Adam's Camp New England- Loon Mountain, NH
As some of you may have seen on my Facebook page, this past week I had the awesome opportunity to photograph Adam's Camp New England in Lincoln, NH. Adam's Camp is an amazing program that brings kids with special needs into an intense therapeutic camp experience for 5 days. They serve the entire family, providing a separate camp for siblings and programming for parents as well.
This partnership started when I was looking for summer jobs earlier this year, I saw a posting for a photography position ad and after looking into the camp and falling in love with it, I applied. Sadly, the next day I received a very gracious email from one of the directors who informed that they had decided to reallocate the photographer funds to kiddos who's families requested scholarships. I was very disappointed but still wanted to find a way to help the camp out. So I decided to just do it!
Fast forward to July 29th, and here I was, driving 3 hours to the White Mountains. It was beautiful summer morning, blue and bright and I was so excited, and incredibly nervous about it all! For those of you who know me personally, you already know this, but my 2 passions in life are kids and photography. I love all kids but my heart belongs to those who need some extra love and care. And so, this was an experience that encompassed two of the things that I am so passionate about, and that made me SO excited but I was feeling a lot of trepidation, what if I didn't do it right? What if my presence distracted the kids or upset them?
As soon as I arrived my nervousness was washed away, I was so in my happy place and loved it. As soon as I walked in the door I was bombarded with smiles, and growth, and therapy in a way that was so incredibly new to me that I was fascinated. The kids hardly acknowledged I was there, which makes for amazing photos!
I spent the greater part of my day in with the 5 younger campers, the Pathfinders. In a matter of one day I was able to how cohesive this group of people was in their treatment of these children- a physical therapist, ABA therapist, music therapist, occupational therapist and speech therapist. It was amazing to see how involved these therapist were, how happy they were to be there. I spent the morning in therapy with them and then headed over to Clarks Trading Post to check in with the older kids, the Trailblazers, who work on their therapeutic skills in a more social environment.
Then I headed back to Loon Mountain to see the Pathfinders at the adventure park, where I watched all 5 of them work on new experiences! They climbed, bounced, wore harnesses and got the spend the afternoon having the time of their lives!
In the evening the older kiddos gathered together back at camp for an evening of duck hunting. They loved it, had a complete blast and I loved being there, surrounded by families, parents, siblings, staff and volunteers who were all there for the common goal of bettering the lives of these children and helping them grow in such an amazing environment!!
I had to drag myself away after the hunt and make myself leave in time to drive home before it was insanely dark. But the entire way home all I could think of was how excited I was to share these photos with the world!
I am so incredibly thankful for how gracious the staff and volunteers of Camp Adam's were. I absolutely adored my time and cannot wait to see you again next year!
Please check the rest of the photos out here!