life with a newborn :: zander

Maybe you'll remember these cuties? Last time Louis and Adrienne appeared here, their little son Zander was still "on the inside," and they were soaking up their final weeks with Audrey as their only child. 

Now he's here, and on this particular morning they spent some time tickling him in his nursery, filling his belly with milk while he dozed, walking down the street to his grandparents' house, and playing by the water. Simple and oh, so beautiful. 

Also, I just launched a fall SALE this week. If you're thisclose to ready to finally pouncing on the booking of a family photojournalism session, let this push you over the edge, friends. It's called the 10 Sale, and you can find out more HERE!

belly :: the mcivers

Dustin and Shauna met in high school, but both studied at GVSU and spent huge chunks of their days in Padnos Hall of Science. The rest, as they say, is history. Through chiropractic school and starting a practice, through welcoming their daughter Tatum and now about to welcome their second baby, they've done the hard work required to build a solid love. It felt right to do their maternity session at GVSU, and even specifically Padnos, which has been such a special place for their entire relationship. 

I've been doing Milk Time sessions for Shauna and Tatum since Tatum with TINY, and so to be at their birth later this month, and then to photograph their new baby shortly thereafter is such a treat. Gosh, I love growing with families. 

birth :: luke henry

Mark and Janelle and their kiddos have showed up on this blog before (here and here). They're really dear to me and my family. When they reached out to ask me to be present at their home birth this summer, there was no possible answer besides YES! 

One of Janelle's main priorities for this birth was having a supportive team that would offer continuous care, and finding a midwife team they trusted emboldened them to go the home birth route. They shared with me that having me present as well, not only as a storyteller, but also an experienced homebirth mama who carries peace and confidence about the process, made a difference for their feeling of well-being in this process. 

We all thought the labor would be FAST and probably pretty easy since her last birth was both of those things, and because Mark is a chiropractor who gave her regular webster technique care to optimize her body's alignment for birth. As it turned out, it wasn't that speedy, and the process was harder and more painful than her last birth. Though that felt frustrating and surprising to Janelle, the entire time she was surrounded with patient and fearless supporters who were able to convey to her through words and actions that she was still perfectly okay. Mark and Janelle spent most of the transition contraction with eyes locked as Mark spoke truth and encouragement over her about her body's abilities to birth her baby. I was reminded of how powerful well-timed and empowering words are to a woman in labor; what she hears can sometimes make or break her birthing process! 

Another amazingly sweet element at this birth was the presence of their eldest child, their daughter, who was like a miniature doula. She came and went out of the birth space, but whenever she was near her mama she was all gentle touches, kisses, and snuggles. She was a beautiful source of comfort for Janelle.

Finally, after about six hours, baby's head emerged, followed quite quickly by the body. His head had been positioned in military position, which means the widest diameter of the head is presenting, and that obviously makes the pushing stage longer and harder! The joy and relief on their faces -- and especially Mark's, who was sitting behind Janelle, supporting her while also watching his baby emerge -- are so sweet in the photos that follow. Gender had been a surprise, but Janelle was pleased to discover that her intution -- that it was a boy -- was correct. 

Soon they were tucked into bed to snuggle, initiate breast-feeding, and come back to earth. After over and hour of that, Luke received his newborn exam, mostly while remaining in his mama's arms, and was weighed and measured, then received his first adjustment from his daddy. 

It's always hard to leave the sacred afterglow of such a beautiful birth, but I was glad to see them so happily on the other side of their sweet home birth experience!

family photojournalism :: the davidsons

Toddlers are the best. Seriously. They are the quirkiest, most emotionally uncensored and curious beings. And Loretta and John and a pretty darn cool one. :) Dear Eddie: so busy with dancing, building, exploring locks and machinery wherever he notices it, learning to use the potty before he starts daycare next week, sipping coconut water out of an espresso cup (it's just the right size), sweeping the porch with his tiny broom and then fixing "stuff" with his plastic tools, marveling at an insect on the sliding door, walking a bit too quickly so that he falls and scrapes a knee... and pausing only occasionally for a cuddle, a brief nursing break, or some playful roughhousing with daddy. This kid kept me on my toes the entire two hours I was shooting their family photojournalism session. How fortunate he is to have two doting parents thoughtfully raising him with patience and creativity and spirit. 

Thanks for the honor of a morning spent with you guys. 

I'm booking for late September through November sessions right now. There's still room for you. 

And if you missed it last week, I invite you to read a little sharing of my heart about some changes for this little business of mine. 

family photojournalism :: the lentines

When enough years have been lived in a house, nearly every space has some memory or ritual attached to it. And once you make plans to leave that home, and to move into a new one, they all come into view more clearly, don't they? Like, maybe you don't often think about the unique joy it is to play soccer in your narrow hallway, to nurse the baby on the living room floor, or to have an ice cream cone on the back deck. You don't think about it because it's so darn normal. Until it isn't going to be normal at all anymore, and then it starts to feel as special as it's actually always been. 

