I have REALLY been enjoying this spring weather. One day it’s pouring rain, the next day
it’s a perfectly breezy, and then you get some days that give you a glimpse of summer. I like a little bit of everything in my forecast!

I am in the midst of opening my new newborn and maternity studio here in Santa Clarita, and it really has me thinking a lot about spring, new beginnings and the birth and rebirth it brings.

“My daughter’s birth was like a rebirth for me.” – Madonna Ciccone

That quote speaks to me so much. Not only does becoming a mother change who you are in the present, it completely changes the course of your future life. If you could tell my 20 year-old self (the bright eyed, eager one about to graduate with a BA in fine art from one of the most prestigious art schools in the country) that she’ll eventually find true happiness and purpose as a newborn and maternity photographer, she would laugh and roll her eyes.

Why? Because I was a different person back then. I was going to be an editorial photographer
for Vogue and all of the high end magazines, rich and creating content for the best in the business. While I did get to live that life for awhile, motherhood was a total rebirth for me.

“The moment a child is born, a mother is born also.”

The first time I held my daughter, EVERYTHING changed. Other than the love I have for my family, everything in my past faded away. My goals for the future? I didn’t yearn for those anymore. I was new. I wanted different things. I was a new person. Talk about rebirth!

I went from a workaholic life of two jobs, 14-hour days and world travel to a “crunchy” (as some might like to call it), family-centered, “stay-at-home” mom who dropped everything to spend every moment with my daughter in the first year of her life. It was beautiful, inspiring and (I’m not going to lie) very hard. But it was so worth every second of giving up those past dreams and aspirations to step into my new role with a full heart and renewed sense of purpose.

“Being a mother is not about what you gave up to have a child, but what you’ve gained from
having one.”

And that is soooo spot on. Not only from what I gained personally from becoming a mother but
what I have gained as a photographer. I gained a new perspective, new insight and a different
kind of love for a completely different genre of photography I never even knew existed in my past.

Maternity and newborn photography became such a passion for me (and still is). The entire process of motherhood simply fascinates me, and the fact that I can take love that I
have known since I was 15 (photography) and meld it with a love that was born a decade later is like coming full-circle. Like coming home when I didn’t even know that’s where home was supposed to be. I get to take the inspiration from my own life and create ANOTHER birth into what is now my career and where my true happiness lies. I am so full of love, gratitude and inspiration when I am with moms and dads who have just been through such a transformative experience together. I get to capture those milestones and make them memories for them to look back on when they reborn.

“When someone else’s happiness is your happiness, that is love.”

Best. Job. Ever.