenty of time even if it means coming back once or twice, recognizing short attention spans and physical limitations.
"Our motto is 'Work patiently fast,'" she said.
E-mail: haddoc@desnews.com