all the little sweeties | welcoming lawton

Oh man, picking the photos for this blog post filled me with so much longing and happiness. Longing because I got to hold Lawton last week and he is already 5 months old and so changed already from his wrinkly little newborness. This afternoon that I spent with this dear family seems like just days ago (except for the bare feet in grass part), but yet here we are in February with children growing out of pants faster than you can check off the days. Happiness because nothing makes me happier than seeing big families love each other well. And this family makes that top priority. I’ve been photographing them for 10 years and every new soul they bring in does not half or quarter the love, it doubles it.

I basically showed up and started shooting and photographed until everyone was spent. I wanted to get individuals of all the children in their **that stage** wonder. The bruised eye, the reluctant glance, the preteen attention to a just right hairdo…all of it. Not only was that newborn stage flying by so fast we could barely take it in, all of these children are growing every single day. I wanted to capture each child with each parent and got some truly tender shots.

In the end, I just wanted to gather it all up and inhale it like the most beautiful, fragrant bloom.

So immeasurably glad to know this family and to watch all their little sweeties grow.

growing | art and bri

This was a dream:

the bare feet, the missing teeth, the way their parents arms encircled them. I loved every second of photographing this family on their little farm.

I was so taken with the care this family took with the food that they grew and in that same vein the tender care they loved their children with. Growing is such a journey. It’s not always smooth, there are mistakes, but love and sun sure do make things grow and in this home there was sun and love a plenty.
To follow this family you can watch them on their YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/c/ARTandBRI

lydia and her babies

In the middle of summer after a heavy rain storm that never seemed would end, I stepped into my woods with Lydia and her babies. It was like stepping through the wardrobe. I don’t know how much time passed as I breathlessly captured each of their soulful spirits: their impish grins, baby hands of treasures, and the way they breathed in their mother and nestled into her body. I love every image we captured together that day and I collapsed into my bed in ecstasy with river water and grass stuck to my feet .

Mamas so often are not in the picture and we need to change that. We need not only to capture her likeness but the way she made you feel: the way your body felt next to hers, the way she grabbed your hand when you were scared, the sparkle in her eye, the strength that shoots from her like the strongest sapling. And it’s never too late for that.