How will I look in the photographs?

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, specifically took off her shirt in order to do some skin to skin with her baby.  She wanted to show, and maybe also just see, plainly, her postpartum shape.  She felt proud of her body, and didn't want to shy away from it.  She wanted to remember the whole of the motherhood experience.

I am very much of the mind that you are worth capturing right now, as you are, imperfections and all.  These moments are precious.  So take the risk, and get in the frame with your sweeties.  It'll be worth it.  I promise.