The days are long. The years are short.
Capturing the unique beauty of your life.
In the moments that define you, and every day in between.
Births are my very favorite thing to shoot. I love the struggle, the drama, the highs and lows and tension that builds until this incredible moment of joy. I recently had the pleasure of photographing a dear friend and fellow photographer's birth at Tampa General Hospital. It was such a privilege to be there and to capture this beautiful day for her and her family. Here are a few of my favorites from this very large gallery.
The third boutique shooting class I took at Click Away was focused on family photojournalism. Capturing my children's childhood in an authentic way is something that is very important to me, so I was really looking forward to this class. Jessica Thomason is a master at capturing the everyday moment in a beautiful and authentic way, so shooting alongside her and learning from her was a great treat. Here are a few of the images I was able to capture in our session. Keep in mind, there were about 20 or 30 photographers crammed into one long, skinny room--so not a lot of room to work or change shooting positions.
And my favorite: Jessica's daughter looking full of mischief while her mother cleaned up the room of toys at the end of the session. It's not the most technically sound photo, but I love the sense of movement and the glimpse of her spunky personality I captured here.
This past week, I visited San Antonio, Texas to attend the 2015 Click Away Conference, a photography conference sponsored by Clickin' Moms. The conference was three days of classes, shooting demonstrations, hands-on workshops and field trips around the area to practice what we were learning. I have been looking forward to this conference for months. For years, I've been a part of the online Clickin' Moms community, forming friendships on the forum with women I'd never met in real life. But this past week, I was able to change that: I had the opportunity to meet with and get to know the women behind the avatars, and it was such an amazing experience. During the conference, I was able to take a few courses that involved shooting models. The first of these was with Mae Burke, a photographer in Texas specializing in motherhood photography. I really enjoy Mae's work and it was such a pleasure meeting her and seeing her in action. Toward the end of class, we were separated into groups of 5 and allowed to shoot the model. Although it was crowded (5 women with cameras crowded around a mom and her baby) I managed to get a couple of shots during my 1-2 minute window.
I really enjoyed photographing this lovely model and her adorable munchkin. I would love to have had more time to work with them, but I was content to listen to Mae explain the ins and outs of breastfeeding and motherhood photography, a niche area of photography that holds great interest for me, as I am interested in eventually shooting birth and breastfeeding photography.
That's all I'll share for today--keep an eye out for additional shares over the next few days (as I catch up on editing--and laundry-- from a week away).
I recently had the privilege of photographing my dear friend Jamee's birth of her daughter, Madelyn. I got the call in the wee hours of the morning that Jamee's water had broken, so I met her at the hospital at about 5 AM. Things progressed at a slow-but-steady rate for many hours, with Jamee handling her contractions like a champ. Once labor was firmly established, she decided to get her epidural, and once she had relief from her contractions, she took a nap to rest before the upcoming delivery. After an hour of napping, her nurse came in to check on her, and as she was turning to leave the room, Baby Maddie moved in the womb--and suddenly her heart rate dropped and then became impossible to find. The nurse reacted immediately, and within minutes, an entire team had descended on the room. Baby was delivered emergently, with great drama , fear and anxiety, and after several tense moments with the neonatal team, we were relieved to hear her first plaintive cry. Maddie was whisked off to the NICU, leaving a storm of emotions in her wake. After several anxious hours, Jamee was finally wheeled down to NICU to finally hold her baby and meet her lovely daughter. Being with Jamee that day and being allowed to witness and capture the day was an honor. As her friend, I was also so glad to be there to support her through one of the roughest days of her life. Although the dramatic delivery meant no cameras in the delivery room during the moments surrounding the birth, the nurses tried to accommodate me in capturing the essence of the day. As a photographer, I see some missed focus, some chopped limbs and close compositions that were a product of being shoved into a corner during the action and the aftermath, but I know that despite the technical shortcomings, these photos will be treasured by the ones that matter most.
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