Clark | Maternity 2020
I first met Casey when she applied for one of my model calls I was offering for my motherhood clients. This was apart of my re-brand as I wanted to show off the new studio and mood I was aiming for within my photography. I wanted to follow Casey through her journey into being a mom of 3, as I too am about to embark on becoming a mother of 3. I hear when your outnumbered its a whole new ballgame - so here we go! First off was her maternity session which will be featured here. Unfortunately, due to current hospital policies we can no longer capture her birth or fresh48, but will be substituting for a newborn session. Be sure to come back in a few weeks after baby is born to see those!
Casey and I met at this cute little coffee shop to discuss her pregnancy, birth plans, etc. I always love this part of working with my motherhood clients because it gives me a chance to peek into their lives and hear all the excitement surrounding their pregnancy. I typically meet with all my birth moms in this fashion to help build and establish the relationship before the big day, while also understanding their plans and wishes for labor and delivery.
So I keep mentioning motherhood photography….If you follow my page on Facebook (which you totally should because its awesome and where I leak all the goodies first), you saw my post on motherhood photography and why you should hire a motherhood photographer. If you didn’t, let me give you a recap and go into deeper detail:
Motherhood Photography
Why do I need a motherhood photographer?
So glad you asked! Have you ever noticed that photographers tend to gravitate towards one area? Weddings, newborns, wildlife? If you scroll through a photographers page, what kid of photography do you see the most? We all have a specials spot where our heart lies.
𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦, 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥. 𝘐𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘦. 𝘔𝘺 𝘨𝘰-𝘵𝘰. 𝘔𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴.
Each journey is different - no matter if its your first baby or your 5th baby. Each journey is different and brings a different joy into the world. Each journey needs to be cherished and documented. This is where your friendly motherhood photographer comes in!
Motherhood photography captures the journey in all walks of motherhood…and every walk looks different. Motherhood photography to me encapsulates maternity, birth, newborns, milestones and family. These are the areas I focus on when documenting a motherhood journey.
New Studio!
(ignore the iPhone quality, but I had to get a “selfie” in with the camera in the new studio!)
The wait that felt like FOREVER finally arrived! As of yesterday, I now have a studio! This has been a work in progress for sometime and LOTS of dreaming and pinterest saving over the best studio options. A fellow creative was looking to share their space and had reached out about doing so - the opportunity felt right and after some planning it has finally come to light!
I wanted to show off some of the new studio space! This all white dreamy place is just perfect….
I cant wait for this room to welcome all my clients as they watch their sweet baby get photographed. I cant wait to have all those sweet newborn sounds fill the space. I am so excited for that new family to snuggle up on the couch or bed together for those dreamy family images. I will be joyful to have that mama in the studio showing off that glowing baby bump and capturing those last few moments of pregnancy. I get excited at the thought of those sibling pictures, milestone sessions and SO much more that can happen in this room.
Ok, so who else is in love? I know its not just me!
Are you ready to schedule your studio session? I am so excited that I can finally offer this! I would love to fill my schedule with sweet sessions in this beautiful space.
Lets get your session on the books today! Comment below, email katlin@katlindodgion.com or reach out to me on FB!
Samantha & Jeremy - The Big Secret…
I’ve known this sweet couple since I captured their wedding back in 2018. Now, they are expecting a sweet little bundle of joy! I am over the moon excited for these two as they are literally the SWEETEST couple and are so deserving of every blessing. We headed out to see the spring blooms which, in the irony, is my idea of a perfect baby announcement time!
Can you imagine keeping such an exciting secret from the world? I have found during my journey as a #motherhood photographer (yep - i’m now deeming that as my new tagline) that every couple announces at a different time and in a different way. I’ve seen people announce the moment the test shows two lines and others who wait until their bundle is safe in their arms. It always amazes me the strength each one of those mamas have to either hold it for themselves or share it with the world. Whatever their journey, each is special and such a beautiful journey and I am truly blessed to be able to witness it.
I’m so excited for this couple to welcome baby Halterman into the family! He or she (only mama knows!) will make their arrival in September. To put icing on the cake, I get the pleasure of being able to capture Samantha and Jeremy through the journey of parenthood with my belly to baby package. Whats the belly to baby package? Belly to baby includes all the essential sessions for milestones throughout pregnancy and baby’s first year!
Belly to baby sessions include:
Maternity Session - 34-37 weeks
Fresh 48 Session - Session done at place of birth within 48 hours of delivery
6 Month Milestone Session - Session done in studio or outdoors
1 Year Milestone/Cake Smash Session - Session done in studio or outdoors
Belly to baby also has add-ons! Add-ons can include:
Birth Photography - Photography during active labor and delivery of baby
Newborn Session - Posed in studio (can swap from fresh 48 for up-charge of difference)
DIY Fresh 48 Photo tips
With the weight of COVID-19 weighing heavy in so many areas, my heart especially goes out to the expecting mamas. This should be a time for excitement, preparation, and joy - however, now, in the middle of a world-wide pandemic, there is so much uncertainty surrounding what our births will look like.
During this time, hospitals and other birth facilities have limited visitors and support people who attend births and the mother baby wards. This is leaving a lot of mothers with upset plans for what their births will look like. With the limitation on birth photographers and photographers coming into the hospital post baby’s arrival, I wanted to share some tips to be able to capture some of these precious memories yourself.
📸Take them during the day when there is plenty of window light.
📸TURN OFF the hospital room lights! If you can, use the window light only.
📸Position your baby facing the light coming through the window.
