Havana's Gift

Havana's Gift. Havana.

Havana Marie Ayala
June 19, 2020 to September 21, 2024

Havana, dressed up, looking straight at the camera. Her hair is up with a black feathered clip and a hand rests behind her head.

Free family portraits for families with a child in the PICU or NICU. Chicago and nearby. No cost. Nothing asked of you.

Capture the moment, keep the memory.

Request a session Give
Born at 23 weeks and 2 days. Micro preemie. Nonverbal. Loved deeply. Four years, three months, two days.

I had planned a Mother's Day shoot for Indira and Havana. Havana got sick. We said, when she's out and feeling better, we'll do it.

She came home. She got sick again. We never got around to it.

After Havana passed, that was one of the first things I thought about. I felt bad for Indira. I felt bad for me too. She never got the portrait I had planned for the two of them. I told myself someone should stand in that gap for the next family.

So this is the gap. If your child is in the PICU or the NICU, I will come and make your family portrait. Wherever you want it made. At no cost. You lead, I follow.

Falú, Havana's dad
Photographer, Chicago

Indira, in a mask, looking down at newborn Havana on her chest, wrapped in a hospital receiving blanket.
July 4, 2020. Indira and Havana, fifteen days old.

A real family portrait. The kind you would book anywhere else.

Made the way I make them for paying clients. Same camera, same care, same edit. The only difference is the invoice. There is none.

  1. 01A portrait session with FalúAt home, in a park, in the hospital courtyard, or in the room if the hospital allows. Your call. We move at your pace and stop when you say stop.no cost
  2. 02A digital gallery in full resolutionYours to keep, print and share. The photos belong to your family.no cost
  3. 03Printed photographsA selection, printed properly, so the pictures exist somewhere besides a phone.no cost
  4. 04A framed keepsake, when we canWith a Havana's Gift ribbon on the back.no cost
Falú lifting Havana, Indira holding her brother Luca and the family dog, everyone in matching Christmas pajamas by the tree.
Christmas Eve, 2022. Havana and her brother Luca. The whole house in the same pajamas.
Falú and Havana cheek to cheek, both making a kissing face at the camera.
June 2022. Four days before she turned two.

For families

Request a session.

If your child is in the PICU or NICU now, or was recently, fill this out. I read every one myself and I will reply. This goes only to me. I share it with a volunteer photographer only if you say yes.

You do not have to explain anything. A name and a way to reach you is enough.

Indira smiling, carrying baby Havana in a grey wrap at home.
December 2020. Home for the first Christmas.

By sending this you are only telling me you exist. There is no commitment. What happens to what you send.

Falú at work, camera to his eye, in front of a lit backdrop.
Falú, on a job.

For photographers

Stand in the gap with us.

As Havana's Gift grows, I want a small team of compassionate, skilled photographers to serve more families. You do not need to be a wedding photographer. You need to be steady in a hospital.

What we look for

  • Professional-grade gear you already own
  • Portrait or family photography experience
  • Emotional maturity
  • Flexibility. Hospital schedules move.
  • Willingness to travel locally, Chicago and suburbs
  • A portfolio we can look at

What happens to what you send.

For donors

Your gift becomes someone's memory.

Donations fund photography equipment, printed portraits and frames, travel to families, Havana's Gift ribbons, and program growth. No family is ever charged.

Havana's Gift is a personal initiative under Falu Creative, LLC. We are not currently a registered 501(c)(3), so donations are not tax-deductible. Every dollar goes toward serving families.

Indira sitting on a bed in an attic bedroom, holding a large framed portrait of Havana.
November 2024. Indira with Havana's portrait.

If you work in a NICU or PICU

Tell a family. That is all we ask.

We do not need access to your unit. I will take pictures wherever the family wants me to. It is their decision.

You know which families would want this. A nurse, a social worker, a child life specialist. You are the referral.

Havana's Gift

Free family portrait sessions for families with a child in the PICU or NICU. Chicago and nearby. No cost, no strings, the family leads.

falucreative.com/havanas-gift

Falu@falucreative.com

Why the camera has a name.

The first money that came in for this went to a camera. I named it Riri. It stands for Rebirth, Rejuvenation. Spelled the way it is.

She is the camera I work with now. Riri has a page of her own on falucreative.com.

Havana's gift is every good thing that came from her. Direct or indirect.

Our special children are also teachers, agents of change, and unifiers.

Presence before absence. A story of love that refuses to go undocumented.

Havana's gift shows up in my life in so many ways. This page is one of the simple ones: a good family portrait for people going through what we went through, made by someone who knows.

The letters H A V A N A on the wall of a NICU isolette, with a card on her blanket that reads Today I am 30 weeks.
August 2020. Her name on the isolette. Thirty weeks.
Havana at three, hair up with a feathered clip, looking straight at the camera.
December 2023. Three and a half.

I know what it is to have a kid in and out of the hospital her whole life. I know what it is to be the night-nurse dad, there every night, overnight, for two weeks, three weeks, six weeks at a time. I know what it is to wake up and hear the doctors in there working on her, trying to figure it out.

I am part of that club. I will always be part of that club. So this is the service I can provide, to the people in it.

Falú Ayala
Falú in a mask, holding newborn Havana against his chest in a hospital room.
October 2020. Night shift.
Falú asleep in an armchair with Havana asleep on his chest.
October 2023. Night shift, at home.

What happens to what you send.

Every form on this page goes to one place: my inbox. It travels through the same email service my studio uses for client mail. It is not posted anywhere, not added to a list, not sold.

If you tell me your child's name, age or hospital, I use it for one thing: planning your session. I share it with a volunteer photographer only if you say yes to that photographer.

Want it gone? Email Falu@falucreative.com and I delete it. Every photograph we make belongs to your family.