I think the thing that holds many of us back from getting photographs made is a fear of what we'll look like in those photos.  Will we be beautiful enough?  Thin enough?  Young enough?  I never look how I think I will in photographs.  My imagined self is so different from what the camera sees.  The fear of not looking how we want​ to look can keep us from being in photographs at all.

​But the thing I try to remember for myself when I ask others to take my picture with my children, and the thing I try to impart to all of my clients is that when you're in your love, deep in your adoration and connection, those will be the most marvelous photographs.  Those will be the ones where you see that deep beauty.  Because authentic love is stunning.  It's magnetic and beautiful to see.  Even, and maybe especially, in ourselves.

Mamas ask me if they should wear makeup, or do their hair a certain way for bonding photographs.  I say: if you feel beautiful, if you feel like yourself, you are going to shine in these photographs.  If you feel confident, then you're going to be able to focus on your bond with your baby.  So wear makeup if it makes you feel more like yourself.  Or forget it if you don't want it.  These photographs are all about recording a moment in time with your babies.  Come to the studio as yourself.  Let yourself feel free.  Be in this precise moment with your sweeties.

Sometimes women ask me to edit things in photographs -- blemishes or cuts or something temporary.  I will do some small editing, but it's not my strength, and changing a look of a photograph is certainly not my style. 

Other mamas tell me that they don't love their body right now, and feel nervous to have this stage captured on film.  The black clothing in my studio is certainly meant to guard your body from the world if you want it to.  Because my studio walls are black, when you wear solid black, your body kind of blends into the background.  What stands out any visible skin.  Your bright and shining faces.  Any bare skin.  If you're wondering how much skin to show during a session, here's something I wrote about how to choose your black outfit for the studio.

I also really believe in leaning into what our bodies look like right now.  It's so powerful to see women choose to let their bodies be seen as they are. 

Bringing your twin babies into the studio for photographs will be busy, a little bit of a juggling act, and so deeply beautiful.  The photographs will be complex puzzles of connection and closeness.  You will be holding them both, supporting them both.  Connecting.  

This mama, below, brought her older child as well as her toddler twins, and we did photographs with all four of them, and all sorts of different group arrangements: mama with each child, the brothers together, and the twins alone.  It was so sweet and amazing to see all of the relationships.

The mama tandem nursed her twins, and switched between nursing one and then nursing the other.  It was really amazing and beautiful to see each and every different arrangement of this sweet family.

This mama, above, was about to go into surgery the next day, and she thought this might be the last day she'd get to nurse her sweet baby. It was so beautifully emotional in the room, and I felt honored to hold that space for these two.

This mama, above, let her 1 year old nurse throughout the entire session with her three kids. It was so seamlessly integrated into our session, and didn't disrupt anything. Just added a layer of reality. The baby is tightly bonded to her mother, and takes great comfort in nursing. She didn't want to stop, and her mama didn't make her. I absolutely loved photographing this moment in time with this sweet family.

I love to notice little things while mamas are nursing in my studio. The way the baby's foot rests on her mom's arm. The way the baby's hands gently play with her mom's chest or fingers or hair. It's all worth documenting. Even the tiniest little moments feel like art.

Nursing isn't always glamorous. In fact, it's hard, sometimes tedious, sometimes challenging work. The photographs are meant to capture the range of experience. Not just the ease of the bond. But the struggle too. You fit together, you and your baby, but it's not simple. It's actually kind of incredible. You two are a puzzle.

And just as breastfeeding can be a part of any bonding session, every breastfeeding session will also include photographs of you and your baby just bonding. Playing, snuggling, being. Even breastfeeding sessions are made of mostly non-breastfeeding time. So the gallery of images will include moments of all sorts.

Take the leap, and come visit the studio. You and your baby are amazing, and I can't wait to show you just how stunning you are when you're bonding, connected, and nursing.

Typical newborn photographs involve hours and hours of posing.  Putting the baby in all sorts of outfits on all sorts of props.  But I'm not a props photographer, and I'm not a posing photographer. 

Having a baby is tough.  One of the hardest things you'll do in your life.  So  I prefer to bring moms into the studio when they're ready to be in the frame.  Wait a few weeks, regulate your body, and come when you're ready.

Wait until you're ready (emotionally, physically) to be in deeply felt, meaningful photographs with your baby. You'll wear all black -- your body won't be the focus of these photographs.  But get in them.  Be with your baby.  Because newborn photographs can be so much deeper than just a beautiful aesthetic representation of your baby.  These photographs can represent the complexity and depth of the bond you're building.  

This mama brought her 1 month old and her 4 year old into the studio, and that meant that the photographs had to be kind of off-the-cuff.  Very little time to plan when you've got an energetic, excited 4 year old in the room.  Photographs with a toddler have to be more about what happens in the moment.  And as is the case with most of my toddler-led sessions, they did their own thing for much of it.  It wasn't my idea for them to lay on the floor -- they just naturally kind of came together that way.  But it was so special and unique to their session.  That's my favorite kind of moment.  Just capturing what is.  Not what I think motherhood should look like.  

And you can tell that this little sweet baby felt completely safe and loved during the session.  I have never seen a newborn smile so much at one time.

Bring your babies into the studio.  Let's play!

There's something about being in nature with your baby.  They are free, we are free.  Unburdened by fluorescent lights and painted walls.  Outside we're subject to the fluctuations of temperature and color, we see new and beautiful things with sincerity and surprise -- two deer skittering by, a white butterfly hovering in the warm spring air.  The ground is pricklier than we expected, and also softer underfoot. 

