Portraits with Baby by James Harvey Photography

I am grateful to be friends with a very talented photographer, James Harvey --  http://www.jamesharveyphotography.com/
-- who has helped to capture some of my life's milestones (my CD release party years ago, maternity shots months ago and now portraits with my baby.)

Usually I'm the one behind the camera and I've taken thousands of pictures of Michelle already but I wanted to have photos of us together and I never seemed to have any luck getting one that was flattering of us both. Either she wouldn't look or would make a face or I'd have a weird smile or blink or something. James had the magic touch and managed to get a perfect shot of Michelle and I both smiling. Michelle has such a sweet smile here. I LOVE this photo! 

I made it my profile photo on Twitter as well, replacing the parrot pic with a parent pic! It seems more appropriate. The parrot wasn't even mine. It was a loan from the hotel staff when I was at the Grand Paradise Hotel in Samana, Dominican Republic. "Get your picture taken with a parrot!" Who could resist? (I got one taken with a monkey as well.) This parrot photo has represented me on all my websites for years. I was a single girl who dreamed of living in a bikini on a tropical island. It's not me anymore. My tropical dreams have been put on hold for a while. Now I'm a Mom and Michelle is my dream come true. Someday Michelle and I will live in an island paradise and fall asleep in a hammock under the palm trees, lulled by the sound of the ocean waves...Sigh. As soon as I win the lottery! 

James even snapped a couple more with her smiling. I was thrilled to see them. I love her expression.

Months ago James snapped photos of me in the empty nursery, holding my belly. Now he took some of me with Michelle. My belly has gotten a lot smaller but I still have my "pooch" which the doctor said may never be completely flat again. At this point it looks like I'm about six months pregnant. Oh well. Michelle was worth losing my figure. I am going to work out again. I was happy to find that I can still do a headstand. I want to get back into yoga and aerobics again (Jillian Michaels will whip me into shape but I have to psych myself up to begin the 30 day shred again. It's also hard to find time and space now with the baby. Excuses, excuses!)

I was worried how the photo shoot would go. I never know how Michelle is going to be on any given day, so making plans is always tricky. James had asked what's a good time of day but with Michelle every day is a little different. It was mid-afternoon and it could have gone either way. I was afraid she'd scream the whole time or that she'd be asleep. Of course naps through the day are a rarity for her. They say babies are supposed to sleep most of the day but she never did, even as a newborn. Even if she had been asleep, sleeping baby photos are cute too. I'm so glad she was awake and in a good mood for the pictures though! Luckily she'd just been fed and was content, a bit sleepy but not cranky. James was quick as well because he knew we may not have long before she'd start to fuss. Babies and animals are the biggest challenges for portrait photographers. They don't always do what you want them to. Thankfully James was able to get her attention and to get some good shots in while she was being cooperative.

It's still kind of surreal to me that I'm a Mom. It's something I had never imagined for myself. I didn't think I had it in me. My life has taken such a completely different direction and I'm discovering who I really am. I can't imagine life without her. She is my whole life. It's bizarre because I was the last person anyone thought would ever have kids. I didn't think I was mature enough, responsible enough. I didn't think I could make the sacrifices you have to make. To give up my freedom. I didn't think I could give up sleeping in! But when you love someone more than you love yourself, it isn't a sacrifice. You want to do everything for them, to give them everything. Sleep is harder to come by these days, but she's worth it. When I see her smile in the morning while I change her, it gives me energy to start the day. And I do manage to catch cat naps with her here and there. I adapt to her. Anything that I need or want to do I work around her schedule. She's the boss! I read that there are two different philosophies of parenting -- parent-driven (the parent calls the shots, creates a rigid schedule and baby has to follow it, like it or lump it) and attachment-based (baby calls the shots. You feed on command, co-sleep etc.) I'm definitely into attachment. I couldn't do it any other way.  



Some people will argue that it can make your children too dependent or too spoiled if you cater to their every whim. I want Michelle to feel safe and to know that she's loved. I can't leave her to cry. I'm not going to let her go hungry or demand that she always eat or sleep at a certain time. Whatever her needs are, I meet them. Sometimes I'm not entirely sure what her needs are (when she's been fed and changed and it's not obvious what she wants) but I just keep trying everything until she's happy. It can be exhausting. She's more than 11 pounds (possibly even 12 by now) so carrying her around constantly is killing my arms, wrists and back. But I do it. I can't help it. I can't be happy unless she's happy. My Mom said it was different years ago. Doctors told mothers they could only feed their babies every four hours. Of course they now say that new babies need to eat every 2-3 hours. For a while it seemed Michelle was eating every hour. Now she usually goes 2-3 hours during the day and 4 hours between feedings at night. I certainly wouldn't want to limit her or make her wait.

