Lifestyle session

The birth of a new baby is one of the most exciting, exhausting experiences a family can have. And new parents often want to document every minute of it. That face she makes when she’s just waking up. The way he stretches his arms and wrinkles his forehead. The first ride in the carseat. Meeting grandma and grandpa. The first bath.

It’s easy and convenient to capture all those moments with a cell phone, right?

What’s harder is capturing the whole family together. Those moments when parents are working together to change a diaper or navigate a swaddle. The times when you’re sitting on your couch and just staring at this impossibly small human who is somehow yours to love and care for. Or maybe when your older kids are getting to know their new sibling.

This is when an in-home photography session becomes a beautiful way to document this time in life. Are houses a little messier than usual? Might baby be fussy or crying? Will I need to feed her during the photo session?

YES.

And isn’t that maybe the point? To capture all the messiness? Behind the chaos is a whole lot of love and connection, and that’s what I LOVE about in-home sessions with a baby. Lifestyle photography isn’t about posing baby perfectly or photoshopping him onto a cloud – it’s about capturing your family as they really are.

Those first few weeks can go by in a blur of both adrenaline and exhaustion, and it’s easy to overlook the beauty and vulnerability underneath it.

If you are expecting or know someone who is, let’s talk about a lifestyle photography session. You won’t regret it! Check out my latest session with this sweet family and their one-month-old – she was wide-eyed with wonder almost the whole time!

Mother's Day

One of the first things moms often say to me when we talk about pictures is that they HATE having their picture taken.

They wish they could lose 10 pounds, or be more pinterest-y, or own clothing other than yoga pants and that shirt they bought on sale at Target last week. Or maybe they don’t have time for photos because it’s just one more thing to fit in the often overloaded calendar of life. Or maybe they’re just plain exhausted.

This is well-documented in Allison Tate’s viral blog post, “The Mom Stays in the Picture.”

As a photographer, I get it. I’m often not in the picture, either. (Selfies don’t count!)

As we approach Mother’s Day this year, consider treating yourself, or your wife, or your mother, to a professional photo session. Let’s work together to document those humans we love the most. We’ll get some of those everybody-looking-at-the-camera photos, but also the candid moments of connection – the snuggles, the jokes, or that trademark look on someone’s face.

What’s a better gift than that?

I promise, your kids will thank you, and you just might thank yourself as well.

Photo 365 Project

The winter months can be slow for a natural light photographer, but I’ve kept my creative energy alive by starting a Photo 365 Project: one edited picture every single day for one whole year. I was surprised at how quickly I found myself committed to this — I even have two daily alarms set on my phone to remind me to take my photo because I REALLY don’t want to miss a day!

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30/365

My favorite part of the project is that it forces me to notice things when otherwise I might ignore them or overlook them. My personal goal is to make some sort of artistic choice about composition or color or light in every picture I take, and in doing so I find myself seeing art all around me, just in the everyday activities of my family. Sitting in the carwash, unloading the dishwasher, dancing spontaneously in the living room — this is the fabric of my family, and I love seeing how it opens up before me.

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You don’t have to be a photographer or have a fancy camera to do a project like this. Your cell phone can be the lens through which you document your everyday. I’ve already had many days when my photos seem less like art and more like obligation, but I always find something meaningful I can document — bedtime rituals, a sweet drawing that one of the kids left on the table, or the piles of dishes and toys and other detritus that are left behind once they’re asleep at night. I’m already excited about the prospect of creating a photo book when this project is over and giving my kids an artifact of their childhood. I started my project on January 1st, but you can start anytime. Give it a try — I don’t think you’ll regret it!

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Winter newborn session

I am still swooning from this newborn lifestyle session. February brings bitter cold weather to Nebraska, but this house was warm with the light and love of a sweet new girl. She got snuggles from her siblings and comfort from her mama throughout the session. I take my time with a session like this one, leaving room for feeding and diaper changes (and even incorporating those moments into the photos). What a joy to capture these early days with a new baby, diapers and chaos and all!