Hello, and nice to meet you!
My name is Hannah, and I’ve had a camera in my hand as long at least as far back as middle school, and I bought my first “real” camera, a DSLR I named “Bloom” after an observant character in James Joyce’s Ulysses, at the end of 2010 in anticipation of a year studying abroad. I knew nothing about light, but I enjoyed documenting things and occasionally getting a little “artsy” with composition (read: taking photos at weird angles because my lens couldn’t fit everything I wanted to fit in the photo). But I knew I wanted to soak up every moment while I was abroad, and I saw taking pictures as my way to carry parts of my journey with me forever. My inclination to capture moments in time only got stronger when I became a mother.
When my son was born in 2018, I felt that I had outgrown Bloom (and truthfully I had), so I decided to upgrade my camera gear so that I could make something tangible that would help me hold onto all the little moments that I’d otherwise miss. I was determined to create some sort of magical bond with the past, something I could put in albums and on my walls so that I could go back in time any time I wished! I felt a need to capture all the details perfectly for myself and my posterity: the little dinosaur feet on his favorite onesie, the confusion all over his face when he tried banana for the first time, that time he spilled flour all over the floor. Surely a newer, fancier camera would give me this superpower! Better gear means better photos, right? Hahahaha! Soon enough, I realized that the gear itself wasn’t enough to create the images I wanted, so I started seeking out photography education.
I spent my nights and weekends learning about light through courses and through practice. I studied composition and took courses on posing since I wanted nice family photos, too. I was starting to get somewhere! But I’m kind of like Eric Carle’s very hungry caterpillar, and I was still hungry for more. I took a course on how to use Lightroom, then another course how to be consistent in editing photos, and ALL OF THE SUDDEN… my photos were becoming what I wanted them to be. Except, I guess that wasn’t all of the sudden. And I was STILL hungry.
I started taking photos of friends and their children because it seemed to me that everyone should have good photos to display in their home (plus I just really liked meeting their babies). In turn, I was met with enthusiastic mamas and teary-eyed daddies (yes, really!) when I delivered their images. It was like adding logs to kindling. Making the images was great, but parents’ reactions upon receiving their galleries—being able to see how cherished these images were to their families—was what made me decide I should find a way to be able to continue to do this.
Family and newborn photography has become an outlet for my creativity and a natural extension of the joy I’ve found in documenting and revisiting as many precious, fleeting moments of my children’s lives as I can. Looking through my photos takes me right back to where we as a family were at the time they were taken. It’s become one of the things I’m most passionate about: capturing real life as it happens. Sometimes I think it really is a superpower.
It shouldn’t be any surprise that when I got pregnant again I felt the same urge to capture every season of my second child’s life. This time, though, taking her photos felt a little more like eating through a nice, green leaf. It was satisfying. And I haven’t gotten as frustrated trying to take her photos, because I’ve learned more and can do better. These are a few pictures I took when she was just a few days old—she was sitting in my lap, asleep, but I had my gear next to me and I made the light work for me. Were they technically perfect? Maybe not, but I was on my couch with nothing but a pillow, a swaddle, and my legs for balance, still sore from giving birth, yet able to capture her little newborn details that were growing at an alarming rate from day to day. (And before you ask, YES we hired a newborn photographer to get photos of our new family, but a whole WEEK AND A HALF would elapse between this moment and that shoot and then she’d already be a full-grown baby! Or so it seemed to me in my hormonal, sentimental state.)
My children are my muses, and I’ve practiced my craft on them more than I have on anyone else. These days, I typically do my behind-the-scenes work with my little “helper.” Life is often busy as I capture precious moments for my family and for others, and it can be a lot to juggle, but I love this crazy life and that I get to use my skills to grant others the power to revisit their past any time they choose.
Hannah is a Boston family, maternity, and newborn photographer and specializes in capturing authentic and intimate moments so that you and your loved ones can remember these days for years to come.
