It all began while Joy Zaffarano was taking photos of her 5-month-old — you know, “the typical 1,000 shots a day that you take of your babies,” she said.
That’s why when Zaffarano’s 5-month-old daughter Gianna spit up while lying on her belly, the proud mother captured it all on film. She turned the image into a greeting card, and sent it off to a Hallmark-sponsored contest.
Her creativity and sense of humor earned Zaffarano a place as one of the 26 winners in Hallmark’s “That’s Motherhood” contest, which judged consumers’ greeting card submissions based on cohesiveness of the message and image, “sendability” and use of Mother’s Day Theme, according to a release from the company.
Zaffarano’s card is now for sale online, and she hopes it will be popular enough that Hallmark sells it in stores, too.
“I just wanted to show people that, you know, babies being babies can be endearing,” she said.
Zaffarano grew up on Grace Lane in Flourtown, graduated from Springfield Township High School and attended Arcadia University back when it was Beaver College.
Once a special needs aide at Enfield Elementary School, Zaffarano moved to Hatfield in 2005 and has been working as a freelance child photographer for the past four years.
Black-and-white photos she snapped of Gianna, who is now 18 months old, and her son Avery, 4, hang on the wall and sit on top of the television in her living room.
The way Zaffarano sees it, some of the best photo opportunities happen when children look away from the camera and don’t smile: “the way you see them every day,” she said.
Her Hallmark card reflects the new perspective she gained from parenthood.
At a Fourth of July party this summer, Gianna spit up at the table and the only person who jumped a friend of Zaffarano who has no children, she said.
“When you’re a parent you don’t even notice it anymore. It’s just so second-nature,” she said. “They’re messy little stinky things that you love. It’s really weird how your perspective changes.”
Before she entered the contest, Zaffarano was looking for ways to get into the greeting card business because she was inspired by a friend’s success.
She stumbled on the Hallmark “That’s Motherhood” contest after logging online for more information about another of Hallmark’s similar contests, which she found while out shopping with her children.
She designed a card with the photo of Gianna and the white trail flowing from her mouth, wrote a little message about the less glamorous aspects of motherhood inside the fold, and submitted it in the nick of time — two days before the deadline.
She was “blown away” when they notified her just days after that she was a winner.
For winning the national contest, Zaffarano received $250, and her card is displayed online.
Zaffarano plans to continue freelance photography, and said she loves going into her friends’ homes and seeing the photos she took of their children on display.
“I just like to photograph them the way they see their kids every day but they never noticed before,” she said.
Now that she’s got her foot in the door, Zaffarano hopes to continue designing for the greeting card industry.
“Anyway that I can make money and still stay home with my kids is a win-win situation,” she said.
Zaffarano’s online portfolio is at www.zaffphotography.shutterfly.com. To view submissions of all 26 winners, visit www.hallmarkcontests.com.
