author portrait :: kristin

kristin is a writer. her first book bravely delves into the subject of widowhood, a subject she is intimately acquainted with. what began as a deeply personal journey interviewing widows around the country, somehow turned into a book that will soon be published. 

not even she is entirely sure how she found ME, but i'm so glad that she did. it was an honor to spend a bit of time in her company, creating some simple but lovely images of this woman of depth and feeling. 

i'll only show you two. you may see others when her new website launches later this month.

birth photography :: gwen

it won't be long before i'll have THREE very recent births and fresh, squishy newborn photos to show you, because 3 is the number of births for which i am on call this month. but while i wait, i'm gearing up by revisiting births i photographed in the last two years. here's another one, and such a special one. 

Wendy is one of my heroes of motherhood. she's crunchy, yes. like, if she took one of those crunchy mama quizzes, she'd come out as the top rating, i'm sure. but i think what really inspires me about her is how she takes motherhood in stride, undaunted and even-keeled as she adventures into the world with her little ones by her side. 

Gwen was born on garrets' family property, on the giant screen porch at dawn. all you could hear from outside were chickens softly clunky, crickets chirping, and the wind in the grasses. a little further off were the cows. no other houses or people in sight. it was a really magical birth. and it was one of the first times i got to see the strength of a woman in natural labor and delivery, how peaceful it could be, how much a woman and her baby could cooperate to accomplish birth. 

Also, my stellar midwives, Sara Badger and Jodi Borsk of Simply Born, attended this birth. Sara sat there knitting and watchful, trusting completely the process that was unfolding a few feet away. but when sweet Gwen seemed to be lagging in taking her first breath, Sara very calmly and with incredible competence, gently suctioned her with her own mouth, clearing her airways, before handing her back to her mama, where she easily took over the new job of breathing for herself. Homebirth midwives may not have the benefit of all the medical technology immediately on hand, but they have their ways! :)

If you'd like to, you can also read wendy's telling of gwen's birth story here. 

personal :: long days, short years (Part 2)

it wasn't long before Gus was born that i settled into my "signature style," which is what we photographers call the combination of shooting and editing that we consistently do to achieve a consistent look that clients will associate with our "brand." i've been happy for this, because it means that -- unlike hazel's life -- Gus' life thus far has been documented in a pretty cohesive style. 

but that's not really as important as that it is documented at all. it's actually neat to look back through past work, before i settled into my signature style, and be able to recall my own growth as a person and as a photographer over those months and years. 

mom's don't get to be IN the picture very often, but we can get clues about ourselves by looking at the photos we've taken through  a different perspective. see, the subject of the photograph is only part of the story; the one who is seeing and showing the subject is the other part. it will be interesting, years from now, to see not only this record of my childrens' growth, but of mine as well. 

one other thought: in my last post about "long days, short years," i wrote about the limitations of Smile and Mini-Sessions. i fear i may have cheapened them. i didn't mean to. see, i think they're great. in fact, i try to put a little bit of that "portrait" element into each photojournalism session i do, too. conversely, i always try to put a little photojournalism into my portrait sessions, by capturing the moments in between the poses and "cheeses." so that flavor runs through every type of session that i do. 

but...

without further ado or more random thoughts, i offer you what you really came here for: a small selection of Gus' first year, photojournalistic style. 

personal :: long days, short years (Part 1)

"the days are long, but the years are short," someone(s) told me about mothering. i’ve found it to be so very true. some days are downright ETERNAL, and as both my children are simultaneously melting down and hanging around my neck, making impossible-to-decipher demands, i catch myself wishing it away. the hardest thing for me about become a mom was (and is), hands down, the loss of personal space and time. it is in that department that motherhood feels most sacrificial for my introverted self. likewise, it is also the centerpoint of much of my daydreaming (ah, it would be so nice to have the day to set up however i choose, engaged in various creative projects, reading novels, journaling and lingering in prayer, running errands alone....)

