07/22/2026
I know I usually post weddings but hear me out, because I am going to tell you about some other sessions that have shaped who I am as a photographer. I am finally getting around to sharing that this image was accepted in the spring issue of & it was one of my absolute favorites from this session of this sweet mama and her son at their home. I started shooting these two shortly after he was born. Their first session was a last minute scheduling the morning after I volunteered at a separate full-term infant loss session in the OR. The infant loss session was a pivotal moment for me in my career that I haven’t shared or talked about. The kind of session that has you weeping behind the camera, documenting everything going on in the room to remember this moment for that baby boy’s parents. It was my first birth photography session, and there was something so sobering about documenting the birth of someone who had passed before their birth and realizing that there was nothing I could do but cry, pray, and click my shutter. Just be present, in the feels with them. There was no posing, no moving the subjects into better lighting, no flash, limited angles, all I had was a deep emotion inside, and my perspective - true documentary style photography. And the very next day, I was renewed by working with these two for a newborn session. We spent time talking and kept things so natural, mostly unposed and it was a beautiful documentary session. Fast forward to this image you are looking at, unposed, unscripted, just a mama & her growing boy - into each other, not my camera. And me, paying attention to how they love each other - composing the image around the moment before it happened- striving to make it artful. Moving myself in anticipation of that heartful final image that would be filled with truth & love. I am proud to have been a part of sessions like these where it is less about me and more about serving my clients by paying attention, by feeling, watching & waiting. This documentary approach has tremendously helped me on wedding days, family sessions and everything in between. Patience in the waiting. Not rushing a fleeting moment.
