As most of you know, I am part of a wonderful organization called Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep or NILMDTS for short. NILMDTS is a non-profit organization of photographers that provide portraits for families experiencing the loss of a baby. We go to the hospitals, do a professional portrait session and give them the fully edited disk at no charge. (Look them up at http://www.nilmdts.org/ and make a donation!) Through this organization I have met many families dealing with the worst nightmare a parent can face, the loss of a child. They have not only lost their baby but all the hopes, dreams and expectations that you begin building the second you learn you are pregnant. They are hurting and they are lost. I meet them briefly, try to give them a small window of light through photographing their precious love and then I go back to my life and they are left in the wreckage of theirs. I think about them all of the time, especially on the yearly anniversaries but I usually do not hear from them again aside of a thank you card. Like ships passing through the night I meet these strangers, spend a small anguished moment with them at one of the most crushing moments of their life and then that is it. As I sit here typing these memories keep flooding in of moments I have spent with these families. I have been there when their babies drew their last breath and the doctor pronounced the time of death, I have stood humbled watching as these new mommys dress their babies for the first and the only time. I have cried with them and I have never forgotten them.
Last HalloweenI received the call about the NILMDTS shoot. I grabbed my camera and my helper, Heather, and headed out. The baby's name was Kaylee, a beautiful baby girl and the second child lost to these parents. I spent some time photographing the adorable love they had for this baby. When I left I did not expect to hear from them again.
This past week I received an email from them. After another baby lost in March, God blessed them with a beautiful baby boy on Christmas Eve. I was honored when they asked me to photograph him.
This is why I love my job. I love the families I photograph and the relationships we form. I love when their kids give me hugs and they share their joys with me. I love photographing a baby and then being invited to the baby showers of the second baby soon to come. I love hearing their stories and I love sharing my love of photography with them by chronicling their lives.
The last time I left this family they were hurting and shell shocked. Yesterday they left my studio beaming, proud and totally smitten with their ten pound bundle of love. Truly God is good. And truly being able to share such joy makes this the best job in the world!
Welcome to the World Little One!
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