I think I’m more proud of these images than any others.  Partly because I was just thankful to get through the day without completely succumbing to my own emotional response to an already emotional event. Don’t let me fool you. I came home and saw that I had mascara ALLLLLL over my face. I had literally smeared it all up on my eyelids from shooting, as well as underneath. Note to self: Look in a mirror occasionally for the sheer purpose of maintaining a professional appearance.  In all seriousness though, I think I’m so proud of these because this truly brings to life the reason that I am absolutely, completely, and utterly in love with the art of photography.  To document love.  That is exactly what I did this day, and no credit to me…the love and support was radiating throughout the hospital for Jenny.  The labor and delivery nurses were all friends and coworkers of hers, some of them not even on the clock that day, but they refused to not be there for her.  And of course she had her and her husband’s wonderful families there with her as well.

This was such an intimate, vulnerable day for Jenny and her family.  To have allowed me to be there as a witness to this little boy’s first breath, to be a part of a mother bringing her son into the world after months of extreme precaution trying to keep him safely in her, it humbles me.  Photographing a birth is always just such a powerful experience for me.  I truly can’t describe what an honor it is to be asked to photograph this amazing time in this families life.

Side note: Hank was brought in to this world back in October ’12.  Apparently my slideshow software and blog host don’t agree and I have been trying to create the same slideshow on a different program but have not been happy with it (which is partly why I am so late in posting these), therefore I won’t be able to share the video. But play some sappy music while you scroll and you can have somewhat of the same effect. ;)