MATERNITY
“A baby is something you carry inside you for nine months, in your arms for three years, and in your heart until the day you die.”
~ Mary Mason
Listen up Momma
This is IMPORTANT!!!
During your journey, you will have a friend who is going to be your biggest cheerleader. Someone who has had her own momma journey and can understand those doubts and fears. But that can also remind you of all the happiness as well, and sorry but not sorry, tell you to shut down those negative voices in your own head.
One thing that I never want any momma to feel is regret. Regret that you don’t have these keepsakes to look back on. The regret that on any given day you could have that moment where you miss embracing your bump. The moments that now all seem very simple and fairylike.
This journey is to have you feel empowered, cherished, and unstoppable. To capture a time that is completely RAW, REAL, and that is so full of EMOTION. It’s about completely embracing a time that is going to feel vulnerable and probably even a little messy.
Your maternity session can be as cozy or as dressed up as you think truly shows your style. Being able to embrace your bump, to worship yourself and all that your body is creating. Your session can be simple and classic with jeans and a cozy sweater, to a little more intimate or risky, with your bump tastefully exposed.
Or dive all in with a dress that leaves you feeling like a queen. Walking along a field where you hold tightly to your significant other, or your baby bump. Let the sunrise or sunset wash more glow across yourself. Have any other littles you may have dance and play in the fields or snuggle up together and hold tight to your growing baby together on a blanket in the middle of a field.
Many mommas that reach out for newborn sessions, typically aren’t sure if they want to experience a Maternity Session, and my answer is always……… Think about it. I mean that really think about it. Your body is truly doing amazing things that, yes let’s be real, aren’t always glamorous or fun. But it’s something that you will look back on and truly wish you took a moment to take it all in and shut down all those negative voices inside your head.
When you book a maternity session with me, I am here to help you style this session to really embrace your own personal style. I will be there to help you push the boundaries of your comfort zone, but totally in a way that will have you looking at your gallery with happy tears on the day they go to Kindergarten, they graduate HIGH SCHOOL, or look back on it when they start their own family.
So even if you aren’t sure about doing a session, I challenge you to fill out the contact me form and set up a time to chat with me. This chat is completely complimentary, and it’s best to set up our chat between 14-22 weeks, so we can schedule your session from 30-34 weeks.
This gives me the time to create a session that is specialized just for you. We will brainstorm different wardrobe options to bring out who you truly are, and tell the story that you are going through at this time.
Scheduling your Maternity session between 30-34 weeks gives your bump a chance to pop, and also gives us a little cushion to make sure that baby doesn’t make his or her arrival before you get a chance to pause this step in your motherhood journey. It also gives you a moment to really take all this in before you hit the "I am completely over this" stage...
NEWBORN
Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart…
- From Winnie the Pooh
The Fleeting Moments Experience
BIRTH STORIES
Capturing your little ones journey to earth side is one that is so full of emotion and can end up seeming like a distant memory. The details of a birth are captured for you to look back on days, months even years from that day. Each image is carefully documented to capture the rawness and realness of the story.
With how personal and unique each journey is, BIRTH STORY sessions are customized for each family. With options to create bundles to tell the first year of baby’s life. I will create a birth story that will be cherished forever.
Reach out to chat more as this option is 100% custom.
FRESH 48- HOSPITAL
Fresh 48 sessions are a short and sweet session that captures the freshness of your new baby with hours of them being earthside. With the flaky skin details, capture those first moments when your older children may meet their new baby sister or brother. These are done in your recovery suite at the hospital.
The realness of just how tiny your newest love is because they will be just a little bit older tomorrow. These sessions are simple with keeping the baby in the hospital wraps or using customized wraps, or showing the tiny details with close-up shots of toes & fingers. Capturing birth stats with the name plates that can be custom ordered online or at baby boutiques in Bismarck-Mandan.
NEWBORN
The button nose, the flaky skin, the wrinkles in their skin. All these tiny details seem to change each day and maybe even each hour.
A fresh 48 and newborn session bundle is a great way to make sure that each of those details is captured perfectly during those fleeting moments that pass in a blur.
