WHY I TAKE THE PICTURES.
If you’ve been searching the inter webs for photographers, chances are you’ve heard the story: as a military spouse, I traveled the world with my husband, had kids and a kit camera and just couldn’t contain my excitement for taking pictures of my life and my family. Shabam! I’m a birth and family photographer and filmmaker……
This is it. We don’t get do-overs.
I take the photos for you and I take the photos for them.
Life isn’t always easy but there’s beauty in all of it. I reflect on my journey in motherhood a lot and how my own mother must have experienced it. There’s questions I won’t ever get answered and stories I won’t ever hear but I love the glimpse of it all I get through our old photographs. Someone in that moment pushed a button and because of that I have this tangible piece of my mother’s and my story I can hold in my hand and study.
As a mother now I’ve found healing and have been re-energized with being able to see my family grow in the family photos we take.
My hope is that at the end of each session you feel connected to your family, relief that it was so way less stressful and a whole lot more fun than you imagined. And some really far away day from now I hope someone looking at a photograph finds peace all because we hung out and I pressed a button.
And then there’s the grit of it.
My wonderful husband bought me that camera while I was fully engulfed in completing my Masters in Social Work, starting on a journey to help kids who had experienced abuse and neglect and their families. I graduated, worked with children in foster care then adults with severe and persistent mental illnesses, had a baby, followed my husband to Italy, had another baby and then … my mother passed away and it rocked my world in ways I never expected. The lessons she taught me through her death and the moments after are gifts only a mother can give.
So, why should you get these moments documented?
Our stories matter, its one of our greatest gifts to those we love. I believe mothers and fathers and families and children deserve to see themselves love and be loved. I believe motherhood in all its grit and pain and sleepless nights and shifting bodies is breathtakingly beautiful. I believe I can still make a difference in the world and in the lives of those around me through photographing and filming life and celebrating your story. If you’re feeling brave enough to be vulnerable in front of the camera and be present with your family, I’d love the opportunity to capture memories alongside you!
