So it’s been a whirlwind of a week and it’s only Wednesday! Our studio was selected out of 43 applicants to photograph the recipient of ABC’s hit show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. We got notice last Friday that we had to be in Salem to shoot on Monday and it was crazy!

The Oregon School For The Deaf will get an entirely new building and their current space, Lindstrom Hall, is getting re-done from top to bottom including an extreme makeover on their haunted house which occupies the basement of Lindstrom Hall. The EMHE team, including Ty Pennington, ambushed the kids and staff Monday while they had their celebratory picnic. We were there!

Rob and I photographed the students and staff in just 3 hours, shooting over 500 images. Trying to communicate with hearing impaired children when you know absolutely NO sign language is a a challenge! They are fantastic kids and to photograph them was an honor. They tried so hard to understand me and help me out. They don’t look at their hearing loss as a disability at all and their energy is infectious!  It was the time crunch that was really hard though. Shooting that many portraits in such a short window with communication challenges was insanely crazy. Then, the race back to Bend to process the files began. Proofing in a dark car on the way home Monday night and all day yesterday, we turned over  about 100 finished photographs to the EMHE designers and are waiting to hear which ones will be used in the renovation. The pictures will hang in the new addition and in the made-over dormitory.

When selected for the project, I was asked who I wanted to corroborate with to photograph the “journalistic” side of things. Our friends and fellow colleagues from Vancouver, WA,  AJ Studios, were perfect for that! So at the last minute they agreed to shoot the ambush and mayhem as they unfolded. Thank you Amy and JP! You are so near and dear to us!

So once we hear what images the designers selected, those files will be readied for upload to WHCC who has agreed to donate all finished wall art to the project. They will charge forward and turn the finished prints around, plus overnight them to Salem by Saturday. The kids and staff of OSD will see their new school this Sunday!   The show itself is set to air on Halloween night, as the kids are getting a whole new haunted house. The Haunted House is one of OSD’s biggest annual fundraisers and I have a feeling they are going to raise a lot of money this year from it! Congrats OSD! We are so honored to be part of your Extreme Makover!