📸Don't shoot towards the window. Yes, move baby near the window but shoot with the window to your side or to your back, but be careful not to block the light coming through.
📸Shoot down, from above or the side of the baby.
📸Get close! That’s where the details are - but make sure those details are still in focus! That fresh skin, tiny fingers and toes are so sweet.
📸Ask your nurse to swaddle the baby for you for some of those sweet wrapped images in their hospital blanket. Those mother baby nurses are the BEST swaddlers!
I can not wait to personally get back into those birth settings to capture those sweet fingers, toes, and noses myself! I am having some serious fresh baby withdraw during this time and truly have realized how much I love what I do.
I hope you mamas are hanging in there! We will make it through this together.
If you were planning on a fresh48 session and now cannot have one due to the pandemic, please reach out! Id love to be able to offer you a studio newborn session at a discounted rate.
Kohen’s Story - What got this started…
It all begins with an idea.
This last year has been rough…not going to lie about it one bit. BUT that being said, im going into 2020 with some BIG dreams and goals.
Here is where you will find all the blog posts, birth stories, fun takeaways, and life tidbits as they happen. I hope to be able to document not only the beauty of life for others, but also document my own journey as a mother and a loss survivor here. I wanted to “open” this blog with what got my fire started again after what seemed like a photography hiatus while I returned to the real workforce in 2019.
One of the main reasons I decided to dive back into what I love so much in 2020 was the loss of our son Kohen. We found out we were expecting this sweet babe only two days after a massive tree came crashing through our home. (I told you….2019 was really not our year) We called him our silver lining in the storm. We knew, right then and there, he was going to be something special to us. We began to get excited about what a family of 5 life looked like.
Due to the unplanned home construction, we relocated to a rental across town and our things were put into storage. We lived with what we could fit in the truck and rental furniture in that little rental. In August I had my first midwife apt. I got to see that little bean and listen to his heart beat. It was finally all coming together…the true happiness in all of the chaos that life presented resided in my womb and I was determined that the joy would beam from the inside out.
When I was pregnant with Kinleigh (our youngest), I was told she was a he for the first 30ish weeks. All ultrasounds had the OBs stating boy. Well….he was defiantly a she! I had another scan late in my pregnancy with her so they could see parts of her heart where she wouldn’t cooperate before. Thats when they determined that she was really a she. Since that experience, I was afraid that ultrasound identification would go poorly again this go around. I elected to do early blood testing (NIPTS) that would reveal the gender of the baby. Traditionally this test is used for detecting chromosome abnormalities such as Downs Syndrome, Trisomy 18 and Trisomy 16. This blood draw took place at 10 weeks.
I went…had the lab work and was anxiously waiting the results that were supposed to come back in 1 week or less. THREE weeks later and many phone calls to the testing company I had a midwife appointment that offered me one of my lowest moments in life.
The midwife came in and sat down. She asked if I had received my results. I explained I had been contacting the company but no one would release results to me. She stated she had the results and they were not releasing them to me because of severe abnormalities. She then told me my sweet babe that was growing was a boy. (HELLO SHOCK) She also told me that he would be fighting for his life with Trisomy 18 and Downs Syndrome upon birth.
I inhaled. I exhaled. I accepted it for what it was. There was nothing I could change, but I was going to continue to love that baby come hell or high water.
Then, we went to check fetal heartbeat. There I was, just under 14 weeks and expecting to hear that sweet “thump, thump” I had heard only weeks prior….I heard nothing but static. The midwife suggested we move to the ultrasound room for a closer look. - With both the girls I had anterior placentas, so it made it hard to hear baby - I was hopeful and betting on the fact that this was the case….it was not.
The ultrasound tech found baby with the abdominal ultrasound. But needed a “clearer picture” so we moved to transvaginal. Once that probe had an image of baby. I knew the lifeless body I saw on the screen was the outline of my unborn deceased child. I remember stating to the ultrasound tech “that’s not good is it” while I was trying to hold it together. She then had a somber look on her face as she asked me to get dressed and head to the private conference room next door.
In that room I met with the same midwife. She told me those words no mother ever should have to hear “i’m sorry, the baby has passed”.
I left crying. I was to be scheduled for a D&C in the following days as baby was too big for me to pass naturally. That week and the following were traumatic with a sense of shock, an overwhelming amount of emotion and loss.
We named our sweet boy Kohen Alexander Dodgion.
Since loosing Kohen I have been on an emotional roller coaster in the grief process. During this time, I have discovered and fallen back in love with all things birth related. I find myself reading birth stories and having my heart warmed. I wanted to incorporate this into my photography and have decided to offer birth photography once again. This will be paired with a new journey into the world as a doula. I will be studying to be a traditional and bereavement doula. To me, this will hold a special place in my heart as every birth and baby should be celebrated. Every mother needs support along their journey. Motherhood is hard. Loosing a child is hard. Having support for all these things is essential and we need to see more of that community building. <3 I choose to enroll with StillBirthDay to seek my doula certifications because I felt that its important for women to not only feel empowered by their pregnancies and birth, but in times of loss as well when someone is facing the loss of a child.
I cant wait to finish my doula certifications and officially start offering doula services to the area along side my birth photography!
If you follow me on social media, you may already know we are expecting another sweet babe. We found out in November that we were blessed again to fall pregnant. We are expecting another little boy - Theodore James Dodgion - Est arrival August 3 2020.
People often ask me how many children I have. I state 4. I have 2 here on earth, 1 in heaven and 1 on the way. <3 Kohen will always be apart of our story. I am using his story and our journey as my platform and inspiration for the future of my business. I cant wait to see where this journey takes me.