When I first started my photography journey, like most people, it took a while to find my niche. I needed to take any job that was thrown my way so that I had the opportunity to try it all out and then later when I had the privilege of being selective about what work I’d take, I would then know what I truly wanted to specialize in.

In the early years of my photography I had lots of friends having babies and naturally I took most of their pictures. I remember finishing those sessions feeling exhausted and confused. I distinctly remember thinking “newborns can’t run away or say NO…it shouldn’t be this hard!” I would leave the sessions feeling a bit defeated because I had to work so hard to get the shots that look like they should be so easy. I read all of the articles, took all the classes, researched all the tips and tricks but those “poses” just did not come natural for me. I realized one day that those poses weren’t working out for me probably because subconsciously I didn’t really want them to! That’s just not where my heart was. I felt alive during those sessions only when I was taking the non-posed, natural LIFESTYLE pictures. Those were the ones that had me smiling behind the camera and feeling like I was creating something beautiful…memories that would last a lifetime.

For a couple of years I trapped myself into continuing that way because in my mind “without the posed images I wouldn’t have any work.” Photography is my full-time job and I had the pressure to earn a certain amount of money each month. I decided to take baby steps slowly and gradually taking less and less of the posed pictures and more and more of what I loved. It was exciting while I was engaged in those lifestyle moments and made me want more but then I’d get to the posed portion of the session and want to run away! I would fake it as good as I could because more than anything I wanted my clients to be happy. And I thought the posed images were what would make them happy so therefore it mattered to me. All of the overly posed images weren’t making it to my website or blog and were just “secretly” being shown on the client galleries. I continued taking those pictures for a while because out of the goodness of my heart I truly wanted my clients to have what I thought they WANTED but deep down inside it did feel a bit fraudulent since my heart just wasn’t there.

One day I woke up and decided it was time to be free! I would no longer take those images that I couldn’t stand by and I did not feel in my heart! I had enough “other” work that it was okay if I was slow on newborn sessions for a while…I would hold out and wait for the “right” ones who shared the same vision as me. I got rid of my beanbag, backdrop stand, hats and bows and began to be more vocal in communicating my style to potential clients so that they knew what to expect and were on board with “my” style.

Taking pictures of the “everyday” moments feels like fulfilling an even bigger calling than artist or photographer. It feels like you are helping to write history as a memory keeper. When I get sentimental about my own family I look back on the pictures that show the everyday with a great big smile and it’s almost like the feeling I had the day the picture was taken comes rushing back to me as if it was just yesterday. I don’t look back on the posed pictures…I don’t connect with those. I love the ones that capture the emotion behind the picture. It’s like those memories reside in your soul already and looking at the image taken brings out that flood of emotion from that day in your life which means a piece of it lives inside you!

I find a great amount of gratitude in the fact these families have asked ME to document their memories. That is a big job because in order to do so I need to take that job seriously. I need to put in the time to get to know THEM…to ask the right questions so that I can accurately capture WHO they are. I need to be their friend so they feel comfortable inviting me INTO THEIR LIFE. I love having the opportunity to get to know so many wonderful people.

For all of the reasons above I have fallen in love with newborn sessions all over again. Here are some more reasons why I love shooting lifestyle newborn sessions:

I would like to say that I have appreciation for the work that other newborn photographers do. Just because it isn’t my style doesn’t mean that it isn’t beautiful and special. One of my best friends takes absolutely gorgeous traditional newborn pictures and she is truly talented. I admire her SO much despite the fact that we are so incredibly different. The cool thing about photography is that the market is so huge and everyone is looking for something different…there is a perfect photographer out there for each client and a perfect client for each photographer. Figure out what makes you YOU and stand by it! You don’t have to settle because the perfect clients are out there and you will find them if you wait patiently. I am just very grateful to have found what moves me and what keeps me feeling charged up with a full battery.

Read more: 10 Tips to help dramatically improve your newborn photography

I am even more excited to announce that all of this passion and excitement for lifestyle newborn sessions has been made into a two voice Clickinmoms Break Out Session with myself, Kelly Garvey, and Lisa Tichane, a wildly talented French lifestyle photographer. This break out started as two friends coming together to take a big leap of faith into a business idea to write an educational piece about something we are very passionate about…but it ended as probably the most exciting and rewarding personal project we have ever had! As we poured our hearts and souls into this, we realized how much the whole process has helped us grow and refine ourselves too. We’ve spent months and months nurturing our class to get it ready for you…we have grown it four times bigger than we ever planned! In it you will find YEARS of experience and learning all wrapped into one class…we now present to you: A Story of Love and Joy: Capturing Connections in Lifestyle Photography.