Customized Baby’s First Year bundles are available, let’s chat about what your vision is! And bring all those who are important to your little ones’ life.
Those who love your little one are all part of their story.
Capturing your loved ones with your new baby is fleeting. It is emotional. It is Raw. For your little ones, for you.
Many wonder when the best time to chat with me is. I recommend setting up our intro chat at the beginning of your second trimester. This will allow us time to make sure that we are a good fit, for us to discuss what options best fit your vision, and also to start planning and brainstorming our session style (if you decide I am the right fit for you). And maybe even have me convince you to do a little Maternity session as well if you are on the fence.
Many also ask if this intro chat is necessary, and I always say “YES”. With so many photographers out there to choose from, making sure that you choose one that understands your vision, that my style fits your style, and that you get to know me as you are trusting me with your most precious bundle. We will also discuss options for single session or Memberships. It's so important to make sure that you can fully focus on your new baby and not worry about the details.
Newborn sessions can be done in the comforts of your home allowing for your story to also capture the tiny details of your newborns’ life with their nursery or their first home. I will bring wraps, little onesies, and other things for the baby to make sure that the baby is the main focus. I do not use a lot of props as I want simple, classic, and powerful images that make your baby the focus.
Or if an in-home session doesn't fit your vision, I have my downtown Bismarck Lifestyle Studio that is set up to be comfortable, relaxing, zen and a place for you to catch up on those missing hours of sleep while I take care of your little one and capture all their tiny details.
Each newborn session is designed to be completely stress-free. With an ebb-and-flow approach with older siblings, allowing them to join the family pictures as they feel. Following the baby’s cues during our time together allows for a tranquil and relaxed session. The studio also has a bottle warmer, a fridge for mommas to store milk if pumping is needed during our time together, and a changing table that has diapers, a wipe warmer, and other items you may need while we work together.
Our Journey Together
Giving you a Pause Button
It seems like each year gets to be crazier than the last. Christmas rolls around, and with that, are you like me and find yourself asking, where did this year go? Remember you told yourself that THIS YEAR would be the year that you would take family pictures, capturing the personalities that one moment have you questioning your sanity, but also completely tackle the heartstrings the next. Did it seem like you blinked and those little ones are grown and off doing their own thing?
If this sounds like you, and you yearn for nothing more than to be given a pause button - a simple moment that is fuss-free, painless, and loads of fun. Guess what?! I am your photographer! I love nothing more than letting families do their thing, whether it’s a tickle fest, or invading tween and teenager spaces for a family picture with hugs, or letting me chase your littles to capture all that personality.
Each session is lifestyle-based, allowing for your family’s true dynamics to really come out. It’s unposed and real, it’s laugh until you cry (happy tears only) moments. I want you to really hold tight to your loved ones.
Ask yourself this. When is the last time you LET IT GO? (Yes, I am a momma to a little princess-obsessed girl.) That you just gave yourself permission to not have everything be perfect. To embrace the chaos, the messy, the imperfection, what we could really call a circus.
It’s hard, trust me. I get it. Oh, do I get it. When I try to get a picture of my family, it’s like being a ring leader in that circus, with two kids, three dogs, and my own hubby who loves pictures about as much as going to the doctor for a “man cold”.
Then I look back at those “perfectly posed” images and ask myself, “Is this really us?” It’s not. One kid is probably crying or laying on the ground, and the dogs are all looking in different directions. But guess what: this is my chaos and I am embracing it. Because one day, those puppies will have wings, and my babies will be off living their own best lives.
Capturing a memory from today for a keepsake for tomorrow…
My mission is to make sure that you feel comfortable and relaxed and to help you make time for these moments. So while one child might be having a moment (big or small), we can capture moments with you and a partner, you and your furbaby, or another child. Our sessions are very relaxed, easy-going, and in the moment. Nothing will feel forced and you will leave our session feeling like you had FUN!
So I challenge you, momma, to hit that pause button and click on Let’s Chat. Let’s give this season of life the special attention it deserves.
Learn more about the experience
