Moms are super heroes. So it was only perfect that this Mom and kids spontaneously broke into a game of super heroes at this 4 hour Day in the Life of a Mom session I photographed this spring (see photos below). I hope you all got a chance to celebrate yourself and the other Mom's in your life last month, but now that Mother's Day has come and gone, can we all make a pact to support each other and celebrate ourselves on a more regular basis this year? Every Mother's Day since becoming a Mom, I have a million and one thoughts running through my mind. At first they started with things like, "Wow, breakfast in a bed, some flowers, and a card were nowhere close to enough to celebrate my Mom". I just had this whole new appreciation for what it actually takes to raise a child. The 24/7 responsibility, the non-stop worries over their well-being, the heavy self-doubt, the tight grasp onto your own previous identity trying to slip away. It is all real and intense, and I think requires a whole lot more kindness to ourselves than what is common... and it needs a village. So this past Mother's Day, I was truly immersed in thoughts on how I can be a better Mom, how much I admire all other Mom's, and most of all, how can we all start being real with each other and sharing the hardships and heartaches instead of just the "picture-perfect" part of our lives.

I would love to be part of a movement to re-define "picture-perfect". There are so many beautiful moments to be captured in the day to day that involve tantrums, tears, and other turmoil. But I completely understand that it feels very vulnerable to let a stranger (even if I promise we'll feel like friends very quickly) into your own home to capture real life and often intimate moments as a family. I always struggle with exactly how to ease people's fears, help them understand how non-judgemental I am, and open them up to this powerful style of documentary family photography so they can have the emotion-filled photos for a lifetime of real memories. Thankfully, a recent client, who is the director of Mommy Connections Calgary, did an amazing job of writing about her experience from a Day in the Life of a Mom session with me, including a discussion about her fears and how they turned out. Please check it out here: https://www.mommyconnections.ca/calgary/2018/05/01/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-mom-documentary-family-photography/ 

And although support and celebration were on my mind a lot this past mother's day, I have not yet come up with some revolutionary ideas for myself. It is a work in progress. But I do have an event to let you all know about that is all about support and celebration: Mommy Connections SuperHero Kickoff Party and The Mothering Vine Launch. It is June 25th at 10 am with kids and you will find all the details at the link; I will have a marketplace table there so please come say hi! Katherine, who is the superhero Mom featured in all the photos below, is launching a new online support community for Moms to complement the wonderful community she has already built with Mommy Connections: "The Mothering Vine - Real stories of real women along the motherhood journey". I cannot wait to see what this grows into as more and more of us have the desire to be real.