Telling stories with photos

Telling stories with photos is what I love to do. 

I recently had a maternity shoot scheduled in late April with a client. She had some complications and had to bump the shoot up because she was at risk of going into labor early. She looked very beautiful in her pregnant skin. They warned me that she could go into labor at any time and they wanted me to document their story. I went to bed with my phone on the highest volume by my head every night. I was ready to jump out of bed and drive to the hospital with my Nikon D750 and my 35mm. Two days after the shoot, she had her baby. I got to the hospital after all had settled. When I go into a journalist style shoot, there are things that I do to prepare. I fist make sure that they know I will be coming but I will not alert them when I am actually there. I get my camera ready before I enter the room so that I can catch them in their natural state. If people know you are coming or see you before you shoot then they act differently-- very unnatural. It is so important as story telling photographer to not disrupt the environment. So I come in ready to shoot. I walk in to their hospital room quietly and see that they are snuggled on the bed. I shoot one photo and they jump. I whisper, "no its okay stay there-- that is really cute." They lay back down and I then start to ask them questions about them and how they are doing. It is very important to not talk about yourself and ask them more questions to get them talking. The more they talk, the more information you get for your story. The mother says, "Oh I ate all of the food and didn't leave any for my husband!". I turn and photograph the tray with empty bowls and food wrappers.  It takes a lot of practice and skill to not talk about yourself and continue to ask more questions. The more you know, the better the photos. When we get to the baby, I try very hard to be a invisible. I do not talk and I am very aware of my surroundings so that I do not trip, knock anything over, and I know where I am going to stand next to get the best shot. It is important to get the moment without being interruptive. 

I absolutely love shoots like this. The beauty is in the story not just the photo