Motherhood Session near Raleigh, NC

I met this mama years ago. We're talking back when I was still Amy Fansler Photography. I lived in Fuquay-Varina, was teaching science at FVHS during the day, and doing photography on the side. I was barely holding on trying to raise two boys that were, at the time, a toddler and preschooler.

She had red hair and was pregnant with her first baby. We always laugh when I bring up the red hair. I actually met her in the salon where we immediately hit it off.

Georgia has always had this aura about her. When you meet her, you can’t help but love her. She's genuine, sweet, funny, and one heck of a mom to her babies. I've been lucky enough to watch her motherhood journey grow from one child, to two, and now three.

When she reached out wanting a special session with just her daughter, I jumped at the opportunity.

The premise was simple. She didn't want perfectly posed portraits. She wanted photos of what life actually looks like right now.

And honestly, those are some of my favorite sessions.

The goal wasn't to create moments. It was simply to notice them, and for HER to be in the moments.

I wanted to capture the little details that won't feel important today, but will someday mean everything.

At one point, she fixed a bottle while holding her daughter on her hip. In the background sat the playpen that has taken over their sunroom. She laughed as she told me her middle son recently looked around and said, "Well, there goes our sunroom."

And honestly? Every parent knows exactly what he meant.

The toys. The baby gear. The things that slowly spread throughout your house until one day you realize your home doesn't really belong to you anymore.

It belongs to the tiny people you're raising.

It feels permanent when you're in it, but it isn't.

One day you'll get your sunroom back.

One day the playpen will be gone.

One day you'll miss it.

She also wanted a photo in the bathroom. Not because it was beautifully decorated or because it would make the perfect backdrop, but because they've spent countless hours there together in this season of life. I asked her if she wanted me to get all the things that were on the counter in the photo and she scoffed and said, “I live here, I’m not putting all this away.” We shoved a mirror and hair tools to the side and set up shop.

We peeked out the front window to see if there were any squirrels running through the yard. We wandered from room to room without much of a plan, simply documenting a regular day.

No matching outfits. (In fact, her first outfit she tried on didn’t fit and she hadn’t tried it on beforehand. We laughed because this is the essence of being almost 40 and raising three kids. It is what it is.)

No pressure.

No performing for the camera.

Just motherhood.

I think that's what people sometimes misunderstand about documentary motherhood sessions. They assume we need to have a plan or a list of activities. The reality is that some of the most meaningful photographs happen when you're simply living your life.

Maybe that means making pancakes on a Saturday morning.

Maybe it's reading books in the nursery before nap time.

Maybe it's feeding a baby a bottle while your toddler zooms through the house at full speed.

Maybe it's folding laundry together, blowing bubbles in the backyard, watering flowers on the porch, baking cookies, rocking your baby to sleep, or building a fort in the living room.

Maybe it's simply looking for squirrels through the bedroom window.

There isn't a right way to do it.

The best documentary sessions are built around the things your family already loves doing together.

And before you tell me your house isn't clean enough, let me stop you right there.

I don't need a perfectly clean house.

In fact, I would much rather photograph a home that looks lived in than one that looks like nobody actually lives there.

I want to remember the stack of books beside the rocking chair. The toy kitchen that somehow became permanent decor in the living room. The artwork taped to the refrigerator. The baby swing in the corner. The signs that this house was once filled with little people.

Because one day those things disappear too.

Years from now, your children won't be studying these photographs looking for perfectly coordinated outfits or flawless smiles. They'll be looking at the home they grew up in. They'll notice the favorite blanket they carried everywhere, the nursery they can't quite remember, and the routines that made up their childhood. Annnnnnnd, did someone start cutting up an onion because this perimenopausal mom with kids in high school can’t handle even writing these words. (lol).

Those are the things worth preserving.

So if you're looking for a motherhood session that captures what life actually feels like right now—the beautiful, chaotic, ordinary, fleeting moments of raising your babies—I would love to document it for you.