I loved these shots with the light in the background when James took my maternity photos. It's cool to see my belly replaced by the baby. I lost so much weight in a short period of time (45 lbs in a month or so) but most of it was the baby, water weight and blood. My huge swollen feet are small again. The last 20 lbs (in my flabby, stretch-marked tummy) is the hardest to lose. At first I barely got to eat at all because I was carrying Michelle constantly and she wouldn't let me cook, eat or order food. Now that she's been a little more cooperative I'm actually eating and have even put on a couple of pounds instead of losing more.





Having these photos of Michelle and I means so much to me. I am enjoying this time that I spend with her. I know it will go by quickly so I'm glad to have this stage encapsulated in photos. Thank you so much to James for capturing my baby and me in these images. I love them. If you're looking for a photographer in the area, James does portraits of all kinds and weddings as well. Visit his website: http://www.jamesharveyphotography.com/

Michelle and I have so much ahead of us. People keep asking what I'm doing next year (about daycare when I return to work etc). I can't think that far ahead right now. It stresses me out. Being a single Mom it will be difficult juggling work and caring for the baby. She is my number one priority. I want to do what's best for her. Anyway, I'm trying not to rush life along (it goes by quickly enough as it is!) and worry about things a year from now. I'm trying to just take it one day a time. If there's one thing I've learned it's that you never know where you'll be, who you'll be, or what could happen in a year. Everything can change. For now, I'm enjoying being home with my baby girl, even when it's exhausting, back-breaking and the hardest job I've ever had. It's definitely a labour of love.

Time flies. Photos are a way of holding on to each precious moment. Life is short, bring a camera!

Snap happy!

I am a raging photoholic. I have probably taken close to a million photos in the past several years. It's an addiction. Like an alcoholic needs a drink, like a junkie needs a fix, I NEED to take pictures. Daily. If I'm out somewhere and I see a photo op (something cute, beautiful or unusual) and I don't have my camera with me to snap it, it physically HURTS. Once I was driving home from nightshift and saw a blue heron sitting by the water with the golden glow of the sunrise behind him. It was the perfect shot. I had to have it. D'oh! I was dead tired after a long night but I rushed home to get my camera and raced back to the pond hoping he'd still be there. He was. Yes. It's a problem.

I once sat by my patio doors for 2 hours taking hundreds of pictures of a severe thunderstorm trying to capture lightning. I had mastered the art of photographing fireworks but lightning was even trickier. If I wasn't so stubborn it wouldn't have happened. I took a lot of pictures of a black sky, one millisecond too early or too late for the bolt. I wasn't giving up. The timing is crazy. You have to press the button before the bolt even comes. It's an act of blind faith. Meanwhile my Mom phoned me from her basement, terrified because a tornado watch was in effect. I told her I was enjoying God's fireworks display and trying to get a piece of it! Mom begged me to take cover but there was no way I was missing this show when I had a front row seat! There was a dark cloud in the sky that might have been a funnel cloud for all I knew but I was going to get this picture if it killed me! Then it happened. Magic. The sky was lit up with multiple bolts at once, right over my backyard. I'd never seen anything like it. It was so beautiful. And I caught it with my camera. It was so close the glass seemed to shake a little. I felt it in my bones. I was ecstatic. I have always loved thunderstorms. The awesome power and beauty of nature makes me feel close to God.

