2019 was a wild year for me personally, and business wise I honestly hadn’t even thought about how 2019 was different than any other year. But now, as I look back, I realize it was different, and choosing my favorite images I realize, I’m different. Birth photography has taken a major stand in my professional life. It’s something I am truly passionate about. I photographed more births this year than any other and I hope to grow that number even more in 2020. Also though, I photographed just a handful of high school seniors, and yet their images are some of my very favorites, and their sessions have multiple favorites. I’ve always enjoyed being around teenagers, maybe it’s because my teenage years were so crucial in developing me into who I am today. Capturing these teens, as who they are, their laughter, their genuine smiles, their natural movements, these are the images that stand out to me. That natural imagery is not just my favorite with seniors though it falls into family photography and photography children (usually running wild and free and full of laughter). I want my images to always tell a story, remind the viewer of a specific time. Alright, that’s a lot of talking and really more for me than you, the viewer, probably a client who came here to see if an image from your session made the post, so here we go…. it was really hard to narrow down to my favorite image this year but I just kept coming back to it over and over again. This moment. This one, singular moment… any woman who has had a child knows it, any father who has ever witnessed the birth of his child knows, and well, anyone who has ever been witness to a birth knows… all the world, all the sweat, all the tears, all the blood finally pays off because… they’re here.
Every birth I photograph is an honor. Being invited into that room, being trusted to tell such an important story. There is nothing like it.
There were some runners up though.
I adore these two images for very different reasons. But also for the same- the story. 1. Being a new mom is so hard. It’s exhausting but there is so much love. And this mama, this baby- it’s even more so true, after a nicu stay finally coming home was such a relief but equally difficult adapting to life with 2 big (yet still little) brothers. But this image is so still and sweet and quite and captures a feeling every new mom can completely relate to. 2. First of all I love this kid so when he came to me and said, okay I want to do a James Bond style photoshoot with my cleaning cart (he works helping clean our church). I was so unsure of what this would look like or how it would turn out but oh my gosh it was so fun and the results were fantastic. And it sums him up so perfectly.
Beyond these 3 images, the rest of the runner ups don’t have too much of an order or honestly much in common, every image has a story to tell, even if it’s just to me, and well, this post is about me, and my personal favorites- these images don’t tell how I do a session or what my images look like as a body of work.
Honestly, every session is special to me. Every session has a favorite. So here I include to you images- in no particular order- of favorites. Thanks so much clients for all you do and give to me by allowing me to do this job, and to tell your stories and capture the personalities of your children. Thank you for trust me with that.
