a normal day

On October 18th, my daughter was born and I became the mother of three children. Hundreds of miles away, on the same day, another baby girl was born and another woman added the third child to her family. We were complete strangers at that time, but our love of photography and family brought us together. We started to have a conversation about motherhood with images, because we tell stories with our cameras. Since some tales are so similar, and some are not, we decided to collaborate and share a photo a week from a normal day as a mother to three.

“Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.”         – Mary Jean Irion

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things aren’t always as they seem

you would think that with all these years of parenting i would learn. daddy gave you a shower when you got home from the ocean. he wrapped you in a towel, placed you on the bed, and then left to get a diaper. moments later he returned to find you asleep. of course he came and got me to see this rare scene. and i naively climbed up with my camera excited to capture the moment. one moment that would lead to a day of moments with a sick little girl.
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with each new second

i need to be honest with you. for nine months i struggled. i felt ashamed that i wasn’t enjoying our time together or our connection. actually, i didn’t feel connected at all. i was unavailable to myself, to everyone and everything. it isn’t easy to come clean like this. but i must. i need to acknowledge the darkness as i walk away from it, as i turn to the light, as i begin to reconnect. as i fall deeper in love with you with each new second.

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freelensing | july

it has been awhile.  february to be exact.  i knew i would find my way back.  i just needed some time to recuperate.  time to focus on other things.   time to become inspired again.   i was certain that giving birth to my son would inspire me.   and it did.   but seeing his tiny body in that magical beach house light for the very first time was almost more than my heart could handle.  i have learned to listen to the wild beating within my chest.  it tells me when to create.  when to push myself.  when to be open.  when to find my way back.

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You must click on to see my dear friend Melissa’s freelensed images this month.  They are spellbinding as usual.

the effect of her being

“But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive:

for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts;

and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been,

is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life,

and rest in unvisited tombs.”

– George Eliot, Middlemarch

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Heather Robinson

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Amanda Effect 7.25.16-1

Amanda Voelker

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