Let’s talk about breastfeeding portraits, and the series named ‘Mother Nurture’. Mother Nurture is a series I began nearly 7 years ago, inspired by my own breastfeeding experience I created this series to celebrate and offer support to those who choose to breastfeed.
As excited as I am to delve into this with you, first let’s talk about the elephant in the room. I am fully aware of how emotive and how sensitive the topic of feeding babies is. Although the aim of these breastfeeding portraits is to celebrate breastfeeding, that does not mean it is also a way of claiming that breastfeeding is the ‘best’ way to feed a baby. I am a believer in ‘fed is best’.
I began capturing breastfeeding portraits when my first son was just a few months old. I struggled to breastfeed him simply because of an imperfect latch. This led me to feel like a failure because throughout my pregnancy I’d been told, “breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world”. Yet it wasn’t coming naturally to me! After lots of tears and cracked nipples we finally found a comfortable way to feed and began attending our local breastfeeding support group. Here I connected with other Mums and heard so many similar stories. It got me thinking that I wish I’d known it could be difficult to begin with, I could’ve been more prepared, could’ve found it easier to reach out for help earlier! So I began photographing breastfeeding friends and asking them to share their stories, their words of wisdom, all in the hope helping other breastfeeding Mothers understand these shared experiences. As the years have gone by my appreciation for the love Mothers feel for their babies, for the incredible things our bodies are capable of have deepened further than I could’ve ever imagined.
So you may be wondering, what is it like to create these breastfeeding portraits with me? Each Mother Nurture session is unique to each Mother. When a Mother decides to capture these moments with me we work together to craft a session that feels right for them. Some Mothers choose to have their breastfeeding portraits at home, others choose their favourite scenic spot and some choose to head to their favourite cafe for cake and photos! I will always help women to make these choices but it really depends on each Mother and what feels right for their story.
Once we meet we spend some time sharing stories and getting to know each other. Then when Mum feels comfortable and little one is ready, she will begin to feed them. That’s when I will quietly start to capture the breastfeeding portraits doing my very best not to disturb your nursing child, this gets a little tricker once we’re photographing toddlers! In just a few moments I will have captured a galleries worth of beautiful memories of your breastfeeding story.
After your session you will receive one high quality, edited digital image. All I ask in return is that I can share your breastfeeding portraits online, I also invite Mothers to share some words to accompany their images on my blog. This could be what you have learned from your experience, your breastfeeding story or words of wisdom you’d love to give to other Mums. If you are not comfortable with images of your child being shared online, I can only share the images where their face is not visible but of course will not share any images without your consent. After your session you will also have the option to purchase more images but there is absolutely no pressure to do so!
Mother Nurture is open to all those who choose to feed their children breast milk. So wether your feeding your newborn, toddler or beyond, tandem feeding, exclusively pumping, feeding donated milk or chest feeding, all are welcome.
Free Mother Nurture sessions are available throughout the year. If you would like to be involved in the project then please message me or join my mailing list. I use my mailing list to announce available dates and spaces are given to the first person to reply.
I also host special breastfeeding events during world breastfeeding week in August, please get in touch to find out more about this.
If you would like to see more of my breastfeeding portraits please feel free to visit my portfolio.