Aug
01
2013Ok… the story behind this post title. Ha!
Karen and Shamus are our church small group leaders. Before his birth we were at small group chatting about which day the following week would be the induction date.
Karen exclaimed something along the lines of, “Any day next week but Valentines day!”
Shamus said something like, “Why not? Then he’d be Zan the Love Man? No wait… no one better call him that.”
Next thing you know, the whole small group is calling him “Zan the Love Man.”
Sorry, Zan, the nickname is going to stick, but we promise not to tease you too much.
Oh, no! I think we’ve hurt his feelings!
(On a side note, isn’t this the most awesome frown?! I love it!)
Relational Greenville, SC Newborn Photography
So this was the session that sort of set my philosophy for Greenville, SC newborn photography. I want to capture newborns all asleep and curly and adorable, but I also want to capture them in relationship to the people who love them most. I know the roller coaster that Karen and Shamus rode while waiting and praying for Zan. And the following image just makes my heart soar because I know I’m looking at hope realized.
This is why if during your pre-session consult you say “I’m not sure I want to be in images with my baby.” I’m literally going to beg you to get in the picture. These images will be images that your child treasures long after you’re gone. They’re the images that tell the story of relationship, of joy at your child’s arrival, of the very grace of God.
Just a few more images of Zan for you to enjoy. I really love this kiddo and I can’t believe he’s already half a year old. Where did the time go already?
Jul
25
2013As a twin mama myself, I get super excited about Greenville SC newborn twin photography. A newborn twin photography session that a friend gifted my family was my introduction to newborn photography. I was so happy to give this session to a new twin mama.
This family’s everyday ordinary is nothing but extraordinary. There are 5 children 4 years of age and under: a four year old, two year old twins, and a set of newborn twins.
Two sets of twins in just over 2 years.
As I finished up my session, Jordan recalled the story of finding out they were pregnant with their second set of twins.
“The nurse knew we had a set of twins already. She calmly whispered, ‘Here’s baby A and here’s baby B.’
“I fell to the floor on my knees and just started crying and exclaiming ‘Thank you, Jesus!’
“Other nurses came in and a bunch of them were crying with me. They told me ‘I’ve never seen a dad so excited about his children.’
“‘Why not?’ I said. ‘Children are blessings from the Lord. I’m such a blessed man.'”
Jordan and Jennifer, it was such a joy to photograph your children. I know your days seem like eternities right now. I know how hard it is to mother twin toddlers and one baby and I can only imagine a four year old, twin toddlers, and twin newborns. Your level of exhaustion must seem endless, but hang on. Your work is holy work as those five blessings grow. Holy work often messy, but more rewarding than any other work.
Jul
18
2013Sometimes stories are hard to tell. I’ve procrastinated on this one for a long time because I’m not sure I can bear to tell it. But I am not the Author of this story and I do not know what glory awaits at the final ending.
Stephanie is a single mom. I don’t know all the particulars and they’re not mine to tell, but shortly after the child in her womb began to move, her husband left.
Stephanie worked and mourned and waited. She worked a local ice cream joint that gives free cones to children under a certain height. I remember seeing her long before our session. She smiled as she passed my children a cone. A smile that whispered hope: children are a gift. Hope that I needed on that warm late fall day when my son had likely woken me long before day’s first light.
The Stephanie I met in the studio: she was the same. Quiet patient hope. Smiling gently to her newborn Ethan and thanking Jesus for him as she rocked him to gentle slumber.
I’m showing you this whole session in black and white because it evokes all the emotion I feel thinking back to this day.
May
23
2013My session with this dear family started like most with a simple inquiry in my Facebook messages.
But this wasn’t the normal sort of photography inquiry. In fact, it had nothing to do with photography at all. Diane and Titus had just been selected by a birth mom pregnant with twins and wanted to pick the brain of the only woman they knew with young twins: me.
One thing led to another after I dumped my unused double stroller, registry advice, and lots of crazy pep talks on Diane, I begged to photograph the babies. I’m pretty shameless. 🙂 Adoption is expensive and I like to love on adoptive families however I can. So a session with the most gorgeous twins I’ve ever laid eyes on (besides my own), was sooo exciting that it was a gift.
However, as a twin mom, it wasn’t the best gift I could give. The best gift were words of comfort when I heard Diane had hit the 2-4 month absolutely exhausted slump. I wrote down how difficult it is to like two beings who rarely let you sleep more than 2 hours straight and yet whom you love dearly. The first 5 or so months of twin motherhood is pure survival mode. It’s hard. I’m not saying it’s not worth it, because I love being a twin mom. But there are moments in those first months where I would have handed over my babies to that kind old stranger lady in the grocery store who uttered the words “I always wanted twins” just to go home and nap. There are moments where somehow the grace of God eased me through, but I still have no idea how I and the babies survived. And I want new twin mothers to hear that it’s okay to have those feelings and those moments.
I come to love each session more than the last… but I have to say this is one of my very favorite sessions ever. Diane and Titus, thank you for letting me talk you into coming for a session! It was a true gift for me to snuggle your new ones.
I had some help from the lovely Mayfield Photography for this session. She shot some spectacular detail images and was also the hands behind my composite shots!
Apr
05
2013Sometimes I feel so unable and unworthy to tell His story. I find it more natural (but still scary) to share how my raw story intertwines with His because I am constantly processing His work with a pen.
Yet telling client stories is so much harder. I fear that I will tell the story wrong or that I will share too much or too little. I worry, perhaps very foolishly, that my words will not bring Him glory.
However, Jesus is sovereign over even my pen. And my clients read these humble words of mine before I ever press publish… so why should I fear?
Mariam’s Story
I’m four stories behind. So let me start with Mariam.
Mariam, too, processes her world by placing ink on paper. With the onset of each season of morning sickness, Mariam selects a jouranl and scratches down words to encourage the new life within.
Her two beautiful girls, Isabella and Alista, have journals brimming with memories, laughter, and recorded words of prayer. Newborn Lazaro’s journal is already filled with nearly a year of the same writing gifts though he is only 2 months old at the time of this writing. But there is a fourth journal whose writing now is sparse: that dear child has departed to sit at the feet of Jesus.
The five in this family have walked a healing journey through Lazaro’s pregnancy and birth. A healing both painful and profoundly filled with the peaceful presence of Christ.
Relationship Focused Newborn Photography
When Mariam and I were planning this session, she specifically asked for relationship focused newborn photography. She wanted us to capture the journey of healing as a family and how precious their relationships have become through this season of intermingled grief and joy. My heart sang at this request because telling stories like these are why I clumsily pick up both a pen and a camera.
Mariam’s session has so many beautiful images that I have had a very difficult time narrowing down what I want to show you.
Lazaro’s many smiles, the shy smiles and then laughter of Isabella and Alista as I sang Pete the Cat, the way Haro has the power to have a whole room fall over in laughing tears, Mariam’s joy in knowing that His will is always the best…
I hope you’ll see glimpses of all these things in the following images.
