When I left my sister-in-law's house after photographing her first birth, I knew two things - birth could be more beautiful than I'd ever thought possible; and my soul was on fire with a new passion.
I've always been creative, and a perfectionist. It's a tricky combination. I've picked up many crafts over my lifetime, but often for short bursts before trying the next thing, because the patience needed to get really good at it evaded me. I tend to find myself more result-driven than enjoying the process.
But then, photography. I'd bought a camera around the time I started dating my husband, and picked it up occasionally over the years, but until Bekah's birth, I never learned how to edit. I spent the two weeks following her birth learning everything I could about editing, and delivered a gallery of images that told her story. It wasn't perfect, but goodness... I had loved the process! To witness a truly beautiful life event, to document it and edit it and present the story of such a monumental time, was a privilege unlike anything I'd experienced before. I knew I'd found a calling.
My business and motherhood have grown up together, each journey shaping the other. As my babies have grown, so has my desire to document more of parenthood and childhood. I see such deep beauty in the connections we have with our little ones, in the way we grow up right alongside them, in the ways we find stronger, more creative and passionate versions of ourselves along the way. I can't help but be drawn to capture the wonder of this season.
When I consider the things that make my heart feel full - singing to God, weaving, building up and caring for people, writing poems, taking and editing photos - I see a common thread through it all. My soul lights up in the noticing, in the highlighting of beauty that's already there.
That's my why, the thing that drives me as a photographer of birth, motherhood and family. My heart for A Light Beheld is to hold up the mirror for mothers and whānau to see the beauty in what they do. To behold is to see - to truly give your attention to something, to hold it your gaze. To notice beauty.
This is A Light Beheld.
