As I sit here thinking about planning one of my best friends maternity sessions, it hits me that it was six years ago (almost to the day) that I photographed my first newborn. It was her gorgeous newborn son that got me “obsessed” with the art of newborn photography and so my journey began….
It was never intentional nor a speed of light journey. I was working part time at this time and I spent every spare minute researching, looking at posing, lighting, trying to figure out my camera and its capabilities. The hard part was finding models, without being some weird woman stalking pregnant women on the street 😉 So it was friends and friends of friends to start with to get some practise and continue to work out just how these little beings work and how I could make my images better. Again…I was obsessed … trying to figure out what they liked? What is safe? How can I best pose them? How do I deal with the awake ones? How can I soothe them? And just like the job itself, it took a lot of time, patience and dedication to learn all of this. And by gosh I’m still learning so much every day.
Oh and in the midst of this I may have became a little clucky and had my third son within 11 months of photographing my first newborn…
So now here I was with three young boys and on maternity leave. During my maternity leave I had more time to play around and develop my skills some more (well as much extra time as you have with a newborn and two other young boys – hmmm yeah so not a lot). I was now having a small flow of babies come through the doors and I was charging for my services. It was during these two years off, as complete strangers were contacting me asking for my services, that I decided this was something I wanted to do. So by the end of 2012 I left my secure well paying university job with an institution that had treated me well for 8.5 years to head into the relatively unknown (WHAAAATTT was I crazy?? Well just a little…but hey why not?). I’ve always had a creative streak. I always loved to draw, make things – I studied art in year 12…so I’m thinking this photography gig was a good way to incorporate arty side. Whether it would feed my children and pay the bills was another matter.
Fast forward three years and here I am still having a wonderful journey (with a lot of hardwork, late nights, sweat – literally… (do you know how warm it gets during a newborn session?), maybe some tears, and I’m still obsessed with the art and right now am looking forward to photographing one of my best friends due with her second little boy very soon.
And yes…I do manage to feed my children, so I’m so thankful I had the courage (and support from my lovely husband) to take that first leap.
So here it is (below) that first image (that I thought was pretty good at the time) that I fell in love with (six years ago)….and a little comparison of where I’m at today.
Whatever your journey is … I hope it’s one you love….and if not maybe take a step onto a path that intrigues you and then maybe a few more steps…who knows where it may lead you.
“The only impossible journey is the one you never begin” ~ Anthony Robbins
Mx
