Meghan McGinty Bets the Farm | Beautiful Things With Wings Turns 10
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Beautiful Things with Wings Turns 10
For 10 years, April Graves has helped create beautiful, lasting images of children while helping women and children in need through WINGS.
The talented portrait artist didn’t start out as a photographer. April Graves studied fashion design at Iowa State and worked as a designer for Oshkosh B’Gosh and Weather Tamer for about a year when her entrepreneurial spirit spoke to her. At 23, she created April Reigns, a children’s couture line, and to save money, grabbed her camera and created the images for advertising. The rest is history.
The idea of creating a calendar to support a local nonprofit led Graves to see what was out there, knowing there were needs close to home. While photographing a client, the WINGS organization was suggested.
“The first year of shooting the calendar seems like a lifetime ago,” she says. The year was 2007 and her children were 3 and 5 at the time. “I remember shooting test images of my daughter Alyssa for the angel sessions in my living room (I didn’t have a studio then) and my son William had spotted us through the window of our front door chanting, ‘I want to wear the wings’. I brought him in, threw the wings on him, and shot a few images to make him happy. Those portraits are in my bedroom and make me smile every time I look at them.”
Photographing the children is a joy for Graves. “It is constant playtime with my little subjects; the way they light up when they see themselves as magical in my costumes and gardens, or as an angel on the most beautiful carousel in the world … and the way the boys come to life when they see real airplanes and helicopters taking off at the airfield,” she says. “I work hard to make sure that each child I photograph feels special and magical right there in that moment.”
Along with the magical moments comes another reward. “Letting children know that they are helping other children through this project is so rewarding. Not only is the Beautiful Things With Wings project a great way to teach your children that they are never too young to give; it is also a wonderful way to teach your children that is it never OK for someone to hit them or hurt them. And, you never know whose life you may be saving, whose cries may be heard, whose bleeding may be stopped, and whose hearts may be mended [through WINGS].”
Graves’ Light Drawn Studios is planning to take the project national. The studio is in the process of developing an East Coast and Southeastern market, vision, and roll-out—with a long-term plan of going international. Graves is passionate about the work. Her creation, Beautiful Things With Wings, now spans 44 countries around the world through Facebook. To help to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Beautiful Things With Wings calendar, April Graves invited some of her clients to reunite. Meet Alexa O’Keefe, Amanda Jensen, and Clare, Chase, and Piper Bosack who gathered at the Barrington Flower Shop for a recent WINGS calendar models reunion.
Alexa O’Keefe
Angel Photo Portraits on the Sanfilippo Carousel
April Graves of Light Drawn Studios will be photographing children for the upcoming 2017 Beautiful Things With Wings calendar. Angel portrait sessions will take place Feb. 17–19 and April 12–14. The Sanfilippo family has graciously allowed these exquisite portraits to be created on the vintage carousel found on their private estate. Do not miss this special opportunity to have your child photographed as an angel (wings and halos are provided). These portrait sessions are truly a magical experience and a wonderful way to teach your children to give to those in need. Proceeds from the sales of these calendars go to support WINGS, a local non-for-profit organization that provides shelter and services for women and children who are victims of domestic violence.
To schedule your child’s session, call Light Drawn Studios at 224-622-2800.
Fairies and Aviators: Additional calendar photo opportunities occur in the spring for boys (Aviators) and girls (Fairies).
To view more of April’s work, visit www.lightdrawnstudios.com.
To learn more about WINGS, visit www.wingsprogram.com.
Dawn O’Keefe, Alexa’s mom, shares her experience working with April Graves for her daughter’s calendar and other family photos.
“I learned about Beautiful Things With Wings from April about 10 years ago. She had just started to photograph my girls and began working in this project and asked us to be a part of it. Three of my daughters have been a part of the calendars since it began! April is a very special photographer and has this special ability to meet her “littlest of clients” wherever they are in that moment, and capture their unique personalities in the image. It’s amazing what she can accomplish.
I love that April has been a part of photographing Alexa at every stage in her life—from this precious little toddler into a beautiful young girl. She was able to capture her spirit every step of the way. Regardless of the age or the moment, April managed to take beautiful images that have become priceless to me! I would absolutely recommend April to other parents! She loves what she does and is truly passionate about capturing a beautiful moment in time for you to cherish for years to come. She makes my daughters feel so
comfortable and at ease. She embraces who they are with genuine kindness and compassion.
Amanda Jensen was 11 for her first Beautiful Things With Wings calendar photo. She also participated in another Fairies calendar at 14. She graduated from William Fremd High School and currently attends Indiana University in Bloomington studying psychology with a minor in Spanish.
She shares her memories of this special project:
“It was one of my greatest memories when I was younger. My mom works in partnership with WINGS, so I was aware of them and what they did. However, doing this project opened my eyes to the amazing things that they do to help women in domestic violence get out and live better lives. I am now working towards being a trauma counselor and specializing in women and children who have gone through experiences like what WINGS helps with. I really do believe working with April for this project planted a seed for that passion.
It was so amazing working with April and getting to know her. We are good family friends now. I admire April so much. She has an incredible God-given talent, and she uses it to capture the beauty in everything and everyone through her lens to make a positive difference in this world.”
Chase, Clare, and Piper Bosack
Andrea Bosack and her three children joined the Beautiful Things With Wings reunion while back in Barrington to see family in the fall. The family lives on the East Coast. She shared the experience that she and her young children have had with the project.
“Our calendar photo was taken in 2015. I’d been following April on Facebook for a few years after one of my friend’s daughters participated in the calendar contest. For us, it meant a chance to highlight an amazing organization and to take a stand against domestic violence. We wanted to bring awareness to an all too often overlooked epidemic in our country. This is a fun and rewarding way to spread awareness.
I approached April about a way to incorporate our son, Chase, in the fairy photos. She came up with the Robin Hood idea and I loved it. Clare (our oldest) didn’t want to take the fairy costume off, and she’s constantly asking when they can go back and play dress-up with April.
April is not just a photographer; she is an artist and one of the most caring, down-to-earth people I have ever come in contact with. She is genuine and her spirit shows in her amazing works of art. I honestly get tears in my eyes every time I see the pictures she took of our children that day. She was able to capture their innocence and freeze it in time forever, and for that I will be forever grateful.”