By nature I am an observer. I am much more comfortable behind the camera lens, observing the person in front of me. When I was asked to write about my experience as a maternity and newborn photographer for the HealthFirst Magazine, I had a near panic attack; I normally don’t like to talk about myself, and I am not comfortable bring the one observed. But because the topics of pregnancy and childbirth are so important to me, and I strongly feel that women need to share their stories, I am happily sharing my own experiences, out from behind the lens.
I was given my first camera at the age of 7, and the only word to describe the feeling of holding it in my hands is magic. Thirty years later, the camera still holds a spell over me; it is magic in my hands every time I pick it up. My camera allows me to make time stop, to take a moment from life and hold it still. That moment of ‘stopped time’ is what I offer to the families that I photograph. I am passionate about documenting their lives, showing them who they are, and how they are, together…that messy, silly, happy chaos that is family.
Because my most favorite times in my own life were while I was pregnant, I have put more focus on the art of maternity and newborn photography, or belly and babe, as I call it. I have found that more and more women want to document their pregnancy and childbirth journey through artistic photographs, with tangible pieces of stopped time. Because I find pregnant women to be incredibly beautiful, their bodies perfect with curves so full of life, I am passionate about capturing this miraculous life experience. What I love most in the belly portraits is that each woman, each pregnant body, has a unique story to tell; the way their carry their child, the way their body has filled out. One amazing session I had was with a mom who was about a month away from giving birth, and her belly kept moving around each time the baby kicked or turned. In each image, her belly took on a new shape as the baby kept shifting. It was pure life, pure magic, in front of my lens.
Equally as beautiful is the adventure of welcoming a child into this world and into a family, their fresh bodies at the very beginning of their own life journey. One of my most satisfying experiences came last year, after a newborn session, when the mother wrote to me, “Your photographs captured the inner beauty of my family and the overwhelming feelings of a very special time in our lives. You have the ability to see what a mother sees in her children, to stop time and place it on a page.”
These words were the gratification I needed to know that I was on the right path as an artist, that women have a strong desire to have their photographs taken during these incredible life moments, not only as a way to document their own lives, but also their family history.