I have this need to capture every moment in images. It started in 1994 when I went to Europe with my boyfriend at the time (my longest relationship -- on-again, off-again for nine years). We backpacked across Europe for 26 days, going to to England, France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany. I knew that I might never see these places again so I had to record everything. My boyfriend thought I took too many photos. I don't think I took nearly enough. At the time I had a terrible cheap little 110mm camera. With the parallax error some of my pictures were quite horrendous. The camera was so poorly designed that what you see in the viewfinder isn't even what you are actually photographing. Many of those shots were crap. Except in Venice where it's so picturesque it's impossible to take a bad picture. Even in the rain. I didn't know what I was doing. Before that I didn't even own a camera. My boyfriend had borrowed his dad's camera which was of much better quality. Unfortunately he would only take a picture if he thought it was "worthy." He didn't want to get photos of me in front of the landmarks I'd crossed the world to see because he thought that was cheesy. I had to twist his arm. I explained that if we weren't in the photos then there was no proof we were ever even there! Photos of us at all the major sites were the best souvenirs we could have. He didn't want to "clutter" the photos up with us. (This could be one of the many reasons we didn't work out!) Luckily I did get him to take a picture of me in front of the Eiffel Tower, the Colosseum and my favourite castle, Neuschwanstein in Bavaria.) I took 30 rolls of film. At the time that seemed like a lot. It's nothing compared to how many digital photos I take now. If I had Europe to do over again I would take a hundred times more photos. Probably a thousand times more. I could snap 30 rolls of film in one hour!

Photos are tangible memories. Time is so fleeting. The camera allows you to freeze a moment and preserve it forever. That is priceless to me. After Europe, I was hooked. The rest of my life would be frozen in images. I took my camera everywhere. I'm so grateful for the photos of Europe and of all my travels and adventures. Over the years I have had several cameras. I was constantly upgrading, partially by choice and partially necessity. I had a Canon which was destroyed in Montreal when a stranger offered to take a picture of my boyfriend at the time and I and then proceeded to DROP it on the concrete! "You want I take your picture?" he had asked with a thick accent. Not a French accent. I don't know where he was from. Possibly from Hell! The pictures survived but the camera didn't. The stranger muttered sorry. I was devestated. I made sure to get a camera with a self-timer next time so that I wouldn't need a stranger to take our picture again. Some cameras (Minolta, Pentax) just wore out. Three years with me would be like thirty years with anyone else. I take that many pictures. It's quantity more than quality really but as one of my teachers said once, you produce quantity to get quality. They're not all gems but if you snap 100 you're bound to get at least one perfect shot.

The first time I got a camera that had a macro feature, I was taking close-up nature shots like a fiend. I loved going on hikes and getting photos of flowers and leaves. When I went to Algonquin Provincial Park, with my boyfriend at the time it was incredible to be somewhere beautiful with someone who really appreciated it and who loved photography almost as much as I did (he wasn't the 9 year boyfriend. He was the on-again, off-again 3 year boyfriend. The sensitive but tragic alcoholic.) Watching the mist rising from the lake at sunrise was one of the most magical moments of my life. I took hundreds of photos during that trip. I even got a close-up of a mother moose with her baby by the side of the road. I knelt down a few feet from her. She looked right into my eyes. People said I was crazy because she might have attacked me. My boyfriend got a picture of me shooting the moose (with a camera!) Other people were taking pictures but no one but me dared to get so close to her. I will risk my life for a photo! One of the macros I took during that trip, of some maple leaves, was published on Oprah's website:

http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Breathing-Space-April-2009_1?slideshow_id=12

When my niece Shannon was a baby, I took thousands of pictures of her. Back then it was a film camera and I was printing them all out. The guy at the photolab was very friendly. He asked if she was my first child. I explained "She's not even mine! She's my niece. God forbid if I ever had one of my own. I can't imagine how many photos I'd take!" At the time I didn't plan to have kids of my own and never thought that I would. Little did I know that one day I'd be a Mom to my own little girl. It still blows my mind.

So here I am now with my first child. And yes, of course I'm snap happy! A real paparazzo! (Or Mamarazzo!)  Michelle has gotten used to staring down the lens of a Nikon, to seeing the flash, to hearing me squeal "Where's your smile, baby?" At least now with digital photos you don't have to get them all "developed." I could never afford to print them all out! You can take 100 shots and choose the best few. I do want to print some out for a photo album but God knows when I'll be able to go to one of those kiosks. There's no WAY Michelle would let me stand still for that long! I've heard that you can order photos online, then just pick them up. I'll have to look into it. That may be my only hope of having a baby album for Michelle. I don't even know how many pictures I've taken of her so far...At least a thousand I think. And it's only been two months!

