A Shelton photographer with a studio in Derby will offer free family portraits this Sunday as a tribute to the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Jaimee Mansfield said she got the idea from a photographer friend in California who posted it on Facebook after the tragic mass murder.
“Anything could happen and you could lose someone you love, and it would be terrible not to have enough pictures of them,” Mansfield said.
Mansfield said she will take the family portraits from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 13, at her studio at the Valley Arts Center, 119 Caroline St. in Derby.
She said she would stay later than 4 p.m. if there are still people waiting to have their pictures taken. The only rule is everyone in the family has to be in the picture.
Got that, photo shy moms and dads?
“It’s completely free,” Mansfield said.
If anyone wants to make a donation, she would collect them and give them to one of the funds to benefit the survivors of the Newtown shooting.
Mansfield is a 2004 graduate of Shelton High School. She and her husband, Pete, own the American Martial Arts Academy on Elm Street in Shelton.
The couple was famously featured in a 2011 Valley Indy Valentine’s Day story.
She said on Dec. 14 she was home playing with her toddler sons while her two stepsons were at school when she first saw someone mention the school shooting on Facebook.
At first it didn’t look too bad, but that changed over the next two hours as news reports said the death toll had reached 27.
The fact the horror happened just two towns away made it that much more surreal.
“I was shocked and horrified and sad,” she said.
Mansfield has been spreading the word about her “pay it forward” initiative on her studio’s Facebook page.