Why I Love Being a Richmond Family, Maternity, and Newborn Photographer

I’ve been a photographer in Richmond for over fourteen years. I’ve seen some ups and downs of the family, maternity, and newborn photography business, seen some trends that I embraced and some that I shunned, and have landed in a comfortable place doing lifestyle photography for clients who need baby and family photography at home. 

I love Richmond’s parks and all the tiny surprising places we can find to make photos outside, but that’s not my main focus (sorry, pun). 

I had an opportunity to work with my alma mater last year at an alumni event at Blue Bee Cider, and that was a lot of fun. I love connecting with new VCU alumni and encouraging them in their next steps.

Earlier this year I volunteered with ReEstablish Richmond to help them document their summit, where experts and volunteers came together to learn more about helping newcomers to the Richmond area. That chance filled my heart and my cup, and helped me feel like I was making a difference during a time when it’s been hard to feel like it was possible to make a difference.

I got to collaborate with Starr Foster Dance this year, and watched as a photograph that I made was transformed into an amazing, humor-filled, dance performance for SPLITTING IMAGE last week. (Highlight of my life, for real.) The opportunity to connect with so many artists and be part of such an amazing piece of collaborative art will stick with me forever.

The three of these (seemingly unrelated to my business) tie into what I really love, though - finding connection and community here in Richmond.

But the part I really love the most about being a photographer in Richmond, after living here in RVA for 25 years, is finding all the things we have in common. It’s like a treasure hunt. We use the same library (Bon Air!), enjoy the same playgrounds (Park 365 is the current fave), or we have friends in common (of course we do). We like the same obscure music (Guster). We find that we have kids the same age, or the same number of months apart. Comparing the hardships and victories of parenting small children, we have more in common than not, and that’s comforting, when parenting can feel so isolating. 

We have so many diverse backgrounds, coming from cities all over the country and countries all over the world, only to end up here, at the same time.  

With all the photographers available in Richmond, it’s a miracle we ever met. I feel all warm and mushy inside thinking about how, with all our differences, we’re not alone in this life. We’re not the only ones, ever. We’re all connected, in some way. There’s always something we can find that brings us closer to each other, in this disconnected world. Let’s find out what you and I have in common.