I'm always so happy when I'm able to capture one of her smiles. I've been fortunate enough to catch quite a few. The real challenge has been trying to get a good photo of Michelle and I together. Either I look like a weenie or she's pulling a face. It's hard to get both of us looking and smiling. When my Mom takes a picture she's so short that she winds up taking it from too low and it looks like I have 5 chins. My sister has tried to get a few but it's hard to make Michelle cooperate and she often starts to fuss just as the camera clicks. She smiles for Mama but not with Mama. And then in the shots where she looks good, it's unflattering of me (blinking or smiling weird or God knows what.) And of course it's even more difficult with the self-timer to get Michelle looking. It always seems to snap at the wrong moment. My friend James, of J Harvey Photography, was kind enough to do some portraits of Michelle and I very recently. I can't wait to see the pictures! He showed me on his camera that he caught at least one of Michelle smiling. I was so happy! I have many pictures of her smiling at me but that's the first one of her smiling with me. James also did my maternity photos, if you caught that post back in June. I'll post a blog about his new portraits once I have them.

I want to capture all of Michelle's milestones on camera. I have pictures of her sitting up already, mind you it's in her Bumbo chair. I love the chair! It was so cute to see her sitting on her own, sort of. She loved the chair too and was quite entertained sitting in it. I guess it was a novelty for her. I managed to get a few smiles from her in it.

I've also been giving her some "tummy time" to strengthen her neck muscles and help her hold her head up. She seemed to get a kick out of that too.



  



She's been standing a little as well, with a lot of help from me. She is always kicking her legs and sometimes stiffens them so much I thought I'd try standing her on my lap. She did surprisingly well (of course it's hard to get a photo because I need to hold her with both hands!) My Mom said don't be too anxious for her to stand and walk or she'll be getting into all sorts of mischief. She said that once Michelle is moving around I may be looking back at these early days as easy because at least she wasn't mobile so I had some control over her. (Not that I have much control mind you. She's the one in the driver's seat and calling the shots!)

Of all the places and faces and things that I have photographed, Michelle is by far my favourite subject! Everyone says how quickly they grow up so all the more reason to have each step of the journey preserved forever. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing her life on the internet (I've been sharing mine for years on sites like Youtube and Twitter.) When she's old enough to read it I hope she realizes it is a testament to my love for her. From the moment I found out I was pregnant I have been devoted to her and I love her more each day. I hope it doesn't embarass her. I know that parents always wind up embarassing their kids! My Mom kept baby books for each of us kids. This blog is my version of a baby book. 

Michelle you are my life, my love, everything to me. We are on this adventure together, both of us learning and growing each day (physically for you, spiritually for me). I'm sorry if I'm a bit of a photo fanatic. I hope all the flashes don't hurt your eyes (I do opt for natural light when it's available!) Thank you for being such a good sport so far!

Maternity Portraits by James Harvey Photography

The magic of photographs is that they capture the fleeting and make it immortal. Life is so precious and goes by so fast. To be able to freeze a moment in time and preserve it is truly magical.

An avid photographer myself, I take thousands of snapshots, obsessively trying to capture and record the story of my life in images. It's really special once in a while though to have someone who really knows what he's doing take your portrait...

A talented photographer friend of mine, James Harvey, (check out his website at: http://www.jamesharveyphotography.com/) offered to take some maternity portraits of me. Seeing as this is likely the only time I'll ever be pregnant (this baby was an unexpected miracle as it is!) it only makes sense to commemorate it with images. I think this shot in the doorway is my favourite. With the light behind me it's like a gateway to the unknown. Light, symbolizing hope. A bright future, full of promise. I like the expression he captured here. I look a little nervous but expectant, happy and hopeful which basically sums up my feelings as I approach my due date.

I also like this profile one, looking at my belly. Some days I really don't feel great but these photos remind me that being pregnant is a beautiful thing. And I know that one day I'll be very grateful to have them and be able to look back on this time and see my metamorphosis into a Mom.

When my sister was pregnant with her first child, my Mom snapped a photo of her on the stairs just as she was on the way to the hospital. I was so glad that we got that photo! I didn't remember her being that big! She was such a tiny thing before she got pregnant. At the time she had gained the weight gradually but looking back at that picture, you just see the end and it's a bit of a shock.

I know that one day I'll look back at these pictures and think "Wow! Was my belly really that big?!"

We even got some close-up shots of the belly. James had mentioned doing maternity photos a while ago but I wanted to wait until I was at my biggest, when my belly button popped out. I think I'm there! I can't imagine getting any bigger than this or I may explode! My skin is already stretched to the limit. I never thought I'd let someone take shots focusing on my bare belly (especially when I'm carrying an extra 45 lbs!) but I wanted souvenirs of this stage in my life. Voluptuous. Full of life.  

