Getting Comfy with Lifestyle Sessions
I didn’t know it, but I did my very first lifestyle photo session 26 years ago when I first started taking pictures for other people. I was attending home births with a midwife at the time, and one of the very first births I went to was at the home of an earthy young couple with three young boys living in an old house in the city. I didn’t really have the skills, knowledge, or equipment necessary to do birth photography, but I didn’t know that, and the couple had requested that I bring my camera along. So I did.
I can remember the smell of the honey the midwife spooned into the laboring mother’s mouth. I remember the husband using all the strength he had to bear the weight of his wife’s arms around his neck as she squatted and worked to bring this new being into the room. I can still see the home-canned jars of food on their kitchen counter, the hand-written chore lists for the three dark-haired siblings, the trio of boys themselves, sleepy-eyed and timid, standing at the foot of the stairs where their mother had prepared their clothes for the day in three tidy stacks—pants, shirts, underwear, socks, shoes. I remember being intensely frustrated with my lack of photographic abilities, not realizing at the time that my very, very cheap film camera just didn’t have the ability to shoot in low light. I did the best I could, alternating between midwife’s assistant and birth photographer.
I don’t have any of those images. I gave the only film copies I made to the mother who treasured them regardless of their amateur quality. I treasure them, too, in my mind. The mother later became my friend, my children and hers forming friendships as well. A few years ago, we lost both her and that baby boy who breathed his first breath within the frame of my camera lens 26 years ago. Thinking about that day brings forth so many deep, core memories that catch in my chest and bring tears to my eyes. Those vignettes and moments that must have seemed unspectacular and mundane right then are treasures in my mind now.
Photography is incredibly powerful, both for the subject and the photographer themselves. I have been moved to tears many times while directing my camera toward so many raw, meaning-filled, emotionally-charged moments. First breaths. Last breaths. Cancer diagnoses. Marriage vows. Newborn grandchildren meeting grandparents. Adult adoptees meeting birth family. Saying goodbye to a childhood home. Saying hello to a new pet. Fresh tattoos. Lifelong friends. Slow goodbyes.
My aim is to capture and preserve those irreplaceable moments, whether it’s a family gathering, a special event, or what might seem like an average, ordinary day. I’m compelled to focus on the board book, the toy truck, the family quilt, the gentle touch, the quick kiss—all of the oft-overlooked details. They’re such treasures, aren’t they?
