Mama Nami

The weather the morning of Nami's session could not have made me more nervous.I arrived early and watched the last of the sunrise get swallowed up by thick clouds and held my breath as sprinkles tried their hardest to fall.

Nami arrived with her children and a peace and sweetness fell over the bay. The gentleness that this mother extends to her babies seeps out of their every pour. They were kind. Patient.  Polite. Outshining their photogenic looks was an overflowing abundance of gentle love. Eventually the spitty rain got the best of us and we packed it in.

Thank you so much, Nami, for sharing your beautiful family with me.

Bethany & Her Girls

Nearly three years ago I met this mama in Fort Worth to photograph her and her sweet, newly one year old little girl, Alice.You can imagine my excitement when she contacted me wanting to make the long trek from Fort Worth to Rockport in honor of her second daughter, Hilde, turning one.

From Bethany:

" All my life, I knew I wanted to be a mother. But I didn't know I would have to fight to become one. Once I became pregnant, I knew I wanted to breastfeed. But I didnt know I would have to fight for that too.

I fought to conceive both children with tons of supplements, diet changes, hormone panels, chiropractic care, and even acupuncture. I fought fiercly with both children to breastfeed, my younger much much more than my older. Through therapies, tie corrections, pumping, LC help, and overwhelming support, both of them received exclusive breastmilk until six months and nursed to a year+.

I fully intend on making sure they both know how much I worked for them.  Not for guilt, never for guilt. But so they have instilled in them that what they want, what they know is right, is worth fighting for. You have to fight for it. You have to put in your whole self and face it with a calm heart despite any and all pushback. Giving up is not an option as long as there is the slightest glimmer of hope. As females, they must face most all things in this world with this stance. They must know that everyone will expect them to give up or fail, because girls 'aren't supposed' to have the same perseverance and tenacity as boys.

Like so many other mamas, I will one day release my tiny, amazing daughters into the world as grown women. I can only hope and pray that what I've taught them stays with them."

Thank you for sharing your darling, fair hair haired little ladies with me over the years, Bethany. I look to many, many more beautiful moments in your motherhood journey <3

The "Breastfeeding Is..." Project

Over the years I have photographed 250+ sessions of mothers breastfeeding their babies. Without prompt, they always tell me "I am so happy we are photographing this because we went through ___________ and this means so much to me to still/finally be nursing my baby now." Every single mother has her story.

I see far too often that society will then try to tell this mother what her breastfeeding relationship means. Not only what it means for the mother and baby, but what it means for her family, her community, or the individual speaking out. Like they have right to say what Breastfeeding Is for them. Whether they've been there or not. Yes, this experience, this choice we have to make as mothers "To breastfeed or not to breastfeed" is universal, but each and every experience is unique.

Inspired by this idea, I asked my fans and clients to fill in the blank.

"Breastfeeding Is ____"

The responses I got were overwhelming. There were so many ideas that echoed eachother, and others that spurred my heart in a deep way. I took to my drawing pad to come up with images that I thought could depict a few of these ideas and set out to look for the real life women who could fill the role.

The Breastfeeding Is Project is a photographic essay defining not what other aspects of parenting aren't, but what breastfeeding is. It has started with these few images, and I plan to add to the collection for the years to come. True to my style, the images are both lifestyle and fine art. In the real life thick of it, as well as pampered and posed.

Enjoy. Share. Remind yourself what breastfeeding is to you, or what it can be. Love your baby.