but my firstborn will be 3 in just about six weeks and those 3 years have flown by. how can it be that this firecracker of a girl is nearly 3?! her baby fat is already melting and her body is getting more proportional like a KID. she’s a kid. i have to face it. 

today i’m thinking about this phenomenon -- the short years and long days thing -- in connection with photography. i’m feeling very glad that the photographs i have from these short years built of long days are the kinds of photographs that they are: photojournalistic, storytelling images. i know that i’d be disappointed if i didn’t have those images of disheveled children playing on dirty floors, and if instead all i had were collections of pretty pictures of manicured, stiff kids posing grudgingly in a studio. because the latter would tell me virtually nothing about the personhood of my littles, or the fleeting characteristics of their babyhoods and toddler years. oh, man. i’d be so sad. 

i like Smile Sessions and Mini-Sessions... i love them. i love to shoot them, and they yield frame-worthy images, images you can send to grandparents and get rave reviews. but i hope they won’t be all. i hope they won’t serve as the primary documentation of the families i do them for. i hope hope hope that they are either learning how to use a camera in order to do the job of catching all those ordinary, sacred, messy, and fleeting moments and details at home, OR that they will consider letting me (or some other gifted visual storyteller) come into their home every so often to tell those stories. 

Family Photojournalism sessions yield storybook-worthy images. which is why these sessions include such book. :)

friends, we only get to do this once. they will only be 2 once, and only for a blink. 

well, now that i’ve got that off my chest, here are some of my family’s own cherished photojournalistic style photos from the last year. 

first, a Hazel-centric collection...

I'll post a collection of images of Gus' past year in a few days!

family photojournalism :: the verwys family

a [long] while back, i submitted a photo session to an auction benefiting a cause related to birth education and alternatives in the greater Grand Rapids area. Emily won that auction, much to her delight. she was giddy, which made me feel great. still, it took about a year to finally get the session on the books, as we waited for the birth of her daughter and the renovations of their new home to occur. finally, the day arrived. 

i walked into their amazing, totally unique space and watched them all play together happily for about an hour. they had a family dance party, played on the floor, read books, baked cookies, and cuddled in their hammock. i did this session in the family photojournalism style, because i had [rather easily] persuaded emily to let me do it that way. :)

two daughters looks like lots of fun, doesn't it?! not that i'd trade my son in for a second daughter. ;)

birth photography :: emersyn

this isn't a recent birth, but it's a beautiful one. and i recently remixed it with my more current editing techniques implemented. so i thought i'd post some images!

you should know that this couple are the owners and operators of Your Baby Booty, which is an incredible resource for pregnant couples! they offer a series of short video interviews with various types of birth workers on a wide variety of subjects pertaining to pregnancy and childbirth. additionally, they have authored two phenomenal and incredibly witty books on the subject. please check them out if you're expecting. 

because of steve and sarah's line of work, they had done probably an above-average amount of research about birth options. and after all of that -- and with attention to their personal desires and comfort level -- they opted for a home birth with a nurse midwife, Susan Wente of Home Birth Partners. they really set the stage with a beautiful and peaceful birthing suite on the lower level of their home. it was such a gift to watch this couple partner together in their birth. 

photography note : emersyn was born a bit before midnight, in a room lit only candles! yes, it was a very challenging situation for me as a photographer. but i work with what i have, because i'm sure not going to use a flash on a woman in labor (or on anyone, ever, really). i was able to make it work, and in the end there are beautiful photos to show for it. but in cases like these, i tend to lean toward black-and-white processing to eliminate the distracting weirdness of the lighting. 

a couple weeks after her birth, i returned to their home to photograph her again. this time on her mama and daddy's bed, with beautiful light streaming in the windows and adorable headbands gracing her perfect little head. 

and, more recently, i got to see emersyn at a mini-session sunday. she is SO not a baby anymore.  but she's just as beautiful as she was the day she was born, and still wearing adorable headbands. :)

as a photographer, it's a joy to journey with families through these milestones... pregnancy, birth, newborn period, family life. happy sigh.