Blog of Orange County photographer, Tara Whitney. Features client sneak peeks and sessions, the "check it" section (where Tara shares her favorite things found online), and personal stories from her life as a woman and mother of four.
I have to admit that as I begin to write this I have tears rolling down my cheeks. The Labenz family has been dear to my heart from the moment we met two and a half years ago. You can visit this link to read their story and see the images I took for them the first time. And please click the link, because their family film will be all the more meaningful if you do. You see, their second son JLB was lost to an umbilical cord accident before his birth, and was stillborn. Almost a year after his passing, Anna hired me to photograph their family as they began to start over.
I have kept tabs on their family over the last two years via email and Facebook, and was elated to hear when they welcomed a third child into the world.
As I watched this particular film, I couldn’t help thinking about JLB. He was there too, in the hugs and the kisses and the smiles. I imagine him sitting up on a puffy little cotton candy cloud, his little baby soul shining down on all of us, so happy to see his family so happy.
I have been waiting to share this movie and I am so glad that I finally can. Momma used the movie as a baby announcement, so it was to be kept under wraps until after its release.
I met April on the Find Yourself, Thailand trip. The first time I saw her I was struck by how calm, cool, and collected she was. In Bangkok. No one is calm, cool, or collected in Bangkok. The sweat glands on my upper lip can prove it to you. They remember. And yet there she was, in a crisp white shirt and perfect jewelry. (Her own designs, might I add?) A smile on her face. Telling us about how she had left her wallet in a taxi, something that would have made me curl up into a ball and beg for mercy, but that had her shrugging her shoulders. I could take lessons from this woman, is what I thought. Lessons on how to stay cool under pressure. As I got to know her, I listened first hand as she spoke about their desire to adopt a child. And then, a miracle happened and people came together, and just a few months ago their dream came to life in the form of Miss Amelie.
I woke up this morning to an email from Michel that our latest home movie was up. I ran over to the computer to watch, and as the opening notes started playing, my hand went up to my mouth as my jaw dropped and tears sprang out of the corners of my eyes. I have zero doubt that this family will do the same to you too.
During our session the same thing happened to me over and over. And over. I would be shooting and tears would spring to my eyes or I would get a lump in my throat as I watched how they connected and loved and played together. Their connection is INCREDIBLE.