Christine and Alex, along with their three kids, are in exactly that spot. And so it came to pass that just a few weeks before their scheduled closing on their new home, Christine reached out and said something like, "It's finally time. Can we get something scheduled before we move?" Gratefully, we were able to make that happen. 

Making these pictures was fun for me, as I put on the lenses of seeing every detail as significant and fleeting, even more so than usual. Every little bit is precious. To me, these photos drip with sentiment, and it's not even my house or my family! Christine says, "I'm so in love with them! Thank you!" 

Also, as a side note and shameless plug, I just need to take a moment to point out the fact that Christine works for an organization that my family feels strongly about and supports: Kids Food Basket. This non-profit puts sack suppers in the hands of thousands of Grand Rapids area children who wouldn't otherwise get an evening meal. And they do this in and through multiple schools (including my own neighborhood school where over 95% of students are on free and reduced lunch program) every day of the school year. You can sign up to give monthly donations with relatively small amount of cash (like $20-$40) and know that that money is providing lots of needed meals because they have so streamlined their food accumulation and distribution process that they can make a little money do a lot of good work. Please check them out!

personal :: our experiments in egalitarianism and what that means for you

May i share a bit of my heart here with you? I'm not sure it's technically good business sense to be this transparent with you, but I've always erred on the side of openness and authenticity. 

I love my work, the time spent with families showing them the beautiful in their ordinary lives, and especially the walking with women -- camera in hand -- as they birth their babies and in the days just after. There is so much life on these endeavors, so much joy and energy in the wake of these personal encounters with people.

But for quite a long while I was feeling guilty for loving it so much, as if to love and pursue this work is somehow a distraction from the more important/spiritual work of co-leading the ministry or an injustice to my young children who need their mama. Maybe to some of you that seems immediately ridiculous and you're able to call it for the flawed thinking that it is. But for me, it took a bit of time to move through. I had to deconstruct some faulty paradigms before i could accept the facts that what my kids need is a mom who is fully alive and joyful, and that God is glorified not only in explicit/vocational ministry but in every place where one of His kids brings the gifts and passions He's planted in him/her and offers it to the world with love. 

Another factor is the fact that in the recent past this humble little business has moved from a thing where I have to work hard to drum up more work to do and into a place where there were more offers of work than I could actually say yes to because I was needed at home.

Those personal processes of mine intersected over the last several months with some of my husband's own processes as well as some evolutions in our ministry, neither or which I'll get into here because they are not mine to tell. But the long and short of it is that suddenly Tim and I found ourselves dreaming outside the box we'd been inhabiting for several years. We put all the pieces of our life on the table and picked them up for reevaluation because we realized we have enough freedom and flexibility to do so, which is a privilege I do not take lightly. 

And on the other end of that dreaming and reevaluation and rearranging of pieces, we came to the idea of a 3-4 month long experiment in which we would split down the middle the tasks of income-earning and parenting and housekeeping. Tim will go down to half-time in his current employment and I will amp up my own employment to compensate for that (and then some, hopefully). We've crafted a weekly schedule that has us each at home with the kids doing meal prep and chores and parenting roughly the same amount of hours each week... AND going "out there" into the world to do the work God's asked us to do. 

Now, guys, this is totally an experiment and I'm aware that it could completely BOMB. I'm also very aware that it's terminal, as I'll be giving birth in mid-December and as someone who takes postpartum self-care and fourth trimester bonding very seriously, I'm super committed to having a good size maternity leave, which means I won't be earning any money for a few months.

But this leap of faith feels right, almost even inevitable, and we're confident that our Father God has led us here. I'm excited for the ways this will bring our family together, for the time it gives Tim to be with our kids more, and for the opportunity to see what it feels like to stretch my wings a bit and make my work more than a side job. I'm also excited and a bit terrified to see how God will provide for us as we leap into a new family economy in which income is less reliable. I have lots of fears that I'm facing as we start to walk down this road, but none of them threaten to undo me. So, here we go!

NOW, what does this mean for you? 

1. You can probably book a session this fall, possibly at relatively short notice. I've mentioned in the past that I'm filling up quickly for the fall leading up to my maternity leave, but this move to egalitarianism allows me to book more sessions than what I already have. Please reach out if you'd like to make a beautiful story together. 

2. If you are pregnant and due in October or November, there's a special deal in effect just for you. You can read more about that HERE. 

3. You might get a discount on something. I'll be running a couple of flash sales in the coming weeks, including some discounts on session fees and/or high-res digital files. Follow me on FB (set preferences to "show first" in your newsfeed) and IG (@brookecollierphoto) to stay in the loop with those!

Thanks for sticking with me this long! I welcome your feedback or personal stories about adventures in egalitarianism. I also look forward to meeting new people, telling more stories, and seeing again the friendly faces of returning client-friends in the months to come.