Words From Mama KD: My First Holiday Portraits as a mother
As a photographer, I personally understand the power of photography and the place it holds in the lives of us all. I am not just referring to the world of social media but the evocative aspect of photography. The photos taken throughout your life does more than just show a pretty picture, show places you’ve or how cool you may be. Photos captured, more importantly, tell a piece of your story!
Well, on December 1st of this year, I was able to make a piece of my story stand still forever.
I became a mother in 2014 when our first son, Karter, was born on 12/31 and welcomed our second little boy, Jaxon, in September of 2017. As a mother, I grew the desire to have my own family traditions, take family photos, have an old school photo album that I can one day flip through, and create memories for my children that they can show to their children one day. Yes, I want to be the cheesy mom who pulls out the holiday pics when Karter and Jaxon bring their potential wives over to meet mom for the first time. I want photos hanging on the wall throughout our home to bring the feeling of love, comfort and good times.
Today my oldest son is almost 4 and the youngest is 1. We have a few photos in frames and have started our old school photo album. However, this year was the first year that I took Holiday portraits as a mother. I have always wanted to take them and as a photographer, I was always capturing those moments for other families. So what stopped me from taking them before??
To be completely honest, it was me. My journey to motherhood and through motherhood so far has not been the american traditional motherhood experience. My family was not always whole and the world at a point would have labeled my family as a broken home and during those times I did too. I let the challenges of life keep me from basking in the moments and capturing those moments.
I look back now and realize that no matter how tough those challenges were and no matter what phase my life was in there is nothing broken about me or my family. There is actually some pretty amazing moments that I remember and smile about all the time!
So this year, I partnered with a fellow Mama, named Tanisha Dunham who is an amazing photographer and owns Light Lens Photography. She captured my boys and I this holiday season for the first time! These photos mean so much to me because it tells a piece of my story that I love! I love the holidays and it captures the realness of my boys at this age! However, more importantly, it tells the part of my story that I have grown to accept that life will not always be exactly how we imagined but that does not mean that it is not great, full of love and memories to cherish for a lifetime!
So I tell this little bit to encourage you to capture your journey, NO MATTER WHAT! It will change your perspective on some situations in your life for sure. A moment in your life that you may never want to remember could be sprinkled with moments you never want to forget.
Here are some reasons to capture your life no matter what:
It shows your life and tells your story.
Makes amazing memories stand still forever.
Shows the beauty that we may not always see in the moment.
Thank You Tanisha & Light Lens Photography for capturing these moments and being patient as the boys warmed up to taking these photos!