birth photography :: beau xavier

Dan and Whitney are these wonderfully salty people, who live close to the earth (they are dairy farmers -- and amazing ones!), operate their business with integrity, and are raising their daughter with gentleness and deep faith. When Whitney asked if I'd take her on as a birth story client, even though her own due date was the same month as mine, it was actually a no-brainer. I knew she was planning a natural home birth with the same midwife who attends my own births, and that being witness to her birth would be an encouragement to me personally as I mentally prepare to go through birth again. 

In the end, it was deemed wisest to have this baby in the context of a hospital, but the "natural" part of the plan stuck, and our midwife did, too. The result was an unplugged, well-supported, and peaceful birth. Whitney was so centered and confident through it all that at one point the OB joked that her birth was like a self-service operation! Indeed, she was in full command and she did an amazing job, as Dan ceaselessly and fearlessly lent his strength from beginning to end. 

After just 4.5 hours of active labor, little baby Beau was born at 9:11 pm, gathered to his mama's chest, and held in the loving gaze of his Papa while Sara and I looked on with misty eyes. :) He weighed in at exactly 9 lbs and 21 inches.

Thank you, Whitney and Dan, for inviting me into this experience with you. I'm amazed at your little family, and pray rich blessings over you all. Thank you, Whitney and Dan, for inviting me into this experience with you. I'm amazed at your little family, and pray rich blessings over you all. 

Note: This was my last birth story I was scheduled to photograph before my maternity leave begins. I'm starting up again at the end of June. If you are newly pregnant and interested in having me capture your birth story, now is the time to inquire, as my summer/fall calendar is already beginning to fill up. 

milk time (vol V) & light+life workshop

The last two weekends in a row I've hosted events at our home. I like this act of inviting people into my personal space to be photographed or to learn, because I like to be human, and I like to keep things feeling personal and cozy, not stiff or formal. The downside: all the cleaning and preparation that needs doing the night before (yes, last minute, because we all know that cleaning the house sooner than that would be absolutely pointless, as the children would knock it all out of order again in about 1 hour). But I'm SO blessed to have a husband who is on my team, and who also happens to be amazing at accomplishing whirl-wind de-cluttering and cleaning feats. I couldn't do it without him. 

On the 15th, we had Milk Time at our house for those who had to miss the original date due to the crazy snow storm. Six women and their babes popped over for the event. Here's a little gallery of images from that sweet time. 

On the 21st, I had my 4th Light + Life workshop. All 5 spots were filled, and we had a lovely time cozied up all warm in the living room learning how to master our DSLRs and sharing life stories and perspectives while the temperatures outside remained frigid. Here are a few images of these lovely ladies at work shooting our "live models!" They did an amazing job. Don't they look empowered? They are telling their cameras who is boss! :)

These were some of my final acts as a professional photographer before beginning my maternity leave (except I still have one birth to attend!), and what a great way to wrap up an amazing year. I'm ready to rest, to take a little break from making photographs for other people, and instead to point my camera at my sweet baby boy, whose little face i cannot wait to see. I'll try to pop in here and blog a few images of him after he's here, and maybe even share photographs from his birth!

milk time :: breastfeeding portraits (vol IV)

Michigan weather nearly foiled our plans for this milk time event. In the end, I created a second date for those who didn't feel it was wise to journey through all the thick snow and quickly-forming ice to get here, but 8 of the mamas were present for the original date. 

It was a cozy day for sitting inside and nursing little ones. Everyone was a great sport. This time around we had in our ranks a nursing mama who is also very pregnant, a set of 5 month-old twins, and "last baby", a miracle baby, a very new baby, a nursing toddler, and two little girls who brought their own babies to nurse. 

This time around we also had several moms who work outside their homes full time and have to do the whole pumping routine, sometimes in less-than-ideal set-ups. They persevere because they know it's worth it, and I hope these photos will be something concrete that they can keep in their pump bags as a very present reminder of WHY they keep at it. 

I love the variety, and I especially love hearing little bits of each mama's story. The mother-baby nursing relationship has so many variations of normal, and each one is beautiful, wrapped up in a thick blanket of incredible love, which I hope you can see as you look through this slide show!

For the mamas and babies who weren't able to get there on this date, we're having another event date on February 15, so soon I'll be back here to show you some MORE beautiful nursing portraits. Can't wait!

smile :: the ford family

Chris has been a special part of our family's life for a couple years now. She did the children's church at the Boiler Room for a long while, and then offered to take our littles into her in-home daycare one day a week while I got some working hours in. She has also babysat for us, and offered us great perspective and insight on behavioral/developmental challenges our kids are experiencing. She has always been so generous with her time, her resources, her knowledge, and her HEART. My kids adore her, respect her, and feel so safe in her care. 

So it was a special treat to be able to photograph Chris with her OWN kids (well, 3 of the 4 here... we're gonna get the remaining kid in another session in the near future!), and to witness their affection and closeness as we walked their dogs through the park and ran around under the Calder downtown. 

family photojournalism :: at home with the coopers

first off, in the interest of full disclosure, this is an off-season, practicing-for-a-class photo session for which i begged our friends jordan and charis to let me have 30 minutes of their time on a friday afternoon to do my homework on them. :)

the class i've been taking is called Light + Life, which I promise you is a coincidence and bears no association whatsoever with the workshop of the same name which i teach! this class has been challenging me to slow down and be more deliberate and thoughtful in things such as seeing light, metering in different way for different scenes and for different looks, using rules of composition (and artfully breaking them), and fine-tuning my flow for setting up and planning sessions with clients. good stuff! 

now back to the coopers. these two are a phenomenal couple. they are joyful and intentional, they posses great taste and deeply-rooted loyalty. they are following jesus with their whole lives, whether in outright ministry positions or in the restaurants and bars at which they are or have been employed. our family does life pretty closely with them (golly they love our kids well!), but it was a special sort of time with them to just become a fly on the wall of their friday afternoon, soaking up the mutually-respectful and enjoyable companionship that's woven into their family culture. 

enjoy...

smile :: the miller family

In November, when my Facebook page hit 1,000 likes, I celebrated with a giveaway. And the winner of that giveaway was Jill. We both knew that planning a session in the middle of the holiday season seemed like too much, so we waited until January, when things would be calmer. And snowier!

We met up out at her parents' place, which backs up to wide open expanses of fields and woods, and which was happily covered in a thick blanket of unmarred white snow. For as long as the little ones could stand it, we tromped around outside, and when they got too chilly to be happy, we moved our little party indoors, setting up camp inside of a large window through which came plentiful natural light. 

Here's Jill, Jay, and their darling kiddos.