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. 

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.

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.