Given that I'm a huge fan of Scrabble (and M, my baby's father and I, used to play often) James and I thought it would be fun to do a couple of shots using Scrabble letters... 

"Coming Soon!" It's hard to believe that in a month or so my baby Michelle will be making her debut! Time is going by so quickly. The past 8 months really have flown by. It's still so surreal to me that in a month I'll be holding her in my arms. I can show her these pictures one day "Here you are in Mommy's tummy!" Hopefully she won't be mortified by them when she gets older. (But kids are always embarassed by their parents, aren't they? Or maybe I'll be a "cool Mom." Sure. Could happen!)

"Do you know what you're having?" curious stangers ask me and I very enthusiastically answer "A girl!" I was so excited when I finally got the news (at a 32 week ultrasound) that it was a girl. My doctor was still cautious about the results. When I visited her afterward she cautioned "Well, you can never be 100% certain. It's 99.9% a girl." "That's good enough for me!" I told her. At the 19 week ultrasound they could only tell me there was a 60-70% chance it was a girl because baby wasn't cooperating. Not knowing was killing me. I already had her name picked out from the beginning because I'd felt in my heart that it was a girl all along. We'd done the ring test and it always circled. Everyone had given me baby girl clothes. If it had been a boy, he would have been nameless and stuck with hundreds of pink sleepers. He also would've been stuck with a girlie girl Mom who's not into sports and has no idea how to be a Dad. (Being a Mom will be challenging enough!)

I usually don't like myself in pictures and it's hard to get one of me smiling a natural smile. James captured a couple. I am happy and excited about my baby and wanted that to reflect in the photos. It's been quite a journey so far but I really feel that it was meant to be. When I go through difficult days, I just have to remember that the end reward, holding my baby, is more than worth it. I want James to get some photos of my baby girl and I after she's born. We can juxtapose photos of me holding the belly and then holding the baby.

James wanted to get a couple of shots of me with my artwork. The nursery, as I've mentioned before, has an ocean theme and I painted a series of canvases featuring mermaids and babies. Once I put the artwork up it really started to feel like the nursery. Of course I'm still waiting on the furniture (My sister has graciously offered me her furniture now that my little nephew is getting bigger. I will have to twist my brother in law's arm to bring it here in his truck soon because I can't wait to see the room finished!)

We were heading down the stairs to go outside when James asked me to turn around for a moment as I stood on the landing. I love this shot. I have kind of a sweet impish grin and this angle, from above, really shows off my belly. It looks like I'm cradling a beach ball! After that we took some shots in my backyard, in natural light. He captured a very sweet expression there too. I was surprised at how much I liked myself in the photos because usually I look for my faults. James did a great job of making me feel like a proud, beautiful Mom. That's the gift of a good photographer.

James got a little artsy on me with these cool black and white photos with a shot of colour. To me it's very symbolic -- I'm blossoming, as a Mom. My baby will be my most beautiful flower and will bloom very soon!

James had also brought some blocks to spell out Michelle, my baby's name, and balanced it on my tummy. I really like the photo though I have to admit it's a challenge getting up off the floor these days!

I'm so grateful to James for doing these portraits for me. Though I've gotten several snapshots throughout my pregnancy (from family members or even just snapped myself) they don't compare with these pictures. These are very special to me.

James has done some amazing photos for me in the past when I was playing music. He snapped these at my CD release party for my album Magnetic in October of 2008. It was a magical night and I am so happy to have these shots to remember it by. James, you rock!!!

 

When I came back from Nashville and was writing country songs, James did this country girl shoot with me outside a barn...It was fun working with James and he always has a knack for making me comfortable and for capturing my personality in his images.

  

Looking back at these it seems like a lifetime ago. I couldn't possibly have imagined at the time that one day James would be taking maternity shots of me! My life and my dreams have changed rather drastically. Writing will always be a part of my life. And I will still be singing, but now I'll be singing lullabies to my baby.

This is why photographs are so important. They allow you to look back and cherish each step of your changing life journey. Life is short. Photos are forever! Seeing these pictures transports me back to those moments. I felt like a rockstar! And a country girl...

Preserve the moments that are special to you. If you're looking for a great photographer in the Guelph/tri-city area, give James a call. He specializes in portraits, baby and maternity photos and even does weddings. Here's a link to his website: 

http://www.jamesharveyphotography.com/



Thanks again James!