a new direction

When I was pregnant with Tristan, I looked all over the DC area for a birth photographer. Having professional, fine art quality photos of my birth was important to me, and I’d fallen in love with the work of Lynsey Stone, Keri Duckett, and others. I figured if there was a “Dallas Ft Worth Birth Photographer” and a “Houston Birth Photographer” and a “Cincinnati Birth Photographer“, there MUST be a “DC Birth Photographer.”

But I thought wrong. While I found a few photographers who did birth photography “on the side”, I found none for whom it was their primary passion. I wanted to find someone I could instantly connect with, someone I knew held a deep reverence for the birthing woman, someone I wouldn’t mind being in the room.

I ended up flying my friend Kelly up from Charleston, SC the day my water broke (yay 48 hour labor!) – but it still amazes me that I couldn’t find what I was looking for here at home.

As the months have passed since Tristan’s birth, and as I have gone back to my precious photos over and over again to process and remember my birth, I have found a growing passion inside of me to shift the focus of my fledgling photography business from weddings and portraits to birth and baby photography. In short, to become the photographer I was looking for but couldn’t find.

I am deeply passionate about birth and the events surrounding it – pregnancy, the first hours of being a family, the nursing relationship. As I’ve thought more and more about focusing my photography on these subjects, I’ve grown more and more excited.

I am currently in the portfolio building stages, since my previous work is SO different. I have three births booked later in the summer – one hospital, one home, and one birth center. I’ll be doing maternity and newborn photos for all of them. In addition, I’m doing a few “nursling sessions” – I got the idea from the Houston Birth Photographer and man, am I excited about this! The breastfeeding relationship is so beautiful, so precious, and it’s not often we get to “see” it. There is much in our culture that tells us to go hide as nursing mamas, and while I’m all for being discreet, there’s something about going and hiding in the bathroom that seems to say that nature’s way of feeding and nurturing our babies is shameful.

This past Friday was my first “nursling” shoot, and it was perhaps the most fun I’ve ever had taking photos (maybe that’s what happens when you photograph your passion!) Mama Adrienne had not one but TWO nurslings – both beautiful girls, ages 3.5 and 10 months. Her toddler was almost done nursing and she wanted a few photos to remember it by. I’ve always thought moms who tandem nursed were superheros, but Adrienne made it look easy. The love between mama and daughters was tangible and I felt lucky to be able to witness such an intimate relationship.

I showed up as they were finishing breakfast so I took the opportunity to get a few “lifestyle” shots – check out that gorgeous light! Theirs was one of the most light-filled homes I’ve ever been in…it was a pleasure to take photos there. Then I just followed them around to some of their favorite nursing spots. Without further ado, here are a few of my favorites from our session!

If you or anyone you know is interested in belly, birth, or baby photography please contact me! I’ll be offering discounted sessions for the rest of 2012 while I build my portfolio and get my business going.