It’s Not Vanity. It’s Legacy.

I’m sharing a lot about The Postpartum Project, and that’s because it’s a passion project of mine, and I want to spread the word. I want more women to participate.

I want to build that body of knowledge that we can share and help women understand well, everybody to help everybody understand what the postpartum experience is really like.

Not just that initial bring-the-baby-home experience, but the decades of momming that happen in a woman’s life once she has that baby.

And one of the byproducts of doing it myself, being my own guinea pig with the session, is that my sample art for the project is of me. It’s a little odd to see yourself in wall art at first, but then it becomes very normal, and you wonder, why wasn’t this here before? 

And I want to share a couple of comments that I got on a post, and I want to share a couple of comments that were posted on my unboxing video.

And the first was, “Those are stunning. I love how you celebrate women, including yourself.”

And the second one said, “Your story matters just as much as the stories you’re getting to share. I’m so happy you are celebrating your journey. I’m so happy you are celebrating your journey too. These photos are stunning.” 

And that’s the thing. We need to celebrate ourselves. 

We need to take the time and make the space to celebrate ourselves.

I know that some people don’t want to put themselves in the spotlight. 

But I will tell you as a mom that when I hung those up, my girls got so excited, right whenever they see pictures of me, my youngest, especially these days, goes, “That’s mommy. That’s mommy.” 

My oldest one, she’ll go, “Mommy, you’re so beautiful.” 

And it really warms my heart. 

You know, I grew up in the 80s, we had loads of family prints all over the place, and it was a way to touch back to other generations. I was able to see my parents when they were younger. I was able to see my grandparents when they were younger and older.

It’s a tangible way to have evidence that you lived. You were here on this earth. Your story exists.

And it’s a way to keep you in the forefront of people’s minds. Because when you’re hung up on a wall and they pass you every day, they’re not going to forget you. 

They’re going to remember who you are. They’re going to remember your story. 

They’re going to remember the impact that you have and had on their lives, right?

Even when we pass, we still have impact on people’s lives.

Just think about it.

When you are traveling and you see portraits of famous and not famous people in all of the houses, the buildings, the museums, the castles, all of those places you see, they are remembered, whether positively or negatively. These people have been memorialized in these works of art. 

And I think one of the important things about photography, especially when we’re not doing a crap ton of retouching or heavily modeling the body, which an artist can do, right?

And there is artistic license with painting and with photography and everything and artist creates. 

But I’m of the viewpoint that I want to create art to remember you as you are, all the ups and downs.

I’m not going to heavily retouch someone I’m unless they specifically ask me to do it. That’s just part of how I operate. 

And with the Postpartum Project, specifically, it’s a raw portrait interview.

I’m not doing any kind of retouching to these images. Sure, I might crop them in a little, or make some small brightness and contrast adjustments

But I’m not fixing makeup. I’m not refining acne. I’m not cleaning up flyaways on your hair. I’m not smoothing clothing.

I’m not doing any of those things that I would do for say, my print, my say for my branding or my fine art clients.

And there is something magically wonderful about having imagery of yourself that is raw, that is unretouched, that is in the moment.

It’s like an upgraded candid shot of yourself when you are in your happiest or your saddest moments, and it makes you really look at yourself and own who you are.

I love seeing my wedding pictures.

I love seeing my branding photos that I had done a few years ago.

I love seeing my images from my postpartum project, because they remind me of who I am.

And they remind me of that experience and the visceral feelings that I had when those images were being created. 

And every time I look at them, I get some of that back, and it carries on. 

And then when people ask me, I can tell them the story of the image, I can tell them the story behind the photo, and why it’s important to me and what it means to me that other people get to see it. 

There’s a lot of self-acceptance that comes from it, and there’s a lot of self-confidence that comes out of it. 

So if you are on the fence about having your image hung up in your house, I really encourage you to rethink it. 

A five-by-seven-inch print is pretty small. An eight by ten? It’s small, but it’s doable, right? 

But when we go up and further in the scale, like my big sample for my Postpartum Project is an 11 by 14 inch.

And man, does it look small on my wall. 

So it’s all relative, and it all depends on how you want to decorate and how you want to be seen. 

To help you document your story.

To help you stake your claim in history and know that you have worth. 

You have value.

Your story is valuable, your imagery is valuable, and it’s important for the people you love to have these things from you. 

I would love to hear back from you.

What does this bring up for you?

Do you have your own printed images up as wall art in your home? Or is it of everybody else? 

Are you hiding from the camera? I’ve definitely done that.

I spent many early years hiding from the camera, and now I am full on in front of it.

And the more I do it, the easier it becomes. 

Take it from me: it’s time to see yourself as art.

If you’re intrigued and want to learn more about The Postpartum Project, you can find all the details here.

Not a mom, but want to learn more about scheduling a session? Book a discovery call below.