Being a photographer of life, love and special moments is a gift – something I deeply love. With a fine art approach to my work it is truly amazing to me that what I capture with my eyes and heart becomes part of someone’s life and is cherished in their lifetime.
I photograph some of the highest moments in people’s lives - weddings, first pregnancies, first birthdays, anniversaries - but sometimes, I also am a photographer that captures moments of devastating loss. It is the latter that teaches me most about life. This has become a gift I receive in return for my volunteer efforts with an organization called Now I Lay me Down to Sleep (NILMDTS), a non-profit volunteer organization that offers the services of professional photographers, like myself, to provide bereavement photography.
Losing a newborn baby is something many mothers can’t bear to think about, but yet it happens to so many more than I could imagine when I first started out. It is not easy to speak about losing a baby, which is why I like to take every opportunity possible to talk about the organization I am so proud to be a part of and that so few (including hospitals) know about.
When I get a call that parents have made the hard decision to take their baby off of life support or they have received the tragic news that their late term pregnancy has failed, I am both sad for this terrible loss, but also grateful for the strength to be able to provide precious photographic images of their dearly loved babies. These photographs are helpful in acknowledging their child’s life and presence, however short, and also preserve for them all the beautiful details of their little ones once they have passed.
It is a difficult topic to broach. Some react to this work with discomfort while others may even find it disturbing but bereavement photography can provide an essential element of healing for the families.
Often in shock and mourning when I arrive my families simply are at a loss to know what do to. I am able to come in unobtrusively and assist the family in capturing images of their babies when they have so little time to say goodbye. I make a point of photographing every beautiful detail of their newborn baby so they will always remember the hair on their ear, the shapes of their toes and fingers, the sweet curve of their mouth or their long eyelashes. These are all little things that, after the fact, can be troubling for mourning parents if they feel they can’t remember details about their baby, and feel terrible at the thought of forgetting this little life.
The gratitude of these families is overwhelming, as is the privilege to be trusted with something this special. It is the most powerful work I do and it is, for me, one of the most rewarding aspects of my volunteer work as a photographer.
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