We slip down dry hills into a creekbed, and here we're kind of hidden from the rest of the world.  We are explorers here.  Just wandering in the morning light.

Mama began by nursing with her top on, but then discarded it as we walked.  It was covered in her baby's pee, she said, so what's the use?  I am a naked mom, she told me, smiling sweetly.  These are precious days, and we're allowed to be so free with our babies.  So connected, and so close.  Just nursing and bonding.  Just finding out about each other without asking any questions.

These are the moments I live to photograph.  That I gasp as I capture them.  I am in awe of this mother, just a few months into her new role, and wearing it with such divine simplicity.  Such ease.  This is where she wants to be -- with her sweetie.  Gently touching leaves and watching bugs.  Holding tightly to each other and holding loosely too.  These are the moments I want too.  They are timeless and perfect and filled with the kind of love you can't describe.

I'm a huge fan of skin to skin.  It's deeply important in bonding with your baby early on, and I think it's incredibly powerful with older babies too.  And I'm also a huge fan of skin in bonding photographs.  It's just so stunning to see your skin next to your baby's. 

But I'm not suggesting you take your top off if you're not into that.  I really think any amount of your skin is deeply beautiful.  I typically recommend that mamas wear a tank top and leggings or bike shorts, to have enough skin showing that it really feels like you're in it with your baby.  And I recommend that you have your baby nude, if you're comfortable with it, and your toddlers and older kids wearing diaper covers, onesies, or black tees and black shorts.

You're also welcome to play around with it.  Start with one clothing item, take it off, try another.

There are mamas who choose to be photographed in a sports bra, or totally topless.  This mama, above, did a variety of levels of clothing.  She had a tank top on for some of her session, and for some of it, went without most clothing.

In the frame above, the mama is wearing a tank top.  This is the most common choice, and I absolutely love it.  It shows plenty of your skin, and is really beautiful with baby's skin.
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​But, if you're wanting a more skin to skin look, but without showing your breasts, you can hold your sweetie in front of you like this mama, below.

You're of course welcome to cover your baby up, as well.  In this session, below, the mama chose to put her babe in a black diaper cover.

You can also wear longer sleeves and still get beautiful images.  This mama, below, chose to wear three-quarter-length sleeves, and I think the images are still stunning.

And, of course, you can cover your baby more, too!  This mama, below, started with her baby totally covered in a little black dress, but then took off her baby's clothes -- and her bra -- to get a more intimate skin to skin look.

I really believe that if you're confident, your photographs will be stunning.  So, if dressing yourself and your baby up or down helps you feel more confident, go with that.  The photographs will be beautiful no matter what.

I have always been fascinated by siblings.  My own, my friends'.  It can be such a striking relationship.  And it's something I absolutely love to photograph.  The look on a baby's face when his older sibling comes near him has to be one of my very favorite things ever.

I absolutely loved photographing this mama, below, and her two boys.  The boys loved to play around, tumbling and chasing, but they also were just so incredibly sweet and calm together.  I always melt when I look at these nursing images.  What love.  What deep affection.

I'm also really moved by older siblings.  This beautiful family, below, came in for photographs when the kids were 3 and 5.

And this session, below, is one of my all-time favorite siblings session.  This mama brought her four children in, and they truly just played the whole time.  It was kinetic, vibrant, and so full of love.

Having a newborn is a complicated phenomenon.  The sleep deprivation.  The changes in our bodies.  The hormones.  The way our bodies and brains shift to make mental space and begin to bond with the tiny mammal that just joined the family.  I have two children, 7 years apart, and I felt like a first time mom after both births.  They were extremely different births, and therefore wildly different postpartum experiences.  But after neither birth did I feel like throwing my body in front of a camera.  Both times I felt protective of my body, and my baby.  I wanted space to heal and bond.

When you get typical newborn photographs, the photographer often requires that the baby be young enough to put to sleep easily.  The newborn is meant to look a certain way (and most importantly, the baby's eyes are meant to be closed).  I do not fall into that camp as a newborn photographer.  I consider the full "fourth trimester" -- the four months after birth -- to be newborn, and all of it is worth capturing.  These are seminal months of motherhood, and it still feels new and incredibly meaningful long after the first few days.  I don't limit newborn sessions to those first ten days of life.  And part of that is because I want you in the photographs too.  The photos are meant to tell a story about your love for your baby.  And that story isn’t necessarily a simple one.

One of the things I love about photo sessions is how they freeze our lives in place.  Years from now, we'll be able to time travel back into these brief moments with our children merely by looking at a beautiful photograph.  Oh yes, that’s what it felt like to touch her feet.  To smell his soft curls.  To lean my head against hers.

And it’s amazing to see not just one moment in our lives captured, but a series of moments over the years.  Clients who’ve come back to the studio more than once get to see more than one of those bonding moments, those deeply special connections.  Look how small her hands were next to mine.  And look at his squishy little round cheeks.  Was he ever that small? 

Photographs can be such a gift, and it’s my joy to get to take part in the process of freezing those memories.  A physical representation of your love for your children growing, maturing, expanding through the years.

I've photographed this sweet mama and her son every year for three years, since he was 8 months old.  It's been really touching to see him grow up, and to see his mom evolve as a parent.  Their sessions are always such a beautiful representation of their love, and their evolving relationship, and I really treasure getting to see this sweet boy growing up.

Nothing stands still in childhood.  Things change minute to minute, day to day.  And we change with it.  You can see in these photographs how these two have evolved.  It's absolutely stunning.  How can so much shift in just a few years?